The thing that most determines happy hour is the business need and success. If a bar is dead from 4-7, then they cut prices during that time to get people to come and drink. Then after seven the normal bar crowd is there and drinking so they can charge full price. Some places have longer or shorter or more varied happy hours, some place have none if business kicks ass all the time. And if a place is really dead all the time, or in serious competition with another close bar, they sometimes go to full time happy hour just to get people in the door. Bar folks tend to be pretty loyal and consistent (“Where everybody knows your name”) so getting someone in the door enough times may make a permanent long-term patron, who will keep coming even if the happy hour starts to suck.
The free food is pretty rare around here, and is essentially a loss leader. Since your office goes there my guess is that the business group crowd is something they are going after. And if you make the non drinkers/light drinkers happy to come to your place for something like food, then the real drinkers spend enough to make up the money. It’s all about doing what it takes to get people there.
It sounds like it’s your turn to grab the round buddy :), you don’t want to look like a cheepskate. Unless it’s the bosses(not nessecarily yours) and high level high salary people buying drinks for the lower money folks. If the boss tries to grab every round, let him. It’s either politeness, or posturing, but either way it’s guiltless free beer.
It depends on the office culture. Someplaces have a ‘work hard party hard, what happens at the bar stay at the bar’ system, some places have a ‘tsk-tsk how unprofessional’ attitude, go with the flow and drink how much you feel like drinking.
along with what other people said, sometimes people drinking beer after the harder stuff have problems. My thought is that it’s mainly that the beer tastes weak after your taste buds have had the liquor, and people start drinking it like water and drink too much. But most serious drinkers who know what they’re doing switch back and forth without problem.
If the getting blotto aspect turns you off, and you really want to bump up the comraderie part of it you can volunteer to be the designated driver. That way you’ll be able to be part of the hanging out and enjoy the food, but you won’t have to worry about paying for rounds, etc. (In fact if your co-workers are hip, you won’t be paying for your sodas/juice/water either.) No one will have to worry about killing someone on the way home either.
Reminds me of one of my better post-work happy hour stories. We had a bunch of our company’s field representatives (salespersons) come back to the home office for a computer upgrade. I was part of the team responsible for the upgrades, and one in particular didn’t work correctly. The salesman pointed it out to me, and, knowing who he was (#2 or #3 salesman in the entire company at the time, I think he’s #1 now), I basically took his machine, saying “I don’t know what happend, but I WILL have this fixed for you tonight.” Well, anyway, I fixed the problem, and proceeded down to the hotel bar, where I found a group (including the guy in question) drinking. They wave me over, I return his machine, he decides to buy me a beer for my trouble.
Well, one beer turned into 7, plus dinner. At about this time I decided I needed to buy my round for everyone, but I was stopped by one of the other people at the table. I started to protest, but was told “Don’t worry about it. (Salesman) got his annual bonus check 3 days ago, which netted him $450,000”
I didn’t feel any qualms about him buying my drinks after that.
Well, it looks like you are going to have to step up and start to drink heavily - I recommend practising drinking a bottle of Scotch daily to get in shape.
Obviously I kid! If you want to stay out with the guys but don’t want to drink as much why not have a soft drink in-between alcoholic drinks? This means that your three-drink limit is stretched out effectively to six. The added bonus of this method is that you will almost certainly have no ill effect from the alcohol and may even remain sober enough to have another alcoholic drink.
Remember that it takes an hour or so for your body to process one alcoholic drink (1 1/4 oz spirits, 12 oz beer, 4 oz wine). Drinking a non-alcoholic drink between alky drinks slows your consumption rate. GOOD idea. However, I drink Long Island Ice Teas much more than I should, so I’m screwed from the get-go.
As for tipping, $1 per glass is a bit much around here. If I’m at a bar, I tip 1 on the first drink and .50 for the rest of the night… or if I go over 5 drinks, the $5s and $10s start flying.
The bar also hopes you will hang around and countinue to drink full price drinks after happy hour is over. Many people would also rather go to a bar that has people in it instead of being the only ones there. The happy hour can give a bar that busy ‘place to be’ look early in the evening.
It’s either politeness, or posturing, but either way it’s guiltless free beer.
