4pm on Fridays

[jgw1]

AIBU to think that having wine time every Friday whether or not one is working hard and whether or not there is a pandemic is wrong and should not have been permitted in Downing Street?

If you finish at 4pm, how is that "halfway through the working day".

Some people haven't worked in proper professional jobs and it shows

There are plenty of “proper, professional jobs” where this is obviously the norm. There are many more where it is not.

Some people haven’t worked in proper professional jobs where they are expected to deliver a public service and are funded by the taxpayer and it shows.

Part way.

I do have a question for those organisations that have WTF.

If I decide at 4pm to go home instead of to wine time is that acceptable?

But not everyone works 9-5 hours so 4pm is probably the end of the day for many.

I've worked in a couple of places where 4pm drinks were acceptable - but they certainly weren't obligatory and you could of course go home if you wanted.

I think there’s an issue that a small number of industries do normalise drinking after work . I have a relative in PR and it seems to be normal. People who have worked in those environments just think it’s normal.
however, many people (the majority) work in industries that stopped the drinking culture around 20 odd years ago. After the smoking bans were put in place ( smoking in the office was also a norm for the first years I was working) .

I think the recognition has grown that it is simply not professional or ethical. It blurs the boundaries between work and play (clearly something number 10 has struggled with ) and given that it loosens people inhibitions can lead too easily to behaviour that is unacceptable. It ain’t ethical to encourage drinking of alcohol - most industries don’t want that on their watch. In some places it is an outright H&S issue.
l’ve worked in places with their own social clubs…nearly 35 years ago. Even then the entrance was off site (even though part of the “campus”) and alcohol not served form 5pm onwards. You literally had to clock off, walk out through the gates and down the road to get to it- it was deliberate to ensure that work was work and play was play.
most industries have had to change the culture….too much gp damage was done. My PIL worked as cooper after the war…he became an alcoholic along with many of his colleagues..god help them…a bunch of men, many with mental health issues after fighting in a war had free access to alcohol during working hours and they wondered why they had so many issues. (My PIL went to rehab and all credit to him never touched a drop in entire time I knew him).

MPs and civil service have always had that same culture. The issue is MPs are self employed - no one to answer for their well being or professionalism with any teeth. And if civil servants see their ministers drinking or encouraging parties it is then the norm. We subsidise this culture with the bars at Westminster. Until they close them down and agree that MPs are there to work it won’t change, and the MPs themselves will never agree to that.

Yes, finishing at 4 on a Friday is a fairly standard thing to do. Whether you go to the pub or home is up to you.

Quite common in lots of offices and also in Co working centres etc - however none of it seems to have been happening anywhere I know during the full and partial lockdowns (apart from Downing st it seems)!as most offices were practically closed and the co working centre I used only had the odd straggler in .

I was a public worker and it was a sackable offence.

Boris and Co are just well paid but useless public workers. Why can they do it when l couldn’t?

Or one can carry on working with a glass of wine

everywhere I've worked, summary dismissal event

Does that mean the work you do is sufficiently unimportant that you can continue with it when your judgement is impaired, or am I missing something?

We used to drink every lunchtime but this was mid 90’s and people smoked at their desks! I don’t see what’s wrong with Friday 4pm drinks.

Our office fridge is usually pretty well stocked and we finish at 4pm on a Friday so the rough rule is 3pm onwards you can grab a beer/cider (soft drinks and 0% beer also available) while we tend to chat over the week and wrap stuff up. Sometimes we'll all go down to the 'living room'(/common room/meeting room - a room wirh armchairs and TV and consoles where people have lunch or do quiet work) and debrief if it's been a really mad week.

Doesn't happen every week - we don't if people are still busy or theres only 3 people in usually, it tends to be if most of us are in. It's a nice end to the week and as we often have very hectic Wednesdays and Thursdays it gives us a chance to relax a bit as a team.

I've worked places where the idea of it would be laughed out of management's office so I'm glad we give our employees a nicer experience than that!