肚臍的眼睛

Feeling the Pressure to Drink for Work

喝酒有助於升遷? (文章名稱中譯取自The New York Times)

By DOUGLAS QUENQUA October 23, 2012

As an ad-sales executive with Forbes magazine, Terry Lavin worked hard to earn his reputation as a dependable drinking buddy.

Terry Lavin是”Forbes”雜誌的廣告業務主管，他擁有”可靠的酒友”的美名。

"I just basically rented space at P. J. Clarke's," he said, referring to the Midtown Manhattan watering hole. "I was always the last to leave, always had a cocktail in my hand."

“我剛剛在P. J. Clarke's租了房子”，那是指曼哈頓中城的一家酒吧。”而且我通常是最後離開的，手上永遠都有杯雞尾酒。”

In a business built on likability, the role helped him succeed. Until 2010, when he decided to give his body a break and quit drinking for six months. His health got better; his business did not.

"I would call guys I was friendly with, guys who had their hands on big ad budgets, to see if they wanted to go to happy hour or get something to eat," he recalled, "And they'd say: 'Are you drinking? No? Don't worry about it.' "

在這個需要靠人際關係維持的行業，(可靠的酒友)這個角色幫了他大忙。直到2010年，他決定放自己的身體一個假，有六個月沒碰酒精，這個決定使他的身體更加健康，但他的工作卻不是這個一回事。

“我打電話給那些跟我關係還不錯，手上握有大筆廣告預算的傢伙，問他們想不想出來玩玩或聚個餐。”他回憶道，”然後他們會說，你喝酒嗎?不喝?那算了吧!”

So much for the benefits of the sober life.

清醒生活的好處大概也就這麼多了。

Even as three-martini lunches and whiskey-fueled staff meetings become harder to find outside of cable TV, plenty of American business rituals continue to revolve around alcohol. Whether it's courting a client, sketching out a deal or simply proving you're a team player, quaffing a round of beers is arguably more vital to many jobs than nailing a round of golf.

即使有多杯馬丁尼的午餐和浮濫威士忌的員工會議越來越少在電視節目以外的現實生活中出現，但在美國，許多做生意的規矩仍圍繞著酒精打轉。無論是在贏得一位客戶、草擬一份合約，或只是想證明你是團隊的一份子，在許多工作來說，痛飲一輪啤酒都比打完一場高爾夫球來的重要多了。

For professionals who abstain from alcohol - for health, religion, recovery or simple preference - it can sometimes seem harder to get ahead if you're not willing to throw one back.

對那些戒酒人士而言，無論是為了健康、宗教、復健，或偏好等等理由，但似乎如果真的滴酒不沾，就很難在事業上更有前景。



 

"You're expected to drink, and drinking is part of what you do, and there's a little bit of circumspection if you say you don't do it," said Link Christin, director of a special treatment program for legal professionals started last year by Hazelden, a network of alcohol- and drug-rehabilitation centers based in Minnesota. "If you say you don't drink, you have to deal with the suspicion that you can't play the game."

To find that attitude in action, look no further than this year's presidential campaign. As a part of his pitch to voters that Mitt Romney, a teetotaler Mormon, is different from most Americans, President Obama has made a conspicuous display of his own regular-guy fondness for beer.

Link Christin 是明尼蘇達州，Hazelden海瑟顿酒精與藥物中毒康復治療中心，法律工作者特別治療專案的主管，他說“大家都期待你會喝，而且喝酒是要做的事情，如果你說不喝，那其他人會有點綁手綁腳的。”，”如果你說你不喝，那就要搞定其他人對你能不能搞懂遊戲規則所產生的質疑。”。

在現實生活中，我們也可以看到如此觀念。看看今年正熱門的總統大選，歐巴馬總統為了凸顯對手羅姆尼的羅門教禁酒信仰，與主流美國文化是多麼格格不入，他做了一件引人注目的展示—做一個喜愛啤酒的正常人。

"Yesterday I went to the State Fair, and I had a pork chop and a beer," Mr. Obama boasted to an Iowa crowd in August the day after he closed down a beer kiosk so he could buy brews for himself and 10 other fairgoers. "And it was good. Today I just had a beer. I didn't get the pork chop. But the beer was good, too." The crowd rewarded him with chants of "Four more beers!"

“昨天我在博覽會，點了一道豬排和一杯啤酒”，八月時，歐巴馬先生對愛荷華州的群眾這樣說到，前一天他掃光了一個啤酒攤位，為他自己和其他十個朋友買了多到不行的啤酒。”今天能夠喝到啤酒真是太美好了，就算沒有豬排相陪，啤酒還是非常好喝。”群眾對他回以”再来四杯”(Four more beers!)的大合唱。

When the public demanded that Mr. Obama release his recipes for home brews after he shared a bottle of one with a coffee shop patron in Knoxville, Iowa, the White House milked the moment by first demanding 25,000 signatures on a petition. (The White House eventually relented, releasing two recipes after just 12,000 signatures.)

當歐巴馬在愛荷華州的咖啡廳與人分享一瓶家釀啤酒後，民眾希望他可以公開釀酒秘方，白宮方面趁機發出了第一份請願書，取得了兩萬五千份的簽名。(最後白宮大發慈悲，在取得一萬兩千份的簽名後就公布了兩個釀酒祕方。)

It's hardly a new tactic among politicians. Edward M. Kennedy complained about the lack of alcohol in Jimmy Carter's White House as he prepared to challenge the president in the 1980 primaries. And it has become a pollsters' truism in recent years that voters choose the candidate they'd rather have a beer with. (The most recent nondrinker to take the White House, George W. Bush, at least made sure he was occasionally photographed holding a nonalcoholic O'Doul's.)

這在政界幾乎不是新鮮事，1980年甘迺迪準備挑戰總統初選時，也曾抱怨過卡特總統的白宮中沒有酒精。這也變成了民調界奉為圭臬的真理，民眾將會選擇那些與啤酒同在的候選人。(最近一個不喝酒的白宮主人，喬治布希，也拿了O’Doul’s無酒精成分的啤酒照了張相。)

For less public figures, the notion that people who don't drink can't perform in business - or, worse, are somehow untrustworthy - can impede professional progress.

對曝光率低的公眾人物而言，人們不喝酒就不能在事業上有所表現，或是更糟，不能值得信任的這個信條，將會阻礙他們的職涯發展。



 

"There is a perception almost that you're impotent," said one nondrinker, an editor at a liquor-focused lifestyle magazine who asked not to be identified because many of his co-workers don't know he recently entered a 12-step program.

“大家會覺得你很無能”，一個已經戒酒，但在品酒生活雜誌工作的編輯要求不能將他的身分寫出，畢竟他的許多同事根本不知道他參加了十二項戒酒計畫。

Professional disadvantages to sobriety range from the literal - the editor had to decline a potential promotion because it would have involved wine tasting - to subtle.

"I regularly turn down lunches and dinners with industry people that I would have jumped at in the past," the editor said. "I just can't go to dinner with a winemaker and tell him: 'No, thank you. I'm not tasting those.'

"清醒生活的職涯缺點體現在客觀上--這位編輯必須損失潛在的升遷機會只因為他不能參與品酒--或在細微之處。
“我現在常常婉拒業界人士的聚餐邀約，以前我可是踴躍得很，我總不能跟個釀酒商吃飯時跟他說，不好意思，我現在不喝酒。”

One hardly has to work directly with alcohol to experience this. On Wall Street, where a "models and bottles" lifestyle prevails, those who don't drink "complain that they can't close a deal, can't even get into early negotiations because they won't engage in drinking behaviors," said John Crepsac, a New York City therapist who counsels Wall Street workers in recovery.

即使工作與酒精沒有直接相關也能體會到這種情況，紐約市治療師John Crepsac的工作是提供華爾街戒酒員工諮詢服務。他說在盛行所謂的”美女與酒精”生活型態的華爾街，不喝酒的人抱怨他們無法完成合約或啟動早期協商，就因為他們滴酒不沾。

Social scientists refer to it as "social capital," the amount of economic potential to be harnessed from one's capacity to fit in.

社會科學家描述這種情況叫做”社會資本”，一個人對環境的適應力中能發掘出多少的經濟潛能。

"There were times I knew the guys were going out with customers that could help advance my career," said one nondrinking Wall Street trader who asked to remain anonymous because his employer doesn't allow staff members to talk to the media, "but it was just unspoken: 'Yeah, we won't invite him 'cause we'll probably get up to some drinking and he won't partake, so what's the point?' "

“有時候，我知道許多同事會跟那些對我事業有幫助的客戶出門喝酒”，一位不喝酒的華爾街交易員透露，他不願意具名，因為公司不喜歡員工接觸媒體。”大家都心知肚明，但總不能公開說:對啊我們沒有邀請他，因為我們有可能會喝點小酒但他無法參與，找他幹嘛?”

Of course, sobriety and success are not mutually exclusive. Warren Buffett, Donald Trump, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Larry Ellison are all lifetime abstainers. Whether or not he wins, Mr. Romney hasn't lacked for success, either.

當然，清醒和成功並非是相互排斥的。巴菲特(Warren Buffett)、川普(Donald Trump)、拜登(Joseph R. Biden Jr.)和艾利森(Larry Ellison，甲骨文公司的創辦人)都是終身戒酒者，而無論羅姆尼會不會選上總統，他都已經是成功者了。

And sober women might actually benefit from an old double standard. "Men are still expected to get together and go wild, but in some ways it's frowned upon if the woman engages in it," Dr. Crepsac said, noting that few of his female patients have complained that sobriety hurt their careers. "There are plenty of things for which women are discriminated against in the workplace, but this isn't one of them."

而不喝酒的女性可能從過往的雙重標準中獲益。”男人始終被期盼要結群成黨，要狂野，但我們難以接受女性也如此。” Crepsac醫師注意到，女性患者中只有很少部分曾抱怨不喝酒會影響她們的職業生涯，”在職場中，有許多對女性充滿歧視的事情，但喝酒並不包括在內。”。

Still, research supports the idea that nondrinkers have a harder time climbing the corporate ladder. Multiple studies have shown that moderate drinkers earn more money than those who don't drink, though heavy drinkers earn less than moderate drinkers.

研究者也支持不喝酒者在職場上不易爬升的說法。各式各樣的調查都顯示適度飲酒者比不喝酒者賺得多，但是酒鬼會比適度飲酒者賺得少。

That pressure to perform can sometimes cause professionals in recovery to backslide. This is one reason that Hazelden created a support group especially for lawyers who are trying to stay sober.

想要有所作為的壓力有時候會讓這些專業人士在戒酒上走回頭路，這也是為甚麼Hazelden中心為了正在戒酒的律師特別成立一個支援小組。

"The pressure to bring in business at legal firms, to be a rainmaker, is greater than ever," said Mr. Christin, a former litigation lawyer and a recovered alcoholic. When someone must choose between supporting his or her family and having a glass of wine, it can be tough to stay the course, he said.

“為事務所帶進生意的壓力是空前的大”，前訴訟律師兼成功的戒酒者Christin說。當某人需要在維持家計和喝酒間做選擇時，堅持到底是很難的。

Teetotalers tend to develop strategies for socializing professionally without alcohol. Some will order a drink and simply leave it alone; others use humor to deflect unwanted attention. "I tell people I'm pregnant," said the Wall Street trader (a man).

禁酒主義者傾向發展不需酒精也可以從事社交的策略。有的人是點了一杯酒，但就放著不管；有的人用幽默移轉注意力，”我就是告訴人們，我懷孕了。”。一位男性的華爾街交易員如此說。

Mr. Lavin, who is on leave from ad sales to write a book, advises asking for your drink in deceiving glassware. "People are much calmer if you're drinking a seltzer water out of a rocks glass," he said.

從廣告業跨足到寫書的Lavin建議要求服務生將你的飲料裝在閃閃發亮的玻璃杯中，他說”人們看到你喝著用玻璃杯裝的蘇打水，會冷靜的多。”。

And there is justice to be had. Joe McKinsey, a former mortgage executive who opened a rehab clinic for executives in East Hampton, N.Y., after his own recovery, said it had taken only a few months of being sober at his old job to go from a target of ridicule to a confidant for those in trouble.

"Eventually you get people buttonholing you, asking, 'Do you think I have a problem?' " he said. "I became the go-to guy if you needed to have a private talk."

不過這世上公平還是需要存在的。前抵押貸款行政主管Joe McKinsey在自己的戒酒成功後，在紐約州東漢普頓開了一間供高階主管上門的康復診所。他說自從他成功戒酒後，才短短幾個月，就在他的舊工作場合上從嘲弄的對象成為困擾之人的好朋友。”最後有人會來問我，”你說我是不是有點不對勁啊?”，我變成了當人們需要私下談談時的最佳排解對象!”。