# Stuff you used to get away with at work that would get you fired today **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 15, 2011, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482 "2011-02-15T19:02:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/21 "2011-02-15T21:49:32Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I am just old enough that at one of my earliest jobs the boss had the bottle in the desk. I don’t think that would be allowed almost anywhere now. This was 1984. Huh, I must be lucky. Everyplace I’ve ever worked has been reasonable alcohol-friendly at a minimum. I just left a job at Microsoft where my department had a stash larger than some bars I’ve been in. My current place has wine tastings on Wednesday, beer and pizza for all-company meetings, and I have the requisite bottle of rye in my desk. But no smoking, and no dogs. Dog day was a dot com era perk I’m not sad to see go, and I like dogs. Just not poop under my desk. ---
**Author:** ![Any\_Other\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f17d59/32.png) [@Any\_Other\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Any_Other_Name)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/22 "2011-02-15T21:52:54Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > According to some of the old timers where I work, 25, 30 years ago, a lot of people would just light up at their desks. I never thought of myself as an old timer. On the other hand, we could still get away with the things we did 30 years ago, since we’ve all worked together for that long. Except the smoking. No one smokes here anymore, and it’s a legal thing anyway, not an HR or PC thing. The camping joke? One of my favorites. I’ve told it a number of times among male only groups, and occasionally to a select mixed group. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/23 "2011-02-15T22:41:20Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I was just going to say smoking at your desk. This will probably freak some people right out, but we used to smoke _weed_ at the corporate manager meetings. I worked for a record store chain in the pacific NW. This was about 1978, and even then, although happy to participate, I was still somewhat 😕 ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/24 "2011-02-15T22:57:15Z")
Stepping out into the hall at the 3:05 bell when school ends and firing up a smoke with the other teachers. Yelling at the kids from the stockroom during class “don’t make me have to put this out and come in there!” Smoking during lunch in the teachers’ lounge. ---
**Author:** ![River\_Hippie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/river_hippie/32/26_2.png) [@River\_Hippie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/River_Hippie)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/25 "2011-02-15T23:15:26Z")
We smoked weed at work sometimes (factory job) and would have been fired if caught but we punched out for lunch and would often pile into cars and drive up the road aways and get high. It was an open secret. The boss knew exactly what we were up to. It was the late seventies and LOTS of people got high. ---
**Author:** ![maplekiwi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@maplekiwi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maplekiwi)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/26 "2011-02-15T23:18:31Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Stepping out into the hall at the 3:05 bell when school ends and firing up a smoke with the other teachers. > > Yelling at the kids from the stockroom during class “don’t make me have to put this out and come in there!” > > Smoking during lunch in the teachers’ lounge. I shouldn’t be laughing at this but I am! ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/27 "2011-02-15T23:27:11Z")
At my first real-world job in the late 1980s and early 1990s, for a local government agency in New Mexico, racial jokes flew around with great abandon. Hispanics would openly talk about the _pinche juedos_, Anglos would respond with Mexican jokes, and Indians (feather) would call all of us palefaces. It all seemed so … well, _Australian_. However, the lone black employee was off-limits as a subject. I doubt one could get away with any of that today, even with a local culture that tolerates or embraces such humor. ---
**Author:** ![congodwarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@congodwarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/congodwarf)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2011, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/28 "2011-02-15T23:36:11Z")
I’m definitely not an old timer but I still remember being able to smoke at work. When I was a cashier at Bickford’s, it was not uncommon to see the waitresses sitting in the smoking section, smoking away and chatting with the regulars. The cook smoked while he cooked. When I worked at Dunking Donuts in 1998-1999, we smoked in the stock room. I worked for a heating manufacturer in the early-mid 00’s. The office people weren’t allowed to smoke at our desks (though the owner did) but we did have a smoking room downstairs. The factory workers didn’t smoke right at their machines but they would gather next to the foreman’s office and smoke. They didn’t do away with that until MA made it illegal to smoke in any place of employment. My mom used to take me to work with her all the time. When she worked for the Girl’s Club, it wasn’t a big deal and I even got classes for free out of it (I learned to ride a unicycle while she worked there). But more often than not, I’d sit in her office and help her work. When she started working in the public relations office of a hospital, I still went to work with her after school. I’d stuff envelopes, collect mail and deliver it to the mail room, bring mail from the mail room and distribute it. I’d get coffee or other drinks/snacks for anyone who wanted it and I’d clean the break room. I can see this being allowed in a small company but I can’t imagine that most large hospitals would be ok with some random 10-year-old wandering around, doing work and fetching snacks. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/29 "2011-02-16T01:11:28Z")
First things that jumped to mind were smoking at your desk and alcohol at meetings. Then I realized that there is a flip side. I did something today (and most days) that would have gotten me fired (or at least sent home) twenty some years ago when I started at this company. I wore blue jeans, tennis shoes and a golf shirt to work. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/30 "2011-02-16T01:21:31Z")
Every office job I’ve ever had, there was at least one person in the office who kept a bottle of booze at their desk, and wasn’t shy about letting people know. My last job, we had a cardboard box filled with hard liquor stored in one of the department supply cabinets. Never had a job that required a drug test, either, which is good, because I’ve never worked an office job that wouldn’t be cleared out entirely by a mandatory drug testing policy. Video game industry, man. It’s the only office job worth working. ---
**Author:** ![seanchai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@seanchai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seanchai)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/31 "2011-02-16T01:33:59Z")
I remember, (mid to late 70s) nurses and physiotherapists smoking in the charting areas. Then it dawned on someone that if the dangers of cigarette / smoke was being printed on the package, maybe a HOSPITAL should, don’tchaknow, consider smoking was bad for your health. BUT we still had special rooms, supposedly well ventilated, for patients who smoked. The rule seemed to be, if you could afford the cigarettes, and you could get your ass there and back to your room, you could smoke inside the hospital. THEN it became an issue that if we were REALLY into health care, we should stand behind the last 3 decades of scientific findings and ban smoking from the hospital AND grounds. Judging by the butts, this isn’t working 100% - maybe 70% - but things sure have changed over the years! an seanchai ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/32 "2011-02-16T02:48:29Z")
I am so getting a mickey of rye for my desk drawer. I want to be a retro badass secretary. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/33 "2011-02-16T03:00:32Z")
> [@perfectparanoia](#): > > We still have offensive (esp sexual) jokes made in person and via email. We sometimes go overboard with the booze on lunch on Fridays and we sometimes share a tipple in the office. > > I love my job! > > (Though, us smokers still have to freeze outside as it should be.) Same here (except for the emails, none of us want our inboxes clogged). I think the difference from the good old days is that none of us is seriously sexist, racist, misogynist or homophobic, so it’s fine. I think we occasionally sense we’re approaching a line and cool it down, but overall we enjoy the gallows humor and bad jokes. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/34 "2011-02-16T03:18:14Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Stepping out into the hall at the 3:05 bell when school ends and firing up a smoke with the other teachers. > > Yelling at the kids from the stockroom during class “don’t make me have to put this out and come in there!” > > Smoking during lunch in the teachers’ lounge. Senior lounge was a smoking allowed room when I was in high school. So was the teachers lounge. Where I worked I allowed the guys in my department to have 1 beer with lunch and we frequently hit one of the local bars together after work, as long as I wasn’t headed for a gig. Company policy was 2 beers, but I didn’t want anybody working on a lathe or mill that was tipsy. I actually did have a bottle of vodka in my office. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/35 "2011-02-16T03:27:26Z")
When I worked in a hospital, we didn’t smoke at the desk, but we sure did in the break room. Back in the early '80s, my boss kept a bottle of booze in his desk. Hell, we used to have happy hour on Friday afternoons and at the end of a big project. That was nothing compared to the cocaine use in our New York office. I not only smoked at my desk, I wrote the office’s policy on smoking because my boss believed I was the only one in the office who could be fair to both non-smokers and smokers (I ended up banning smoking at desks, but allowing smoke breaks.) We had one supervisor who used to get drunk at lunch. Eventually they told him to shape up (which he did) but it took a lot longer than you’d think. One supervisor would go through the resumes and call women in for “interviews” just so he could troll for dates. The sexual jokes around the office were so intense that even the gross pigs ended up censoring themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/36 "2011-02-16T03:34:10Z")
At my first job, we used to remodel the cubes…meaning if there were three cubes, but only two people, we’d tear down the empty one and make the other two bigger. All my jobs since then have very strong policies against that. At that same first job, we had a porn server. One of the guys actually took the time to go on usenet and download porn, and kept it all organized. I’m fairly certain we didn’t have one at any of my other companies. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/37 "2011-02-16T03:39:29Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Fridays were for getting smashed at lunch. On occasion, the boss would bring in a case of beer on Friday, and after work, several of us would play cards and drink beer, smoking all the while. That was 30 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/38 "2011-02-16T04:34:32Z")
Drink, smoke, cuss, and wear whatever the hell I wanted - from mini skirts to short-shorts to full-on vampire costume… I was a bartender. I guess in some places, bartenders can still do this at work, but anymore, you can’t even have a cigarette with your beer at happy hour, unless the bar has an outdoor smoking area. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/39 "2011-02-16T04:36:09Z")
We had our Christmas party during the day during the lunch hour. There was always a spiked punch and a cooler with beer. People brought in food. To their credit, I don’t recall anyone getting drunk. All the office parties in the various departments did the same. One Christmas around 1993 the party had no alcohol. There was no rule or official memo. Some old bosses had retired and no one wanted to risk testing the new bosses. Today, I’d find it hard to believe anyone would risk alcohol at a party during work hours. Everyone seems so much more serious these days. Can’t risk offending anyone and everybody wants to cover their ass. Including me. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2011, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482/40 "2011-02-16T04:53:20Z")
We used to turn up at the heliport for the ride out to the rig fairly well reeking of booze after long night before. That went out the window in late 90s, probably for the best really, now there is a 24 hr ban on alcohol prior to going to a rig. This is North Sea, not sure about the Gulf and other parts of the world. We also used to spend long nights calibrating logging tools that used radioactive sources. To relieve the boredom when waiting between stages it was not unheard of to don a safety harness, hook up to the gantry crane and with the crane controls in one hand and do super-man impressions up and down the crane bay. Almost certainly a termination letter offense these days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stuff-you-used-to-get-away-with-at-work-that-would-get-you-fired-today/571482.md?page=3)