Nursery workers drinking at lunchtime.

Yes I would of course report them

Perhaps it was this person's birthday ?

Perhaps they were drinking something non alcoholic ?

Perhaps they had some bad news ?

Perhaps they have a new job & are leaving ?

They were not at work !

I voted YABU because you don't know what they were drinking or whether they had the afternoon off. I'd mention it light-heartedly to the Management at the nursery.

If they were working it wasn’t acceptable but if they had a day off then completely fine and non of your business. As you don’t know that they were working don’t say anything.

Do you apply that rule to parents too? They are not allowed a drink while they're 'on duty' looking after their children at home? I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of children will have seen their parents enjoying a drink at home. It's amazing that parents are always willing to apply far stricter rules to those who are looking after their children than they apply to themselves.

It was probably a rare treat. If they were there every lunchtime then that would cause me concern but I could not get worked up about this.
It really does not appear to me that any children are at risk, based on this.

I might check if the pub sells non alcoholic wine. If they do, maybe give the benefit of the doubt.

I get you can't be certain they were working the afternoon, or it could have been schloer but perhaps you could speak to the manager but make a point of not naming names or accusing anyone of definitely drinking alcohol.

Instead, you could ask to see the alcohol policy and ask that all staff are sent a reminder without any fingers being pointed on this occasion as you have no proof

@DoormatBob 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I don't think it applies to a little tikes car?

I would need more than 2 glasses at lunch if I did that job 😂

Could they have been drinking wine and lemonade? Could it have been non-alcoholic wine? It’s a tricky one. I wouldn’t be too impressed if I knew that they both had 2 glasses of just wine and they were heading back to work. Is there a way you could jokingly mention it to them in front of their manager?

Out of interest, where are all these pubs that serve alcohol free wine by the glass? I don't drink alcohol and I'm usually impressed by the range of AF beers in pubs but AF wine is really hard to come by unless it's a decent restaurant (and even then you need to buy a bottle. Not that I could ever finish a bottle of it as it's fine for a small glass but sickly after that!) This has been a revelation to me (I must be going to the wrong pubs!)

No, you absolutely do not have an alcoholic drink when responsible and being paid for looking after someone else’s children! Full stop. It is a sackable offence. But they were a) on a day/ afternoon off or b) they were drinking non-alcoholic wine while they were on duty! Otherwise …….. bye! I’m

One of my cousins works in childcare. I'm sure there is something in her contract that says about this. Once we met on a Sunday night and she said she was only having the one drink because of this.

I'm generally a really relaxed person about this "kind" of thing. However, I wouldn't even get away with this in my office as a middle manager, and excuse the other posters huge tolerances but 2 large glasses and I'm certainly feeling something even if it isn't drunk yet. As nursery nurses? Definitely fucking not. It's uneccessary and inappropriate. Their break might be unpaid but so what, if they wouldn't come in first thing in the morning after 2 large glasses then they shouldn't do it at lunch time. They work with little children, it's a bit different to smashing buttons in a bog standard office job surrounded by only adults of peer status. They need to be on form.

I'm surprised at anybody here saying "it's unpaid so it's fine" - I say we all go outside for a puff on our crack pipes when the bells up then. Spliff? Sniff a couple lines? Do literally anything else that makes you temporarily mentally impaired? It's unpaid afterall. Flawed logic

Apparently not according to @TheQueenWhoNeverWas who appears to be the font of all knowledge when it comes to alcohol free wines....

They were either not at work that day, or had been put on the rota to do morning only. I say that, because I cannot believe that nursery workers are given the time to leave the building, go to a pub (no matter how close), order lunch, and eat it!

The legal minimum entitlement for breaks is 20 minutes (unpaid), if you work for 6 hours or longer. The employer need not pay you for that 20 minutes. Many employers are more generous than they are legally required to be, but I doubt nursery sector is excessively generous.

My last job (non-nursery), we got 30 minutes exactly, but it was paid. On this subject, a lawyer friend could not get her head around the idea that I didn't get long enough lunch break to come and meet her in a cafe on the other side of town for lunch, and that we would be meeting on my day off, or not at all...

I would absolutely check if they were going back to work that day, and if so have a discussion with management. It’s not ok to drink when you are in charge of other people’s children in a childcare setting. You are more than entitled to check, it’s your child at the end of the day! My son’s keyworker was caught drinking at work when he was in her care aged 2, turned out she was an alcoholic which she hadn’t told anyone about. She was suspended immediately when it came to light then later sacked and disciplined by the regulatory body.

What would that prove exactly?

I would send an email to the nursery & ask them what their thoughts are on the employees drinking alcohol
at lunch time... & see what the reply is

Alcohol free wine is everywhere now, and it looks exactly the same as regular wine. I drink it often if I don't want alcohol, or if it's lunchtime or something. Anyone seeing me could easily assume I was necking a large glass of 'normal' wine, but they'd be wrong.

Could it of been alcohol free or perhaps a different soft drink in a wine glass

You sure they weren't there after work? If we finished early where I worked we would always go for a drink at the pub next door

Are you sure it was alcoholic wine? Were they actually back working that afternoon? It seems that you don’t really know for certain from what you’ve said.
If you’re certain it was alcoholic wine as opposed to non alcoholic, and they were drinking it, plus you’re certain they were back at work that afternoon, then you have a valid reason for complaint - drinking alcohol whilst working is a huge “no no” these days. However, you need to be absolutely certain of your facts before going ahead with a complaint.

You are not being unreasonable, but it could've been non alcoholic wine