Nursery workers drinking at lunchtime.

[Brendathedoll]

Had a rare day off yesterday so went for a pub lunch with my sister. In there I saw 2 nursery nurses from my child’s daycare having lunch and they each had a glass of wine. There were also 2 empty glasses in the table but possibly from previous customers. I wasn’t happy but my sister says it’s there lunchtime they don’t get paid for and 2 glasses won’t make any difference. They saw me and looked a bit sheepish but it means I can’t report them anon now. I’m scared if I say something they would treat my child differently. Am I being ott thinkinb they shouldn’t drink while caring for kids?

Drinking one glass of wine. Fine. If they were legless, that’s a different story. It’s their unpaid lunch break, as long as they are compos mentis to do their job when they get back to work, where is the problem?

I only have a drink every few months and I can honestly say that a glass of wine, especially with a meal, wouldn’t get me tipsy.

I wouldn't be happy and yes I'd report them - 2 large glasses puts them over the drink drive limit

Are you sure they weren't off that afternoon?
I wouldn't be happy AT ALL.

A glass of wine is nothing when relaxing or partying, but I have had wine (or just a small beer) at lunch time in the past and when you have to work it makes a huge difference, you really feel it.

Completely inappropriate and I would report. How did they get there? If they had 2 glasses each, they'd have had more than the legal driving limit. It's also illegal to work in a nursery under the influence of alcohol. If someone is careless enough to break the law on their lunch break, I wouldn't want them looking after my children.

It wouldn't be acceptable in my job to have even 1 small glass of wine at lunch. As a pp said, you do feel it, or you should if it's not a frequent event!

However, not sure what you can do about. As you say, if you say anything they'll know it was you.

Perhaps they had a half day 🤷🏼‍♀️

Not appropriate at all if they were working. Were they in uniform?

i wonder were they on a half day? I would have thought that in childcare there would be something in the staff handbook saying that you cannot be under the influence of alcohol at work.

I am not sure if they had the afternoon off to be honest although it seems strange they would both be off together with the staffing issues they always have. It is possible I suppose. My child wasn’t in that day so I guess not my business? However I know they work long hours and a glass of wine may not be so bad or cause them to be unable to do their jobs.

@TeamPolin no but they wear tabard type things which probably get removed on lunch breaks.

@Singersong its within walking distance to the nursery so no drink driving thankfully.

They should absolutely not be drinking any alcohol when they will be caring for children after. That's fucking outrageous and I would report them immediately.

So 2 people you know work in a nursery were out for lunch, not in their uniform, and drinking with a meal, on a day you don't know if they're working?

No they shouldn't be drinking during their lunch break. Their manager needs to be told especially if they were in their uniform.

I'd report them to management. It will be against their policies and gross misconduct to drink during working hours.

I wouldn’t be happy but I’d go for the extreme of finding another nursery

They think it’s acceptable to drink whilst at work (even if it’s a lunch break) so those aren’t staff I’d like looking after my child 🤷‍♀️

I wouldn’t think reporting would make a difference tbh

I'm pretty relaxed but I'd be furious if they were working, if you're too drunk to drive you're too drunk to mind other people's small children. That's a seriously full on job and they need their wits about them.

We've been at our nursery for years so I'd approach the manager informally and just say "could you just put my mind at ease, I'm overthinking things - were Jane and Sarah off on x afternoon? I saw them in the pub and I'm sure they weren't drinking wine on their lunch break but my brain won't shut up about it".

Unpaid lunch break = I wouldn’t even answer to my employer, as long as I wasn’t under the influence when I returned to work.

Unless I had other worries about the staff or nursery, I'd assume they'd finished for the day at work.

So let's look at the evidence.

You don't know how much they drank
You don't know if they were in work
You are surmising they weren't off together as you believe you understand the running, rotas and staffing management of the nursery

Do you know they were definitely working that day, rather than meeting for lunch as friends in a pub which just happens to be near their workplace?
I wouldn't be very impressed with this if they were working, but tbh you can't know if they were or not.
The general rule for me would if they were over the safe limit to drive, then they would be over the safe limit to work. Both require judgement, quick reactions and clear thinking.

EYFS says no...

It could of been alcohol free wine. Or even something else. I had someone (who was a bit drunk) threaten to report me for drink driving. I had been drinking tonic water served in a large wine glass, I think so the pub can charge a fiver for a small bottle of Fevertree.

Completely inappropriate if they were going back to work!
Is it ok for nurses to down half a glass at the beginning of their break? How about train drivers because it will have worn off by the time they get back to work? Jesus. Also if you can’t go a whole work day without alcohol it’s a fairly bad sign for your job

So you know nothing about anything just saw two women drinking wine who may or may not have been working that day!