A long time ago when one of the DIYnot regulars was convicted of drink driving, some believed that we were being too easy on him. As if we were saying "getting caught was the mistake".
Well, I'm experiencing this first hand today. No, I haven't been drink driving! However, last Thursday I broke my rule of "don't get drunk on a work night", at the first of the Christmas parties. Because the hostess is a close friend and got upset that people were leaving early, some of us decided to stay to ensure the party was regarded a success.
Needless to say, we ended up drinking far too much, but I would have felt OK after plenty of sleep. However, I ended up going to bed at 5:00 and getting up at 8:00. As you can imagine, I was not much good at work the next day. But I made the effort to get in, thinking I could at least get on with some of my easier tasks. It turned out to be the mother of all hangovers, so after discussion with my manager we decided the best course of action was for me to take one of my holidays. End of story. He likes to party too! Oh, I should point out I am a paper pusher and therefore injuring myself or others through incapability was not going to happen!
But today I got a royal rollocking from my boss's boss. Accusing me of being an alcoholic, threatening me with official warnings and so forth.
Now, as a businessman, I agree with him. People should be prepared to show up for work, and should be responsible enough to ensure their private life does not affect their professional life.
However, I'm only trouble because I was caught. If I had woken up last Friday and rung in sick, no problem. If I had just sat their shivering and sweating and done zero work, no problem. I know people under the same manager who do this frequently!
It's only because I was honest enough to say "Because of my actions last night, I am incapable of performing my job today and feel it is in the interests of the company that I take a day out of my holiday entitlement rather than stay here and waste the company's time" (those were my actual words... engineers are seldom poetic!)... Unprofessional to show up at work hungover, but I feel it was professional to admit fault and mitigate any damage to the business.
So again, a case where "getting caught" was the crime rather than the crime itself.
Well, I'm experiencing this first hand today. No, I haven't been drink driving! However, last Thursday I broke my rule of "don't get drunk on a work night", at the first of the Christmas parties. Because the hostess is a close friend and got upset that people were leaving early, some of us decided to stay to ensure the party was regarded a success.
Needless to say, we ended up drinking far too much, but I would have felt OK after plenty of sleep. However, I ended up going to bed at 5:00 and getting up at 8:00. As you can imagine, I was not much good at work the next day. But I made the effort to get in, thinking I could at least get on with some of my easier tasks. It turned out to be the mother of all hangovers, so after discussion with my manager we decided the best course of action was for me to take one of my holidays. End of story. He likes to party too! Oh, I should point out I am a paper pusher and therefore injuring myself or others through incapability was not going to happen!
But today I got a royal rollocking from my boss's boss. Accusing me of being an alcoholic, threatening me with official warnings and so forth.
Now, as a businessman, I agree with him. People should be prepared to show up for work, and should be responsible enough to ensure their private life does not affect their professional life.
However, I'm only trouble because I was caught. If I had woken up last Friday and rung in sick, no problem. If I had just sat their shivering and sweating and done zero work, no problem. I know people under the same manager who do this frequently!
It's only because I was honest enough to say "Because of my actions last night, I am incapable of performing my job today and feel it is in the interests of the company that I take a day out of my holiday entitlement rather than stay here and waste the company's time" (those were my actual words... engineers are seldom poetic!)... Unprofessional to show up at work hungover, but I feel it was professional to admit fault and mitigate any damage to the business.
So again, a case where "getting caught" was the crime rather than the crime itself.
