If your friends are anything like my friends, “grabbing a drink” after work can very quickly evolve into four beers and several rounds of shots (and subsequently getting home at 11 pm on a weekday and a very nasty two-day hangover). It’s not your fault – who can resist half price drinks? There’s a reason it’s called happy hour.
However, nothing about getting wasted in front of your boss on a Wednesday is cute. That doesn’t mean office happy hours can’t be productive…and dare I say it, fun? It may seem intimidating when your coworker comes over and invites you to join them at a local bar after work, but with a few easy rules to follow, you can enjoy office bonding without being “that girl” with her head face down in her cubicle the next morning.
1. Go!
At the end of a particularly stressful work day, the only thing you want to do is pull on your sweatpants and settle in for a nice Netflix binge, but happy hour can actually be a great time to get to know your coworkers better. Finally, you can brag about your weekend road trip and show off pictures of your puppy instead of solely talk about work stuff. You can put off grocery shopping one more day.
2. Drink in moderation…
Those rounds of shots I mentioned before? Yeah, maybe not the best idea in this situation. Drinking with your coworkers and bosses is vastly different than getting together with friends. Knowing your limits will avoid an embarrassing situation where your coworker needs to give you a ride home from the bar and ends in a call into your boss’ office in the morning telling you that it is actually not appropriate to dance on the bar.
3. …Or stick to seltzer.
If you’re not a big drinker or don’t want to risk going overboard, don’t feel pressure to order a cocktail (or think you can’t attend). You can still go and socialize while sipping on a non-alcoholic drink. More than likely, no one will even notice that your glass is vodka-less, but if they do, just say something like, “I don’t want to worry about driving home” or “I’m heading to the gym after this so I’m sticking to water tonight.”
4. Keep conversation light.
The last thing you’ll want to talk about after a day in the office is work. Once the conversation shifts from deadlines to more personal topics, don’t feel afraid to participate, but maybe keep that story about getting kicked out of the bar last weekend to yourself. Some safe but entertaining topics to use: cool vacations, that new restaurant in town you want to try, your weekend softball league, that time you tried hot yoga, or that Netflix series you just finished watching.
5. Nom nom nom.
From my experience, whenever someone gets sick from drinking, it’s from mixing different kinds of alcohol or forgetting to eat. If you know the plan is to go out immediately after work, snack on something an hour or so before the end of the work day so you’re not drinking on a completely empty stomach.
6. Keep it professional.
Now is not your chance to flirt with that cute guy from two cubicles over, get wasted with your office bestie that you always eat lunch with, or make fun of the new intern. In a more casual environment with three Bud Lights sloshing around your stomach, it’s easy to forget that these are your colleagues. Rumors spread around offices just as quickly as they do in high school, sadly.
7. Don’t let it affect your work.
Coming in with a massive hangover the next day or neglecting deadlines so you can make happy hour are no-no’s. If you feel like you still have work to complete, tell them you’ll try to meet them at the bar in an hour or two, or excuse yourself early so you can finish up on any responsibilities that night. Let happy hour be a bonus rather than a must.
