I was listening to a band, when I read a comment on youtube that one of the members was fired for always showing up drunk. I thought that was considered almost mandatory for a musician to show up to work either drunk or high (just so long as it doesn’t affect performance).
Showing up at a job drunk or high to the point where it affects performance is one thing, but are there jobs where you can show up inebriated and it not be an issue?
When I was a state employee, many of my co-workers showed up drunk/high. My boss used to come in every day with a bag of pot strapped to one leg and a bag of coke strapped to the other. He would lock me out of the office while he sold drugs.
2nd/graveyard shift babysitting a data center (aka my job). After 6pm, everyone leaves and I just read the dope and watch simpsons all afternoon. Very rarely do I ever have to ever go and reboot something. As long as you aren’t so drunk/high that you are totally incapacitated when those rare instances occur, you’d be fine.
I still want my money back from a Van Halen concert from about 1982 or so. Eddie Van Halen was so wasted 2/3rds of the way through the concert he made most of the last 6 songs unlistenable. The encore was 5 minutes of Eddie trying to play Eruption and the 3 other members doing basically an acoustic version of Pretty Woman while Eddie sat on some stairs too drunk to do anything else. The show then ended with an apology from Alex. I’ll take sober any day.
Most of the performing musicians I know take their performances pretty seriously and don’t get wasted when they play. Many might have a toke or glass of wine before or during a gig, but as a class of workers they don’t seem to use any more or less drugs than anyone else. Some are alcoholics, of course, but so are some librarians.
I worked at Tower Records in the SF Bay Area in the early 90s. Most of the staff was high on something every day. I, on the other hand, was pretty squeaky clean. Many customers even asked if I worked there despite wearing a clear name tag.
I’ve always heard the opposite. Because of the kinds of people attracted to music as a career, combined with the hedonistic lifestyle combined with the feelings of stage fright that a musician might feel, that many musicians went on stage and performed while stoned or high. When I go to concerts I constantly see people (usually other bands) serving hard alcohol to the other performers.
I worked as a reporter. Being drunk/high was not regarded as an excuse for discipline. I covered, among other things, the banking industry. Apparently in that industry at that time, cocaine use was not regarded as an excuse for discipline, either. It was a plus. Went right along with playing golf (or whatever it is bankers do).
Advertising was similar, even a little more freewheeling. In the agency I worked at, any day at four you could see people having a beer at their desk. On Friday, earlier than four. Ah, the good old days.
In all cases though you were expected to do your job. And there were bosses with various degrees of tolerance for drugs, although they all tolerated drinking unless you really fucked up.
Might also depend on the boss or the situation. I know a place where the maintenance boss will let you slide if you are a little purple during your shift, as long as you get your stuff done. But I’m sure that is not the case for all building maintenance crews.
When I worked in high-end catering, everyone was a pothead and/or alcoholic. But while most of us showed up hung over (luckily with lots of food and drink to help revive you) I don’t think anyone smoked or drank right before their shift. They spent the other 12 hours of the day loaded.