A couple of the big road maintenance contractors here in Washington are currently finding themselves with a bit of unwanted attention, after a Seattle news station got some hidden camera video of the guys bringing in half-racks and drinking some liquid bread for lunch.
Quit drinking beer on job, Highway 520 builders told
Is it dumb to be caught drinking beer during your lunch hour when your company is earning a 587 MILLION dollar contract from the State? Yeah.
Is it dumb to drink some beer at lunch, and then go operate heavy machinery? Well, yeah....
Am I all kinds of outraged?
Well...I'm trying to be, but I'm having a hard time getting there.
Back when my submarine was getting built at Electric Boat, I heard many (unconfirmed) stories of how lunch used to work during there in the 70's and 80's. Across the street in front of EB there are 3 or 4 pubs. It used to be, half an hour before lunch time, they would start lining up beer mugs, shots(and sandwich's). When the whistle blew, everyone would run across the street, have a brew and a shot or two with a sandwich, and head back to finish the day.
A lot of submarines were built in that time, and a lot of sailors went to sea and made it back safe again on those boats.
Heck...even during my time, we found the occasional empty plastic traveler pint bottle in the bilge during field day...I made it out and back.
Does that make it okay? No, I suppose not, because we aren't in the 70's or 80's anymore(more's the pity).
That doesn't mean I don't wish it was okay...with not being able to drink beer at home, a pint or two at work might make the afternoon a little more pleasant.
When we were on deployment in the `80's, we were told the limit was two beers during the lunch break- naturally as SeaBees, that two beers meant two pitchers at the EM club before we went back to climbing poles and working high voltage.
ReplyDeleteI don't know, I remember reporting back to my sub with a heck of a hangover. And drinking like... a sailor. A-gangers knew how to party and work too. No choice, perhaps either one. My thing is, those guys have been drinking so long, and much harder at night, that a few beers is nothing to them. I just think, if they mess up? It's an all or nothing proposition. They are even more responsible if they drink and mess up, that's all.
ReplyDeleteCan't have beer at home? Ugh. I'm thinking about trying to sort of looking for a wife and you are telling me, as a former sailor, you can't drink in your own home? I'm starting to think Sam Kinison, in his marriage spiel, was right.
Well, to clarify things, my wife is not the reason I am not drinking beer at home. As I creap out of my mid 30's into my upper 30's, I made the decision that I really wasn't help out my waistline by drinking 1200-1500 calories of beer a week, just sitting around the house. My New Years Resolution was no more beer sitting around the house alone.
ReplyDeleteI can still drink beer at friends houses, or at a bar, and I can still do mixed drinks at home(diet coke and whisky, Crystal Light Lemonade and Ice Tea Flavored Vodka)....just no empty calories from beer.
Thank you. I was really starting to itch (more) there. And, yup, I can see that point. For me, I buy a case and it usually lasts me six months, so I don't mind the calories. And I never go to bars, if once in a blue moon I have a beer with a meal (Utah, so restaurants that server even beer are sort of rare). I can handle the calories, but... I know your point for other reasons. All good. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteGreg, I think you may have finally figured out what happened to the Scorpion. (I know, I know, it was the '60s, but that was the first thing that came to mind.)
ReplyDeleteGuys I knew who were stationed at Ft Meade used to tell me of sneaking down to the navy flo... er, decks, to get a beer from the vending machines. INSIDE the SCIF!
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