MackAttack

Sr. Account Executive

What should happen if you go overboard at Happy Hour?

Bravado,

Had a scenario when "a friend" happen to get a little too inebriated at a happy hour at our office. Ruffled some feathers of some colleagues with their actions but nothing too crazy.

As sales people, I feel we tend to do this more than others. Should this person receive a slap on the wrist based on your previous experiences, or should it be a bigger deal?

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35 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I don't need to refer to "a friend"...I was that guy several times at my first startup, and I regret many of these nights to this day.

These people are not your family, let alone your good friends. You get too drunk and get kicked out of a bar? Better hope someone is nice enough to go with you and make sure you get home ok. Most of the time, or at least in my experience, you're on your own. This was before Uber, mind you, and cabbies kicked you out of their cars for being off the rails. I walked home through some sketchy areas a few times...never want to do that again.

The wake-up call that taught me the "2-drink" rule was when I got into it with a co-worker and ended up in a physical altercation. Now, I didn't throw any punches, ate a few instead. However, I was mouthy and calling them out for shit that sober me hated and ended up getting him fired for their actions that night. I was told to ease up on the drinking...but instead I stopped all together at work events. Now I have two drinks, and after that, it's club soda and lime.

Stop treating happy hours and work events like open bars at your family and friends' weddings. Have a few, say goodbye, and head on out.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Good learning from experience. And absolutely right, these are colleagues and possibly managers. Not the people to be sloppy drunk in front of.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

Woah... a fist fight at a work event. You are definitely the reason for a corporate policy somewhere. lol.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I've been the cause of internal-communication policies, but not drinking policies!

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

Kudos to you @poweredbycaffeine for being so open here. The anonymity helps of course but I’m sure typing this wasn’t enjoyable for you.

You bring a ton of value to this board because of your honest and straightforward responses.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Been there done that minus the fist-fight. Just not worth it. You're not missing anything by leaving an hour into happy hour trust me.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Hell--if I can get 30 minutes in, and say hello to everyone, then I'm out!

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

If I can miss the happy hour and have everyone think I was there… the best!

Jbeans

Opinionated

Director of Sales

I hear this and it’s hard bc our team loves to drink - and we get on so well—- but it can get really sloppy. We’ve had bar fights, screaming matches, porcelain kings, one guy peed himself at the bar, someone passed out edibles and one girl ate them thinking it was actually candy ugh.. our only rule is to keep it in the family. So when we travel we leave any large functions and go party elsewhere as to keep our reputation in check. I personally can have a few but also hate being hung over with work or events the next day so I’ve learned to keep it in check.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

My apologies, but this sounds incredibly toxic. If someone told me that "whatever happens, keep it in the family" I'd probably turn into a red flag.

Jbeans

Opinionated

Director of Sales

You’re not wrong. Lol.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Making an ass of yourself because you drank too much at a work function has happened to most people at least once throughout their professional careers. The key is to only ever have it happen once or twice and not be "that guy."

Most of your dumbassery will have been forgotten about within a week and pale in comparison to what the drunkest dumbass in your company's history did at the Christmas party in 2014 with a few exceptions. If you did anything illegal or verbally or physically assaulted anyone you should probably start looking for a new job and a meeting invite from HR on your calendar come Friday afternoon.

If you were more than a slight asshole to colleagues, think about whether a quick apology might make sense in smoothing things over with them. If you were in any way an asshole to your boss or another major influencer in the organization start working on your apology now.

Either way, skip out on drinking at the next few happy hours to demonstrate that's not your natural state and you're not proud of your actions. In the future, stick to a two drink maximum and if you feel the need to be a drunk asshole, at least stick to being a drunk asshole to people that have no influence on whether you'll be able to pay your bills this month.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Wise words and solid advice.

Nobody wants to be 'that guy' but it can happen quicker than anyone would think.

CoorsKing

WR Officer

Retired King of the Coors Knights

I feel like a lot of newer reps tend to think company organized happy hours mean there are no rules and everything is “off the record”.

They are not happy hours with your friends and they are certainly not a normal night out at the bar. Have we all been “that person” once in our careers? Probably, but it’s something you learn early on and never do again.

The best advice I received was pick the most senior person in the room, and have one less drink than they do.

As coups said, unless they did something illegal or verbally/physically got confrontational, a slap on the wrist is generally the normal response unless this is not the first offense. Now if they ran up the bar tab on the Amex, there may be some additional conversations had as well.

I have seen multiple people get let go over actions at company sponsored events before, so it is definitely a fine line.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Most def. The tricky part is that yes, sales focused organizations (especially startups) tend to have more of a drinking/party culture and accept the behaviours that come with that kind of culture more readily than most non sales focused companies. But in that same breath, it's not carte blanche to act like you're at a frat party. Just because it's acceptable to drink beer in the office around your sales manager, it doesn't mean that your manager's manager will find it acceptable to see you doing shots on the company card. And just because the top rep got away with throwing up into a plant at the Christmas party it doesn't mean that you as the fresh SDR will get away with the same thing.

Also important to mention is that not everyone is your friend - there's always a snitch/kiss ass on every team so don't assume that just because 6/8 of your team mates are ok with racist jokes or doing drugs in the bathroom that everyone is. If you want to party with your true work buddy, do it outside of working hours and away from everyone else.

Always err on the side of conservative...honestly you have very little to gain from partying hard with work people.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Here's the deal. Remember you are always on the clock at company events. Period. Full stop. Someone is always watching.

UrAssIsSaaS

Arsonist

SaaS Eater

If this is the first time a slap on the wrist is fine, if they are a repeat offender then it probably warrants a larger conversation. Either way, get your(friend) shit together. This is why sales people get a bad rap.

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

I'm not qualified to answer this... while I haven't gotten sloppy drunk at a company event, I did get way too high at a convention recently and my only saving grace was that our CEO also enjoyed my pen. I'm chalking it up as a win.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Did the convention offer good snacks?

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

I sure gave them a 10/10!

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

There are times I got so high I gave the stale ass ancient ass whole wheat grandma crackers at the back of my cupboard a 10 so I feel you.

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Been there, coups. Too many times....

At least that's usually in the privacy of one's home though!

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Never do anything that will involve an uncomfortable discussion with HR.

I, too, know of reps who were let go because of transgressions that went too far at company events. You don't want to be that rep.

SaaSguy

Tycoon

Account Executive

Biggest thing is just don't make the same mistake twice. When I was younger and dumber I went overboard got a verbal reaming from my VP and never made the same mistake again after working at a couple new companies.

Upper_Class_SaaS

Politicker

Account Executive

Slap on the wrist. Ppl need to have more awareness of the environment and that WORK is STILL WORK

MackAttack

Executive

Sr. Account Executive

UPDATE: The friend was me, and I got promoted instead of getting fired???????????

UserNotFound

Politicker

Account Executive

We all knew the friend was you, my man. Congrats on the promotion- sounds like you must be a fun drunk!

closingwithabeerinhand

Valued Contributor

Director of Business Development

Is your company hiring?

Irishman

Catalyst

Business Consultant

Woohoo - imagine if you'd done hard drugs, you'd probably been given 49% equity

GDO

Politicker

BDM

As long as you do not do it repeatedly it s fine. Also do get shitfaced with the people who helped you when you close a fat deal

1nbatopshotfan

Politicker

Sales

There’s a lot of really good advice here. Keep your head up, keep performing and as long as no personal boundaries were crossed you’ll be fine.

The open bar has been the Achilles heel of many a sales rep. Letting someone go after one is never fun.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

I've been this guy 1 time at a former employer, didn't get into any fights or anything but you don't want to be the guy/girl known as the office drunk or hungover the next day from stupid shit you did. I think everyone should get a slap on the wrist for first time offense but not a big deal. If it's a trend then it's more serious because the work suffers. Strongly recommend implementing a 1 drink rule or just seltzer lime. It's a hard lesson to learn but you're the better for it

Beans

Big Shot

Enterprise Account Executive

My first happy hour post-covid with my new team and my sales director had to put me in a cab.

Our next 1:1 he told me how nice it was that I finally felt part of the team.

So.... different strokes?

Allisce

Tycoon

Account Executive

Our SVP always says before our sales summits “have a good time, but don’t have the best time and someone will be the story when we all go home don’t let it be you” pretty spot on

harebrained

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

A boss told me once.. no careers were made at a corporate party, but some were ended. Learn from any mistakes and keep things under control. Also, if it's a really heavy drinking culture at the company I (anecdotally) have found those to be the most toxic jobs. Club soda w/ lime and people will think you are drinking and not push anything on you

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MackAttack

What should happen if you go overboard at Happy Hour?

35 comments

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