# What is a job you can show up drunk or high at and not get in trouble **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 10, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449 "2016-05-10T00:24:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/41 "2016-05-10T14:27:42Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > The “kind of people attracted to music as a career”? That is, people who have musical talent & put a lot of work into learning how to play their instrument(s)? And sing and probably write songs. And, if they are not “stars”–deal with club owners, set up & break down their equipment, etc. > > Especially when young, some of these folks\* do\* indulge in some foolishness. But that’s mostly after the show. Or when they’re trying to write songs & think that emulating their favorite junkie singer-songwriter will let them write as well as he did. (It doesn’t work that way.) Case in point, a regionally successful classic rock band my son plays for recently fired their lead singer for showing up to practice and shows drunk/stoned. Musicians may drink, but the vast majority take their craft very seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/42 "2016-05-10T14:43:01Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > In advertising, the creative folks have leeway in how they spend their days, as long as they’re productive. Where my gf works there is a kegerator, people keep fifths in their desks, and clouds of smoke waft from the restrooms. Makes me wish I had some artistic skills. I knew a guy who worked as a graphic artist. But his company had a “zero tolerance” policy–because it looked good to their clients. He had a part-time band & sometimes they smoked a bit at practice; they rarely gigged. Unfortunately, there was a surprise drug test one day. So they fired him. They hated doing it–they liked him & his work was good. Testing for pot shows recent use–_days_ after the smoker has come down. And he wasn’t exactly a surgeon, pilot or bus driver. Still, he lost his job. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/43 "2016-05-10T15:13:17Z")
> [@Ruken](#): > > I hear the jackboots help with balance. And good for carrying flasks. Not to hide the alcohol, of course. Just to carry it hands-free. ---
**Author:** ![Trom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@Trom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trom)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/44 "2016-05-10T18:01:56Z")
Ski lift operator ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/45 "2016-05-10T19:31:49Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Hell, in some industries it’s encouraged! 😃 > > ([link](http://fortune.com/2015/04/12/drinking-on-the-job/)) Just yesterday, I was volunteering at the library bookstore, and we got a bunch of copies of “Beer Advocate Magazine”, which none of us had ever heard of! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/46 "2016-05-10T21:14:29Z")
I ran the truck repair shop for a large company for 13 years. I got to know all the top brass because we also serviced their vehicles. They would all stop back at the garage for a drink in my office. It got to the point where I was drinking all day. I never got falling down drunk but at times I would catch myself slurring my words. I basically had a green light to drink at work all day. I quit drinking about 5 years after I left there. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/47 "2016-05-10T21:18:23Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 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. As a veteran of bar bands I can attest that Arrendajo is correct. A musician who gets drunk at a gig quickly gains a bad rep - and rightfully so. I’ve had had the displeasure to play a 4 hour gig with a guitar player who drank continually. By halfway through the second hour he was convinced he was the next Eric Clapton, but sounded horrible. We covered for him as best we could and never played with him again. The sad thing was he was pretty decent when sober, but had no self confidence and thought he played better when drunk. Hedonistic lifestyle? Not that it doesn’t exist, but most of us put on a party face while performing, then went home to our wives after the gig to resume our “Ordinary Average Guy” lives until next week. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/48 "2016-05-10T21:26:05Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > If you were working in my data center, and we found you were drunk or high, we’d probably give you a warning. Show up a second time that way, and you would be out of there. The chances of an emergency are low, but when (not if) one occurs, we need you at the top of your game. I wasn’t trying to say it was allowed, just that you could get away with it pretty easy. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/49 "2016-05-10T22:11:41Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > As a veteran of bar bands I can attest that Arrendajo is correct. A musician who gets drunk at a gig quickly gains a bad rep - and rightfully so. I’ve had had the displeasure to play a 4 hour gig with a guitar player who drank continually. By halfway through the second hour he was convinced he was the next Eric Clapton, but sounded horrible. We covered for him as best we could and never played with him again. The sad thing was he was pretty decent when sober, but had no self confidence and thought he played better when drunk. > > Hedonistic lifestyle? Not that it doesn’t exist, but most of us put on a party face while performing, then went home to our wives after the gig to resume our “Ordinary Average Guy” lives until next week. My info comes from celebrity level musicians, I would assume things are different on that level in the sense that people are less likely to say no to you and you have more handlers to compensate for whatever mistakes you make. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/50 "2016-05-10T22:26:51Z")
I suspect some of these examples were not so much where as when. The 80’s were just _different_. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/51 "2016-05-10T23:12:06Z")
> [@racer72](#): > > 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. I love Margaret Cho, but I would probably never pay to see her live again after she showed up totally blitzed and wandered into incoherent babbling for half her show. He opening act at the time figured what was up immediately and stayed on stage trying to improvise working her state into something she was “doing” but it only partially worked. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/52 "2016-05-11T11:00:23Z")
On the musician thing. I’ve helped a friend set up the stage for many blues, rock, folk, and cow-punk bands. Other than the cowpunk guys, who pounded PBRs nonstop, there was hardly ever more than a single beer being sipped. Weed, on the other hand, burned like there was a fire sale going on. Good times. ---
**Author:** ![coremelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/53 "2016-05-11T11:23:08Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Prostitute Not on countries where it’s legal. In Australia legal brothels will have a zero tolerance policy for drug use amongst their staff while at work. They’d tolerate a small amount of drinking but not to the point where it was noticeable to the clients. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/54 "2016-05-11T11:52:06Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Drug dealer. Good way to fuck up the count and/or get jacked. Don’t get high on your own supply, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/55 "2016-05-11T11:55:57Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 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). > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > 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. Like most jobs, there are a lot of myths surrounding musicians. But the thing is, playing music is hard. It takes thousands of hours of practice to get good enough to play in front of people, and going on with your mind chemically altered is not a recipe for a good performance. Regardless of their lifestyles off stage—hedonistic or not—a musician that goes on fucked up is not likely to give a good performance. And if they fail to give good performances, no one is going to pay them to do their job. Hell, the Rolling Stones fired Brian Jones in 1969 for showing up messed up to practices, recording sessions, and shows. However hedonistic you might think rockers are—even big stars, even in the freaking '60s—they have to be able to play. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/56 "2016-05-11T11:59:21Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > However hedonistic you might think rockers are—even big stars, even in the freaking '60s—they have to be able to play. Unless you play punk rock. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/57 "2016-05-11T15:35:26Z")
At most of the tech or consulting firms I’ve worked for, drinking was a fairly big part of the work culture. Regular office happy hours, drunken holiday parties, late night after hour parties, drinks with clients, beer in the office. Needless to say, I know for a fact that many people showed up to work drunk or hungover from the night before or simply “worked from home” because they were in no shape to come into the office. There were still “rules” though: -Don’t act like an asshole (particularly to partners or other important people) -You still need to get your work done and not fuck up -Don’t show up to work the next day LOOKING drunk or hungover (i.e. one analyst I had to send out to buy a new shirt because he obviously threw up on the one he was wearing the night before and slept in the office bathroom). -A director getting wasted with his boss at a strip club at 4am is ok. A kid from the mailroom blazing up a joint in front of the partners in a bar will get fired. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/58 "2016-05-11T15:56:20Z")
Being a known cocaine and/or amphetamine user, in and of itself, won’t necessarily get you fired from an investment bank/brokerage as long as you aren’t blatantly obvious about it. What matters is the effect it has on your job performance which, based on my observations, can be positive in the short run but very negative in the long run. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/59 "2016-05-12T04:04:17Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > As a veteran of bar bands I can attest that Arrendajo is correct. A musician who gets drunk at a gig quickly gains a bad rep - and rightfully so. I’ve had had the displeasure to play a 4 hour gig with a guitar player who drank continually. By halfway through the second hour he was convinced he was the next Eric Clapton, but sounded horrible. We covered for him as best we could and never played with him again. The sad thing was he was pretty decent when sober, but had no self confidence and thought he played better when drunk. > > Hedonistic lifestyle? Not that it doesn’t exist, but most of us put on a party face while performing, then went home to our wives after the gig to resume our “Ordinary Average Guy” lives until next week. Quiet Riot singer Kevin DuBrow used to consume the contents of a bottle of Jack Daniels at his shows. It was also common knowledge that the bottle contained tea, which made it a little less outrageous once that got out. Unfortunately, that wasn’t his only vice, and he was believed to have been dead for at least 6 days before anyone noticed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2016, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449/60 "2016-05-12T12:03:41Z")
Entrepreneur? Up until your business goes bankrupt at least. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-job-you-can-show-up-drunk-or-high-at-and-not-get-in-trouble/754449.md?page=4)