Drinking on the Job

I’m blaming Nick for this post, which has nothing to do with retirement. Still, I thought you may enjoy hearing about the drinking culture in the beer business, in the 70s.

My first job in the beverage business was as a driver-salesman for Pepsi. After several years I decided to pursue a job selling beer. It was 1977, I was 24 when I applied for a job and was called for an interview at the beer distributor. I arrived for the interview after finishing my Pepsi route, still in my uniform. 

I was greeted at the front desk by the operations manager. Once inside his office he explained that the warehouse foreman was retiring, and that a keg of beer had been tapped, and asked if I’d like a glass. Sure, I said, sounds great. It was the first of three beers consumed during the interview. I was hired on the spot. 

The first day on the job, I was sent to work on the breaker pile. That’s where we re-packaged beer that came from broken mother cartons. Soon after I started that process, my new supervisor, Larry, approached me. “Dan, we have some errands to run, and I want to see how you handle the truck”. 

Off we went. Soon it was time for lunch, and Larry asked me where I’d like to eat. Keep in mind that the prior week I was selling soft drinks. I said “well Larry there’s a McDonald’s over there, and a Burger King down the street”.

Larry cut me off. “Dan, listen, that truck we’re driving is a huge rolling billboard for Stroh’s beer, our customers don’t want to see it sitting at a fast food restaurant”. 

So off we went to Shawn’s Back Door, a fine Irish style pub I might add. One sandwich, and five beers later, I assured Larry that I was fine to drive, and we returned to the warehouse. 

Our union contract had language regarding screw ups that could get you fired. One of those things was being intoxicated while on duty.  That was pretty vague language, and no one that I knew of had ever lost their job for drinking too much.

Eventually the company toughened up the rules. The clarified policy stated that a driver could have a beer at lunch, and another at his final stop. We used to joke that we’d save up all ten beers for our last stop on Friday. Can you imagine a policy like that governing today’s workplace? 

Then, while in contract negotiations in 1988, a copy of that policy ended up on the table between “us” and “them”. Neither the company’s attorney nor the union’s staff rep had been aware of the language, and although those two guys hated each other, their eyes met (not in a romantic way) in a rare moment of agreement. The next day, a new company policy banning all drinking on the job went into effect. 

Oh, oh, oh, here comes the tie-in to retirement planning. 1988 was also the year that our 401K was negotiated and implemented. 

TahDah