Burning question about alcohol in the executive suites in days of yore

[grasshopper]

We had an unwritten policy that there were no deliveries after 3pm on Friday. If you wanted a delivery after 3pm it cost the customer a case of beer. This was the 80's. We always had at least one gotta have delivery after 3.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

What a great Readers' Digest Condensed Version of a life story!

Booze is not allowed on Defense Department property without permission from, I think, the Secretary of Defense. During my tours at the Pentagon, up until 2001, such permission was granted at Christmas, when refreshment tables with punch bowls were moved into the corridors for all to sample. I don't know if that's still going on - nowadays, there's the fear of someone crashing their car and the employer getting sued.

Booze on ft Sam Houston as recently as a 2011 Christmas party at lunch for a group of mechanics. Keg and wine coolers. Allowed 2 drinks per. No equipment to be operated for the remainder of the day. Approved by the Wing 1 star.

 

[Chuckanut]

This thread reminds me of Mad Men. It didn't matter what happened, good, bad, meaningless, work related, home related, sports, politics or how often the traffic light changed. It was always a reason to drink.

 

[Amethyst]

So...maybe only at the Pentagon did it need such high level approval (one-stars being pretty common fodder there). I honestly don't recall the details, hard to believe how long ago it was.

Booze on ft Sam Houston as recently as a 2011 Christmas party at lunch for a group of mechanics. Keg and wine coolers. Allowed 2 drinks per. No equipment to be operated for the remainder of the day. Approved by the Wing 1 star.

 

[cathy63]

This thread reminds me of Mad Men. It didn't matter what happened, good, bad, meaningless, work related, home related, sports, politics or how often the traffic light changed. It was always a reason to drink.

Modern ad agencies are the same. I was at a digital agency for a couple of years early last decade, and we had beer in the fridge all the time, and pretty much a full bar in the creative dept. It was definitely not unusual to see people drinking after 5:00 PM, and it was definitely a faux pas to show up at the annual Christmas party gift exchange with something that was not in a bottle. My office was near the CEO's, so I got to overhear lots of interesting conversations about culture and liability when he hired a "real" HR person.

 

[JoeWras]

This thread reminds me of Mad Men. It didn't matter what happened, good, bad, meaningless, work related, home related, sports, politics or how often the traffic light changed. It was always a reason to drink.

And smoking. A lot of smoking.

Actually, smoking was something in every office of the 60s and 70s, lingering through the 80s and 90s. My first job (office cleaner) was in the 70s in a bill collectors office. You have NEVER seen so much chain smoking in your life. It was absolutely ridiculous! I had to empty POUNDS of butts from the room of 8 collectors every day. The walls were yellow.

I how I DO NOT miss those days.

 

[Sojourner]

But I'm still on the track of what was served in the executive suite. When Big Shot asks visiting Big Shot, "Can I pour you a drink"? what was the answer expected?

From what was depicted on Mad Men, I think it almost always would've been either whiskey (scotch or bourbon) or vodka. My guess is that Mad Men was pretty accurate with cultural details like this, at least when it comes to Madison Avenue ad agencies in the 1960s.

 

[timo2]

I worked in one oil business corporate office in Houston (as opposed to my normal haunts of field locations in rural areas). In the corporate office the all male pantheon of executives always had a bottle of something in their offices. Additionally, they often went out to multiple drink lunches, sometimes at strip clubs. At my position I was rarely ever included, but I'll tell you what: IMO The inability of a person to function after a drinking lunch with executives has always been a metaphor for the decline of industry in the United States. No one in any of the field offices would have been allowed to behave in that manner, but the observation of it at the executive level was quite demoralizing to everyone.

 

[Dtail]

This thread reminds me of Mad Men. It didn't matter what happened, good, bad, meaningless, work related, home related, sports, politics or how often the traffic light changed. It was always a reason to drink.

My dad worked in market research for advertising. Stated that Mad Men was fairly realistic.

 

[Rustic23]

I went through flight school in 66. Booze at the O'Club, but never on the flight line. We had a reunion at the same base in 1988. There was a bar in the squadron 'ready' room, beer on tap, and lots of bottles. Now this was in Del Rio right across from the Mexican border and 'solo parties' were heavy drinking with cheap Mexican booze.

On the other side of the coin, by 88, the O'Clubs were almost out of business. DUI made it so most pilots would not risk even one drink.

 

[JoeWras]

From what was depicted on Mad Men, I think it almost always would've been either whiskey (scotch or bourbon) or vodka. My guess is that Mad Men was pretty accurate with cultural details like this, at least when it comes to Madison Avenue ad agencies in the 1960s.

They occasionally commented on what was in the bottles. I just don't have an episode handy.

Mad Men was also spot on about style. Almost scary. I just love the visuals as it brings back memories of my childhood. Hair, clothing, and items are spookily accurate. The subtle year to year shift of style from 60 to 70 is handled well within the show too. From short hair and starched shirts to a little grubby look with looser clothing. Right down to the awesome ending of one of the most iconic ... ... I'll stop here to not ruin the ending for anyone who hasn't seen it.

 

[Pellice]

Thanks for the answers on the contents of those crystal decanters! There's probably a whole 'nother story there about how the hard stuff became the drink of choice in the executive suite. And not pretty cocktails, either!

 

[Masquernom]

The three martini lunch was a viral meme back in the day. I remember going on a job interview in 1974 with a guy whose firm managed unemployment claims for client companies. He asked me if I was a drinker and my red flags went up. I gave some mealy mouthed answer implying that I drank a little but not much. As the interview went on I realized he was looking for a more affirmative answer because his people took clients out for those three martini lunches.

I had a similar experience when graduating engineering school. A few of us signed up for interviews with an oil field service company on campus. I was one of the first ones to interview. The interviewer asked about how much I partied, and bars in town. I thought they were trick questions and deflected with my answers. My interview was over in about 10 minutes. Next grad interviewing did the same. He got tossed out. Third grad said he'd try the opposite. Said he drank all the time and spent more time in bars than school. He got the on site interview. Said he went to New Orleans for 3 days. Said he probably slept 8 hours total on the trip. Said they were either in bars drinking, or flying out to oil platforms the whole time. Said the employee he was with would walk into a bar and order whatever they had that cost the most to drink.
Apparently, entertaining oil company personnel was the most important requirement for the job. He said there was no limit on their expense budget to do that. That was in 1982.

 

[eytonxav]

There were decanters in a few exec offices, but not all. What I remember most was the sex that would occasionally take place. We had a VP get caught in the CEO's office shower with his secretary. He went bye bye.

 

[IMATERP]

I worked for an international non for profit between 1987 - 1993. Every Friday the president of the non for profit - would announce on the speakerphone that “the bar was open.” Thus, between 2:00 pm and 5:00 p.m. it was more than acceptable to slam back a few within the confines of the office. This non profit was located in Washington, D.C.

Ironically, the President died of a heart attack in the mid 90’s.

No love lost - as I was fired in 1993. I had stopped drinking a few years earlier and no longer fit in with that bunch.

 

[cooch96]

I've been told whiskey gave way to vodka during the corporate transition to dry offices (70's-80's) as vodka is less smelly on the breath. I suspect that was the big start of the vodka martini concept.

 

[aja8888]

There were decanters in a few exec offices, but not all. What I remember most was the sex that would occasionally take place. We had a VP get caught in the CEO's office shower with his secretary. He went bye bye.

What happened to the secretary?

 

[Scrapr]

What happened to the secretary?

Promoted to CEO Executive Assistant?

 

[Stormy Kromer]

President Truman liked Kentucky Bourbon. I think it was common while he was in the Senate and White House. He had to follow one rule from Bess and that was he couldn't drink alone. That wasn't a problem in the Senate, there were always plenty of thirsty congressman around. When he was in the White House it was harder. Sometimes late at night he'd have to wake up an off duty secret service officer to share a drink with him.

 

[eytonxav]

What happened to the secretary?

This happened about 30 years ago. I don't know, but if it happened today, most likely she would be suing the company and accusing him of rape.

 

[Pellice]

I suppose, practically speaking, the hard stuff didn't require refrigeration and didn't spoil, either.

 

[calmloki]

While hoisting a Costco 1/2 gallon from an upper shelf yesterday I wondered about decanters. Are they cleaned between each refill? How do you clean an externally faceted container with small opening. Does Dawn dish washing liquid impart a subtle foamy smoothness to aged Scotch? What does one do while waiting for the decanter to be washed and dried? Switch to Bourbon?

Edit: While no kind of executive suite the Captain did pass the order to splice the main brace while we were bobbing about in the Gulf of Tonkin. No recollection of the type of booze consumed.

 

[brett]

We did not have it.

The very worst customer I had was an alcoholic. At lunch I might have on drink to his three or four scotches.

The end came soon enough. One day, coming back from lunch, my guest exited the elevator and I found myself alone with his boss, the senior VP. I will always remember the comment "Ken always smells of two things, stale liquer or fresh liquer'. Ken was gone in two weeks.....about three or four years too late in my estimation.

I made it a policy never to drink with or in front of customers-junior or senior folk. One drink at the very most. Many other successful people in my industry had the same policy.

 

[Sunset]

My first IT job was for a small company of 30 employees onsite, and 70 offsite.
Every Friday, they had a company lunch with free beer.
It was a tradition since they started with 3 people out of the back of a pickup truck.

First Friday I was there, I told the owner/CEO that I appreciated the lunch, and he asked why wasn't I drinking a beer.
I had to tell him, I didn't drink beer, just wine but the lunch was good without a drink.

Next Friday, he told me there some bottles of wine in the fridge with the beer.

After lunch we still had to work, so in some ways it was a test to see who was a responsible drinker.

 

[Rusa]

Top government exec in the 60s and 70s

My dad was a two-martini-lunch kind of guy.