Nursery workers drinking at lunchtime.

Wow. What line of work are you in ?

I've worked since 1980, and have never had an hour's lunchbreak (except in jobs where there were flexihours).

However, in any of the Nurseries I've been in to over the las 8 years (approx 70), the staff only get a 30min break.

There's no way we have a long enough break at lunchtime to have a pub meal and 2 glasses of wine! They were meeting up for a chat on a day off I would have said. People quite often meet colleagues near work as it evens the travel/ is familiar. I'd be amazed if their lunch break is long enough for a pub lunch and I seriously doubt they'd be drinking during it. But if they were and you can prove it then yes, it's out of order.

Are you sure they were going back into work? One of my friends works in a large nursery and staff are on different shifts

If they were definitely going back to work that is not okay at all! What if there was an emergency and they had to perform first aid or something after a drink?

@Chatteringmagpie7 oh come on, if you turned up with your child and got a whiff of wine, you wouldn't ask how much they'd had, you just wouldn't hand your child over.

We still don't know they were working though.

How interesting that you know for a fact they get an hour lunch as my sister used to work there.

This was the same sister who was with you in the pub?

Would have been a disciplinary when I worked in a nursery and that was in the 90s when everything was much slacker.

I think you’d need to know if they were going back to work. If they had a half day they could have been doing shots and it would have been fine as it’s one their own time. If going back and caring for children and babies then no absolutely not okay to be drinking at lunch.

As a childcare worker, I am currently drinking and mumsnetting at the same time. However I do not have care of any children until Sunday.

Over 30 years of working in childcare, I have never come across any childcare worker who would drink alcohol during a working day. After a shift, yeah. But half way through a shift, no. Maybe I am out of touch, or maybe you live in a rough place where drunk in charge of children is common, but I really doubt that they are drinking and then going back to work.

When I did nursery work, lunch break - what's that? 30 minutes in a tiny staff room if you were lucky. So a meal out, it's not likely they were working again afterwards.

30 minutes break?

Where are you working, I've never had less than an hour break if I'm working a full day, over my 3+ decades of working.

I have never worked in a nursery with an hour lunch break and even if it was an hour they still wouldn't have much time to order, eat and have 2 drinks.
I would suspect half day working. If they did go back to work you won't have to do anything. It will be obvious they've been in the pub and they will get disciplined quite possibly loosing their jobs.
Also it could have been non alcoholic wine.
Parents seem to think they own nursery staff lives.

Imagine two teachers during the holidays going for a lunch and a glass of wine and getting slagged off all over mumsnet.

No wonder people don't want to work in teaching or caring roles.

And nurseries do not give long enough lunch breaks to even have a meal at a pub with a glass of wine.

Imagine teachers going out for drinks at break then teaching a class. You cant be telling me you think it’s acceptable as well
Friday lunchtime in the pub used to be a regular thing 30 odd years ago. I went but didn't drink alcohol although we used to have wine in mugs with Christmas dinner - I dont recall anyone actually being drunk.

Since that time the increased work load has meant teachers are lucky to get any lunch break at all.

😂😂😂

Did you all miss the fact they weren't in uniform, honestly don't you know how to read...

I can’t for the life of me imagine that they were working that afternoon. Our nursery tends to have staff do 3 or 4 days a week (as it’s open for 11 hours a day, so that brings them up to FTE). I would imagine they had a day or half day off together and went to the pub? With schools now being into summer holidays there are fewer kids in nursery if parents are off for the summer holidays of older DC.

Maybe there friends and it was an easy place for them to meet! Jess talk about jumping the gun there

So what are you going to do? To be honest I'd immediately withdraw my children from their care.

Quite. You have no idea whether they were even working, and now you're slagging them off online. I suppose they should be happy it's not on the community Facebook.

Honestly so many parents on this thread who would complain with zero evidence the staff were drinking alcohol when they were going back to work.
You all are why so many nurseries struggle to recruit staff. The pay is low and the satisfaction of working with the children are not worth the shite you get from some parents.

Absolutely shouldn't be drinking! I'm shocked anyone would think this is acceptable. They are looking after children for goodness sake!

I'll have a glass of wine and look after my DC happily. I wouldn't have a glass of wine at work and go and teach because I wouldn't be at my best. Also, looking after my own DC is much less demanding than looking after a room of other people's DC.

You know that there's a difference, it's not a valid point.

But the OP doesn’t even know if they were working and they weren’t in uniform? Calm down…