Non alcoholic drinks at work

I'm not sure that 'looking like something' would be good grounds to ban it.

Having a bottle of beer on your desk at work is not a good look. No-one knows it's zero alcohol unless they look closely or ask.

If it becomes a thing then companies will need to decide if they will allow it or not. I think it will be written into company policy that zero alcohol beers etc. will not be allowed due to it looking to much like the original thing.

Yes or someone else driving your kids to school with an alcohol free beer in their hand.

I get that it's not alcohol, but something about it still weirds me out

I can't work out why it would make you uncomfortable? It literally does not effect you in any way?

I very much doubt that literally everyone will suddenly be doing it every day. If this is all you
have to worry about in your job, you’re doing well.

I wonder what the fact that caffeine - which is a stimulant and a drug (cf. energy drinks a PP mentioned) - being almost fetishised in some circles means in the workplace ?

😁apple tango looks more like piss than wine.

Looking at what contains Low alcohol vs Zero alcohol is quite surprising.

Regardless providing they are legally fit to operate machines or drive then IMO it's fine.

Cheers 😁

I also work in a school a few days a month. It’s a no during the school day but for any celebrations with alcohol it must be after the students have left for the day and with the written permission of the Head and Governors.

Are most schools like this now, or this a bit extreme? My kids are mid 20s now but when they were at primary school we had beer/pimms tents at the school fairs, outside in the summer and inside in winter (xmas). It was a huge fund raiser for the PTA. Same with the bottle stall ... kids would be asked to take a bottle into school in return for a mufti day.

They had various plays and music evenings where parents could take picnics and sit on the field watching ... this would invariably involve alcohol.

I don't remember anyone getting smashed but it was def a big part of socialising at the school.

really? Apple tango is not the same colour as any wine I would drink ?

Yet energy drinks are deemed completely acceptable . I'd be far happier seeing an employee drinking 0% alcohol than swigging energy drinks to get through their working day.

One is purely a perception, the other is actually impacting how people act

@RadioundermypillowI fully understand what 0% alcohol is and know that it is different working with addiction and recovery service users. I was giving my point of view and experience.

Like I said even if I didn’t work in the fields I currently do, I would still find it inappropriate but that’s just me.

Why is it different from soda? It's just liquid in a bottle. So what if it's beer flavoured. Didn't you have shandy as a kid? That's actually got some alcohol in it.

You shouldn't make comment or judgement about what your colleague has for lunch.

Do you think people will look at him and then rush out to buy a six pack of Stella to drink at their desk? If that's the case then the people you work with must be pretty easily led.

Ask a manager had a question about this and I think the answer is quite decent.

www.askamanager.org/2024/11/boss-is-always-scratching-his-chest-drinking-non-alcoholic-beer-at-work-and-more.html

Working with addicts is completely different. I agree the addicts I help support would not be encouraged to drink 0% alcohol (although many do actually with no relapse).

0% lager is basically a hops flavoured soft drink with no sweeteners in (the majority anyway). Delicious!

Try Dash, tastes of nothing really but is very refreshing. I drink it when I want something different to my soda stream water.

I'm with you also OP. I would not do this.
But I'm wondering if it could also be an age thing. Is the 0% drinker Gen Z for example and you are Gen X??
But I also think - beyond the basic fact of drinking some liquid with your lunch or being a dimwitted male - that there are some workers who deliberately, consciously or unconsciously, prod the boundaries without doing anything wrong. It's sometimes a statement of "I'm different to you, I'm cooler than you, I don't care what you think, I'm not that interested in this job" (delete as applicable)

Is 0% beer a new thing there?

It’s been a product here since I was a child. no one would ever bring one out in at work. It’s not socially the same as a Fanta or an OJ.

I work in substance recovery so it’s a definite no and never to be consumed on the premises both alcohol and 0% versions. I also work in a school a few days a month. It’s a no during the school day but for any celebrations with alcohol it must be after the students have left for the day and with the written permission of the Head and Governors.

When the school got an Outstanding Ofsted they did soft drinks for everyone that afternoon but then hired somewhere to have the real ‘party’ both alcohol and 0% were an option very few chose the 0% versions.

I admit I would be a little surprised to see someone in a work situation even if I worked in different fields (which I have) drink 0% during the working day. Even at business meetings in restaurants/bars etc, at my husbands work it is in their contracts not to consume alcohol or 0% during their working day. As another poster mentioned previously the 0% versions do tend to look a lot like the real thing his company do not want the image of working day drinking/drink driving etc.

A lot of the service users I support try 0% but switch back to the alcoholic version. I have worked with quite a few who have poured the real thing into the 0% bottle to disguise they are drinking alcohol.

so OP YANBU.

…non alcoholic malt drink?

are you talking about supermalt?

kids were having this in their packed lunch when I was at school (not that long ago) so I wouldn’t think twice about seeing it in an office packed lunch

Schleor is often used as alternative to alcohol so I do think by your logic it would be the same as alcohol free drink.

I wouldnt care about someone doing this, so voted yabu. But I have never seen it at my work and wouldnt be something I would do so I dont imagine it will become the norm either.

Would you send your kids to school with an alcohol free beer ? And if not, why not ?

I should’ve said I also work for a large professional company and perhaps it just feels different in that situation?

I’m with you OP, although I can’t put my finger on why it seems different but it just is.

Not so sure I'd change my behaviour to keep stupid people happy though.

That said, frankly I just wouldn't want something associated with "down time" in work. The cognitive dissonance would spoil it. I like to keep work and leisure very very very far apart. Being old helps 😀