The Best Drink to Order at Work Is the One You Don’t Like.
Drinking with colleagues is fraught with potential gaffes. In addition to being sleazy, drinking can make you act in ways you’re not proud of. It’s not that big of a deal among friends, but can have some pretty dire consequences if you add colleagues and bosses to the mix.
My father, who spent many years of his professional life attending symposiums, conferences, and business lunches, never had much of a problem with it. He doesn’t drink much anyway, but he also pulled off a clever little trick to make sure he didn’t drink too fast: He ordered drinks he didn’t like. “I don’t like bourbon, so I always order bourbon,” he told me. “It would take me forever to take this thing off.”
To a young mind, this may seem like a waste of free alcohol, but what good is a free drink if it costs you a job (or a raise, or a promotion, or respect)? By ordering something you don’t really care about, you’ll spend the evening grooming your drink rather than puffing or even aggressively sipping it, leading to fewer gaffes and hangovers in the morning.
And, since you ordered a real alcoholic drink, you will be able to avoid all the questions “Why are you not drinking?” the nonsense that usually accompanies ordering a Diet Coke. While society as a whole is starting to have a better respect for everyone’s choice when it comes to alcohol, corporate America is lagging behind in this regard.
Ordering a drink you don’t like and really taking your time with it, you come across as a responsible business person who makes responsible decisions, not a person who drinks free drinks and chats too closely. Plus, you can always have a drink you really like after the event ends at a bar where your HR representative isn’t around.