I came into work this morning with a nasty head cold. I whined about my misery to my boss, a sober, pleasant woman of a certain age. “Would you like a hot whiskey?” she asked. “You have whiskey in the office?” I asked. “Of course,” she replied, “for medicinal reasons.”
Would any other office worker who has been offered whiskey by a superior at 9 in the morning please put up his or her hand? Yeah, that’s what I thought.
Does me offering Chinese rice wine at 10am count? I think tis more lethal than whiskey
Each culture has its sovereign remedy for the head cold. The Russians use vodka liberally laced with cayenne pepper. Very good for opening up the sinuses, I’m told. Probably steam cleans the brain in the process.
Surely there can’t be more booze flowing than in Brussels? Were the days of cracking open a birthday bottle of champagne well before midday already long gone by the time you joined us? Do you recall how the corkscrew would regularly go missing or how our one abstemious colleague had to cover the wine bought on the hospitality budget with post-its so it wouldn’t be go missing (a failed tactic quickly abandoned)?
Good point H. WOL, that is slightly terrifying though effective, I’m sure…
Praxis, no, you are, of course correct. Events for leavings, birthdays etc. only ever have tea. Which makes them, somehow, tamer.