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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What kind of fucked-up, dysfunctional workplace is our government operating in?

611 replies

noblegiraffe · 15/01/2022 11:03

Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament? Can't get through the day without a suitcase of wine in Downing Street, drugs everywhere in Parliament? Subsidised bars on work premises?

I guess the fact that they tried to make an exemption for the bars in the Houses of Parliament when introducing a curfew for pubs should have been a warning sign that there's far too much reliance on alcohol in our ruling classes.

There was a lot of talk about standards in public life during the Owen Paterson scandal. Surely not being pissed or high on the job is a basic standard?

Aside from the issue that they couldn't even stop having massive piss-ups during lockdown, AIBU to think that something needs to be done to introduce basic rules like 'If you're not safe to drive, you're not allowed to vote in new laws'?

If you wouldn't be happy with a teacher teaching your kids half-cut and would expect rules to prevent this, why should we tolerate our government ruling the country while making their way through the contents of the wine fridge?

People have been posting 'oh yes, it's always been like this'.

Well it shouldn't be in future.

OP posts:
motherrunner · 15/01/2022 12:10

Agree.

We’re not even allowed alcohol on our school premises. I can’t imagine the repercussions of me standing in front of a class drunk. Tbh, I can’t imagine there would be any jobs where drunk employees are tolerated so why is this drink and drug culture in Westminster accepted because they ‘need to let off steam’. Don’t we all!

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 15/01/2022 12:13

How do we feel about surgeons cracking open wine on a Friday afternoon?

Someone has voted that IABU. Would love to know whether they work in government and don't fancy actually having to work sober like the rest of us.

OP posts:
BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 15/01/2022 12:18

They lack character and moral fibre so I suppose alcohol numbs the inadequate feelings they have about themselves. They also struggle with real challenges and responsibilities so being drunk numbs the pain of not knowing what the fuck to do when things get tough.

JuneOsborne · 15/01/2022 12:21

It reminds me of fire stations in the 1980s. Often had bars. And parties whilst on duty.

Doesn't happen any more, because it's not acceptable.

Time for a downing Street overhaul. The bar(s) should go and the ethos needs changing.

RedWingBoots · 15/01/2022 12:24

I just thought it was DD, my SC and others I knew who were pissed of with the PM and Downing Street but apparently loads are:

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60003805

While they were having their jollies kids could not go to nursery, school, college and university. They couldn't play with one another and couldn't see each other.

Shehasadiamondinthesky · 15/01/2022 12:24

My life is tough, i'm divorced, I work full time in the NHS, have gone all the way through covid and the resulting trauma of watching the NHS descend into hell. I am teetotal.
I feel I owe it to my patients to be the best I can be when I come into work.
I didn't need a suitcase full of wine everyday to "wind down".
I didn't go into work with a massive hangover unable to function because when you are in charge of peoples lives you don't.
Well most people don't apart from these people anyway.
BJ got covid I think because he didn't follow the rules therefore leaving the entire country floundering.
They are a bloody disgrace.

MrsHamlet · 15/01/2022 12:24

Whilst bottom set year 9 might be more palatable with a g&t to hand, the second part of the teachers' standards (and common sense!) make that not an option.
I imagine I would find myself sacked at best, and quite likely disqualified from teaching, if I decided that getting pissed at work was necessary.

Invasionofthegutsnatchers · 15/01/2022 12:26

They're a disgrace.

LuluBlakey1 · 15/01/2022 12:27

I thought James O'Brien on LBC summed it up. It is who Johnson is and how he has lived his whole adult life.Why would he be any different in Downing St?

What kind of fucked-up, dysfunctional workplace is our government operating in?
Original poster
noblegiraffe · 15/01/2022 12:40

@LuluBlakey1

I thought James O'Brien on LBC summed it up. It is who Johnson is and how he has lived his whole adult life.Why would he be any different in Downing St?
It’s not just Johnson though, is it? Subsided bars in Westminster!

People have also been reporting that wine time Fridays were a thing before he pitched up.

OP posts:
malificent7 · 15/01/2022 12:45

Bet you they will win the next election though.

Goldenbear · 15/01/2022 12:46

I'm not defending them one bit for their hypocrisy but I do think drinking culture or having wine in work does exist in some places, particularly Friday afternoons. My Dad couldn't keep up in a consultancy job he did but that was 10 years ago. My friend said that she was PA for a similar kind of company my Dad worked in and she had to run the place as most afternoons spent having lunches with booze. Where my DH(Architect) used to work they had wine occasionally in the office. I don't think it is comparable to teaching as you are responsible for children.

Bitbloweyoutthere · 15/01/2022 12:47

And on another thread, we're told that people who earn huge sums of money work harder than the rest of us and have more stress.

We're still fucking serfs, aren't we?

TheSixthSickSheik · 15/01/2022 12:48

My profession has changed a lot in this respect in the 15 years since I started. At the beginning the Friday night hard drinking started at 5pm and went on late, all subsidised. Every event was basically a piss up - and not some social drinks or a couple of glasses of fizz, proper going for it. To be honest, it’s a stressful job for everyone at all levels and this was the weekly blow out.

Now completely different. Events still take place and much more sedate. If anyone got hammered they’d stick out like a sore thumb. The en masse Friday night drinks culture has gone, even the younger end don’t want to be seen wasted by their colleagues.

ufucoffee · 15/01/2022 12:49

Lots of places have a drinking after work culture. Apart from when the pubs are closed.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 15/01/2022 12:51

I don't think it is comparable to teaching as you are responsible for children.

Confused the government is responsible for the entire country, including children!

Education policy having been formulated while pissed isn’t great for kids, is it? The idea that it might have been explains a lot.

Also it explains the Friday night DfE emails to headteachers which are pure piss-taking.

OP posts:
Goldenbear · 15/01/2022 12:52

I do think Friday night after work drinking still exists well if my DH is anything to go by but then in a way if it is with clients he has to do it! His friends are the same if they happen to be working in the office in London on a Thursday/Friday but obviously wfh takes up some of the week now so that has lessened.

Nanny0gg · 15/01/2022 12:53

@noblegiraffe

Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament? Can't get through the day without a suitcase of wine in Downing Street, drugs everywhere in Parliament? Subsidised bars on work premises?

I guess the fact that they tried to make an exemption for the bars in the Houses of Parliament when introducing a curfew for pubs should have been a warning sign that there's far too much reliance on alcohol in our ruling classes.

There was a lot of talk about standards in public life during the Owen Paterson scandal. Surely not being pissed or high on the job is a basic standard?

Aside from the issue that they couldn't even stop having massive piss-ups during lockdown, AIBU to think that something needs to be done to introduce basic rules like 'If you're not safe to drive, you're not allowed to vote in new laws'?

If you wouldn't be happy with a teacher teaching your kids half-cut and would expect rules to prevent this, why should we tolerate our government ruling the country while making their way through the contents of the wine fridge?

People have been posting 'oh yes, it's always been like this'.

Well it shouldn't be in future.

In answer to your OP, God Only Knows.

Cos I'm buggered if I do

Goldenbear · 15/01/2022 12:54

No, I meant the drinking at work thing is a thing in some places but it can hardly be done in a school! I agree with you about the government, I was more explaining that it happens in the private sector.

merrymouse · 15/01/2022 12:54

'If you're not safe to drive, you're not allowed to vote in new laws'?

Agree.

TheUndoingProject · 15/01/2022 12:54

As a civil servant i’m particularly furious that the whole lot of us are being made to look like debauched idiots by a few twats in No. 10.

Ted27 · 15/01/2022 12:55

@noblegiraffe
what happens in Downing Street is not indicative of what happens in the wider civil service

lets not tarnish the whole of the workforce

Ted27 · 15/01/2022 12:56

@TheUndoingProject

absolutely, another furious civil servant here

Goldenbear · 15/01/2022 12:57

I worked in Whitehall and I don't believe there are drugs everywhere, it is not that kind of culture, they are too conservative with a small c.

Goldenbear · 15/01/2022 12:58

It's sensationalist crap peddled out by the journos- I wonder what their work culture is like, having carried out work experience at a newspaper i don't need to imagine.