Should I be fired?

[TheDrunkNinja]

Unless this isn't the first strike you've received since working, then I don't think it warrants a termination. However, you just sound like the kinda guy who does this sort of thing often enough for it to be noticeable. Maybe not commonplace, but heavy drinking the night before work and then running late is enough to tell any employer what kind of worker you are.

 

[FretfulGnome]

Depends on what you do. If you're a kindergarten bus driver or something, I could see them firing you. If you just work at a McDonald's then it seems a bit harsh. Everyone stinks of booze at McDonald's, drinking helps them get through the day.

 

[Zhalath]

I'd say a sacking over that is fair enough, they only have your word to go on that you haven't been drinking before work, also regardless of that it's not very professional to turn up stinking of booze.

So, his life should be ruined, perhaps forever, for one mistake. Sorry, but what the fuck?

I'd say that's oversimplifying it. You can make a lot of different "mistakes", anything from dropping papers to showing up to work smelling of liquor to crashing through the front of the office building because you're totally wasted and can't get ahold of the ferret you caught on the side of the road. It's the details that matter.

If a man walked up to me and he smelled of liquor, I would suspect that he was drunk, or had been drunk recently. It may be that he had a bottle of vodka dumped on his clothes by his drunk and vindictive roommate, or he may have been stood up and had a drink thrown at his face and clothes, but my first instinct is "drunk".

Showing up to work and provoking this response is bad. Even if you explain yourself, people still maintain that first impression, and will continue to do so. Also, you smell of it, as a constant reminder for the day. Soon after, you may be remembered as "the guy who showed up smelling of liquor", or, simply "the drunk".

I'm rambling. Anyway, getting drunk=bad judgment=probably not good employee. If you are fired, well, unfortunate. But not surprising.

 

[LongAndShort]

Sorry, but I would have fired you. I might have one or two at the pub with some mates the day before work, but I never get so shitfaced I smell like it. It just comes off unprofessional, and businesses have to maintain image.

 

[Therumancer]

A week or two ago i turned up to work , apparently stinking of booze. I didn't realise i apparently) smelt so strongly of booze when i showed up. I wasn't drinking on the day in question, only the day before. I only smelt like drink because i had been drinking (oh so heavily) the night before, and already running late didn't have a chance to shower, before cycling to work, and the booze got sweatted out. Now granted this can't leave the best impression on customers i still don't believe it is serious enough reason so consider sacking. Anyway i have a hearing sometime soon and was just wondering if they are overreacting or am i just not grasping the seriousness of this?

Depends on what terms you were hired under. Most places I worked for had both an "At will employment agreement" and a zero tolerance policy on drugs and alcohol. If you showed up for work like that you would have been booted so fast your head would spin. I even escorted a few off property.

Generally speaking your responsible for the condition you show up in for work, whether your drunk or not is kind of irrelevent if you reek of drink so heavily that people's first impressions of you are going to be that your either drunk, or a dried out wino someone gathered up off the street.

Sorry if this doesn't sound too sympathetic. I'm a big supporter of unions and workers rights in general, and know of many people who were fired for things unfairly, this incidently includes me (and legally speaking I was fired without cause, and probably could have sued the living bejeezus out of my employers if they weren't on a reservation), in this case however I just don't have much sympathy, and I'd be surprised if unemployment backs up up with that story.

 

[Jfswift]

Honestly just call in sick if you're hungover. It's not the best solution but at least you can avoid situations like this.

 

[Phoenix09215]

At most they should probably tell you to take the day off and get yourself cleaned up.

If you were my boss I would love to work for you!

 

[Mimssy]

You were already running late and stinking of booze. I personally would have sent you home or fired you (depending on your past work experiences)

 

[Maj.JakeVitaminwater]

in Soviet Russia alcohol drinks you!

but on topic it is a difficult situation, if you weren't actually drunk but smelled of it they should have sent you home and told you to come back later or on you next scheduled work day. However, if you were actually drunk then I would say yes immediate firing, or in a less harsh way a "strike" were if you get more (or already had some) you would then be fired.

 

[Julianking93]

It all depends on where you work.

If you work in a cubical or something and it's just some dickhead bitching about it, no, that's just something they'll maybe say "We're gonna have to ask you not to do that again, please"

But if you work in a public place, like say, as a cashier, then yeah, you'll either get chewed out heavily or you will indeed be fired. They don't take that kinda shit.

 

[FaceFaceFace]

From the other responses I think the consensus is that smelling like alcohol when working with customers is a no no that can be easily prevented by not getting drunk the night before work.

 

[Plazmatic]

A week or two ago i turned up to work , apparently stinking of booze. I didn't realise i apparently) smelt so strongly of booze when i showed up. I wasn't drinking on the day in question, only the day before. I only smelt like drink because i had been drinking (oh so heavily) the night before, and already running late didn't have a chance to shower, before cycling to work, and the booze got sweatted out. Now granted this can't leave the best impression on customers i still don't believe it is serious enough reason so consider sacking. Anyway i have a hearing sometime soon and was just wondering if they are overreacting or am i just not grasping the seriousness of this?

well, if you had been drinking as heavily as you imply, then you have a drinking problem even if you don't think so, or your a light weight. Either way its not grounds for getting fired, just don't do it repeatedly.

 

[Canid117]

Should you have been fired? Yeah probably. Thats what you get for getting wasted the night before you had to go to work I guess. You seriously couldn't have waited till the weekend?

EDIT: actually was this the first time this happened or have things like this occurred before?

 

[baseracer]

You shouldn't have gotten wasted the night before. You seem like the type that in college you went to a party when you had classes the next day. (If you went to college)
I've learned from experience that it's a bad idea to go out when you have something the next day (Classes, work, something you have to get up early for).

I don't think you should be fired, but, I think that there should be consequences for your actions.

 

[Spadge]

You have a hearing soon? News flash: It is really fucking serious. Employers are not going to set up some kind of group meeting when all they're going to do is give you a light slap across the back of the head and say "You're silly, aren't you?". There is more at play than a single issue here:
You smelt of booze. Number one, and the worst (assuming your job entails PR). As plenty of other posters have said, first impressions are critical.
You weren't showered/shaved/etc -> presentable for work. I've worked in a supermarket where if you showed up with a days growth, they'd force you to buy shaving gear and shave before you can start work. It is a fair assumption that when you go to work you don't cast ANY offensive odour, whether BO or booze or sex, that you're clean shaven and wearing the appropriate uniform.
You were late. Depending on the number of employees you have on a single shift, this can range between a serious problem, or no problem at all. My current job is one where I relieve a single person - I don't show, they can't leave; other jobs I've worked, they might not even notice until they check the sign-in system.
So, you've broken three potentially important BASIC RULES of employment. If that's a problem for you after you drink, then you don't drink. Simple. If you've been there for ages, and are a good employee, you'll be fine - they'll march you in to scare you. If you're new, or you're not a hard worker, or this isn't the first time you've made any of those three mistakes - you'll be out on your ass, and don't be surprised - they have a business to run.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

You came into work smelling of booze, and quite probably hung over, in what I can assume since you mentioned customers at all is a fairly customer-service related job. As many others have said, the first thing the customers will think if you smell of booze is "this guy's hitting the bottle at or shortly before work". They're not likely to have much faith in a business that hires and continues to employ someone like that. Frankly, a lot of places would've just outright fired you, rather than having a hearing to determine whether or not to fire you, so you got off pretty lucky. As has been said before, past history is a pretty big factor. If you've been working there a few years and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened, you'll probably get off with a warning. If you're fairly new, or haven't performed all that well in general, yeah, you're screwed.