Upcoming business trip and possible strategies?
I work for a Fortune 50 company and our sales meetings are a free for all. I am one of a handful of women in a male dominated business. Imagine the drinks I've been handed over the years! I've learned a couple of things...you do need to be seen by your boss and the other higher ups, so make a point to speak to them, but I don't have to be the first one down there and the last one to leave anymore. The worst part is at first, the cocktail hour. Get there the last 15 minutes and get in line at the bar and get a drink of club soda or something in your hand. Use this as a deterrent. At dinner, you can turn your wine glass upside down or just decline. After dinner, if you want to mingle, fine, but believe me, nothing much worthwhile happens after 9 o'clock. I've heard the same stories by the same people for 25 years!! You won't be missing a thing...just slip quietly back to your room. Announcing it to people makes them kick into high gear....(oh, don't be a party pooper, just stay and have one more! ) Just slip quietly away and NO ONE will be the wiser. If I can do this in my industry, you can, too. If someone says something, say you've been having some GI issues (make it sound like an ulcer if you have to). You will quickly see what AL does to people. Like Lil Beagle said, hold on to your quit like a pot of gold!
We had a meeting in Las Vegas, too. I one night I set out to find wonderful cookies while the others were at the bar. In our meeting the next day, I shared my cookies and everyone wondered where I found the time to find these treats!!! (I didn't waste 6 hours at the bar the night before!!!).
Be a hero in your own mind, stay the course and do not give in no matter what and no matter who. There will be people there who don't drink... and they survive!!! Be one of them!! All the best, Byrdie
I work for a Fortune 50 company and our sales meetings are a free for all. I am one of a handful of women in a male dominated business. Imagine the drinks I've been handed over the years! I've learned a couple of things...you do need to be seen by your boss and the other higher ups, so make a point to speak to them, but I don't have to be the first one down there and the last one to leave anymore. The worst part is at first, the cocktail hour. Get there the last 15 minutes and get in line at the bar and get a drink of club soda or something in your hand. Use this as a deterrent. At dinner, you can turn your wine glass upside down or just decline. After dinner, if you want to mingle, fine, but believe me, nothing much worthwhile happens after 9 o'clock. I've heard the same stories by the same people for 25 years!! You won't be missing a thing...just slip quietly back to your room. Announcing it to people makes them kick into high gear....(oh, don't be a party pooper, just stay and have one more! ) Just slip quietly away and NO ONE will be the wiser. If I can do this in my industry, you can, too. If someone says something, say you've been having some GI issues (make it sound like an ulcer if you have to). You will quickly see what AL does to people. Like Lil Beagle said, hold on to your quit like a pot of gold!
We had a meeting in Las Vegas, too. I one night I set out to find wonderful cookies while the others were at the bar. In our meeting the next day, I shared my cookies and everyone wondered where I found the time to find these treats!!! (I didn't waste 6 hours at the bar the night before!!!).
Be a hero in your own mind, stay the course and do not give in no matter what and no matter who. There will be people there who don't drink... and they survive!!! Be one of them!! All the best, Byrdie
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