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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:
Zombiemum1946 · 17/01/2022 14:14

@noblegiraffe

No evidence of alcohol being a performance-enhancing drug for them, is there?
This
Goldenbear · 17/01/2022 14:55

Merrymouse, I think at my DH's creative old practice the wine was left over from hosted events and far from being unproductive, they were having a late Friday afternoon drink at the desk to increase camaraderie. One drink- no 'old boys just men and women. I think their profits suggest success. Hardly 'sad'. My DH takes clients out in the evening for dinners precisely for business development and to win contracts which they do and it is considered a 'success' to keep people employed. Women do this as well. It can be hard to imagine if it is very removed from your world of work but it's literally a huge part of my DH's job.

The government are hypocrits and they acted illegally but it is too easy to say it is old boys network. Some people really enjoy this kind of networking stuff. No one is holding a gun to their head to have a drink, in fact sometimes they have coconut water at my DH's place instead. I don't have anything like these perks in my job and far from thinking this is a good thing, I really resent that the horrible UHT milk is all we have for miserable coffee and it is all locked up which feels massively insulting, like we are going to steal instant coffee. This is the public sector and I can see why they find it difficult to recruit as there are no day to day fringe benefits.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 17/01/2022 15:22

Downing Street is public sector and it wasn’t UHT milk in miserable coffee they were drinking.

OP posts:
longwayoff · 17/01/2022 15:34

Time to get your DH to give you a job then and you'll be able to choose your own milk paid for by your fabulous salary or even, on the house as a perk, now so sadly lacking in your public sector job paid for by the public purse.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 17/01/2022 15:41

You get coffee and UHT milk? Luxury.
We had to buy our own kettle!

Goldenbear · 17/01/2022 16:45

I know what they have in Whitehall to drink because I worked there. The in-house coffee shop is a perk but you are paying for it yourself. It is not paid for by the public purse.

Blossomtoes · 17/01/2022 16:45

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

You get coffee and UHT milk? Luxury. We had to buy our own kettle!
You were allowed a kettle? We were told we couldn’t have one because there was nobody to do the safety check and certify its use.
Original poster
noblegiraffe · 17/01/2022 17:46

Bloody hell.

What a joke of a workplace. No wonder their output is so shit.

What kind of fucked-up, dysfunctional workplace is our government operating in?
OP posts:
jgw1 · 17/01/2022 18:21

@noblegiraffe

Bloody hell.

What a joke of a workplace. No wonder their output is so shit.

It does explain how they found it so easy to bring a bottle. This detail had been worrying me.
Curiousmouse · 17/01/2022 18:26

Start a lunchtime! FFS.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 17/01/2022 18:30

@Blossomtoes And you try and tell the young people of today that ... they won't believe you Grin

Blossomtoes · 17/01/2022 18:30

Doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. I worked for a local authority in the early 90s where the Tory mayor offered me a G&T at 10am. The chief exec waited until lunch time to open the drinks cabinet.

Blossomtoes · 17/01/2022 18:31

[quote PastMyBestBeforeDate]@Blossomtoes And you try and tell the young people of today that ... they won't believe you Grin[/quote]
It was 2017!

TheKeatingFive · 17/01/2022 18:35

I’m afraid there is no way you can spin drinking at your desk as anything other than unproductive and a bit sad.

Oh I beg to differ.

In my first job, 'beer fridge' Friday started at about 4.30. It got us through the final bits of admin and (most importantly) timesheets very nicely thanks. Then the socialising began properly. It was fun.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 17/01/2022 18:40

Not like Downing Street had anything pressing to deal with.

OP posts:
Peregrina · 17/01/2022 18:52

But I was told that my experiences about what it was like in the 90s was irrelevant. And was told how Central London now is Booze Central all day and that's OK (a slight exaggeration, but not much.)

merrymouse · 17/01/2022 19:14

It got us through the final bits of admin and (most importantly) timesheets very nicely thanks. Then the socialising began properly. It was fun.

Or you could get the admin done quickly and accurately then start socialising.

TheKeatingFive · 17/01/2022 19:16

Or you could get the admin done quickly and accurately then start socialising.

If you had worked there, you could have done as you pleased. I had a beer.

merrymouse · 17/01/2022 19:18

I think at my DH's creative old practice the wine was left over from hosted events and far from being unproductive, they were having a late Friday afternoon drink at the desk to increase camaraderie.

I worked in an Ad agency for many years. There were much better places to drink than next to the photocopier.

Goldenbear · 17/01/2022 20:26

Merrymouse, there are facts and there are beliefs and respectfully, this is what you believe but it is no more than that.

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 17/01/2022 20:30

I think that 'there are much better places to drink than next to the office photocopier' is probably quite a popular belief.

OP posts:
Goldenbear · 17/01/2022 20:36

But the point is people are adults and free to make that choice. Who are you to tell people how they should live their lives - this isn't communist China. Whether you think it is a good thing or not is largely irrelevant!

Original poster
noblegiraffe · 17/01/2022 20:43

Politicians aren't free to act how they like at work, otherwise Hancock would still be in a job.

People in jobs paid for out of our tax should be held to certain standards regardless of what goes on in the private sector.

OP posts:
Goldenbear · 17/01/2022 20:43

More importantly it is not 'fact'. Posters are giving another point of view and some explanations as to why this may not be so awful in the extreme!

jgw1 · 17/01/2022 20:47

@noblegiraffe

Politicians aren't free to act how they like at work, otherwise Hancock would still be in a job.

People in jobs paid for out of our tax should be held to certain standards regardless of what goes on in the private sector.

What I think we really need to know is whether the makers of so many of our laws in Brussels were drunk at the time.