Alcoholism and addiction in Restaurant Industry

[Todd W. Roat]

I have heard many times, and seen personal examples, that the
restaurant industry (waiters, bartenders, servers, etc) tends to be a
haven and/or incubating grounds for learning/developing/perpetuating
drinking problems and other addictive problems.

The old urban legend that those in this industry tend to be high
partiers with a strong tendancy toward such behavior. In my own
personal experience, this definitely seems true.

However, is there and formal literature, publications or statistics
that discuss, support or negate this topic?

Many thanks
Todd

[J]

Could be true in my case. I took on a job as a full-time bar steward when I
was 23. By the time I was 31, I was an alcoholic. Looking back on it, I was
probably an alcoholic for the entire period. The first thing I'd do when
getting to work (9am) was to have a couple of beers. It's difficult to say
if I'd still have become an alcoholic if I hadn't worked behind a bar. I
feel certain that I may have realised my alcoholism at an earlier stage.

--
J



Todd W. Roat wrote:
> I have heard many times, and seen personal examples, that the
> restaurant industry (waiters, bartenders, servers, etc) tends to be a
> haven and/or incubating grounds for learning/developing/perpetuating
> drinking problems and other addictive problems.
>
> The old urban legend that those in this industry tend to be high
> partiers with a strong tendancy toward such behavior. In my own
> personal experience, this definitely seems true.
>
> However, is there and formal literature, publications or statistics
> that discuss, support or negate this topic?
>
> Many thanks
> Todd

[Cheggers]

todd.roat@uc.edu (Todd W. Roat) wrote in message news:<745e0233.0409210905.3fe66cbf@posting.google.com>...
> I have heard many times, and seen personal examples, that the
> restaurant industry (waiters, bartenders, servers, etc) tends to be a
> haven and/or incubating grounds for learning/developing/perpetuating
> drinking problems and other addictive problems.
>
> The old urban legend that those in this industry tend to be high
> partiers with a strong tendancy toward such behavior. In my own
> personal experience, this definitely seems true.
>
> However, is there and formal literature, publications or statistics
> that discuss, support or negate this topic?
>
> Many thanks
> Todd

Never seen any lit or stats but - as a hypothesis - it certainly has
some appeal... at face value, at least.

I tended bar as a second job to help pay the mortgage in my younger
(pre-alky) days, and a 'staff pint' was a perk of the job at the end
of the shift (not at freakin' 9am, J!). Seems crazy now, but I'd have
that one beer while we were cleaning up and then just go home. Like,
to bed. Unbelievable.

However, I returned to serving/bartending after "it all went horribly
wrong" which coincided with my "crossing the line" and a reduction in
the number of "real jobs" in my life from one to zero.

For me, the serving industry didn't play a part. It just happened to
be there in the beginning, and I fell back on it in the end. During
the years in between, I mostly sat in an office polishing an
ever-thinning veneer of competency.

Most of the folks I worked with in neighborhood bars were kids doing
their growing up and occasional casualties like me. But, then again, I
never worked in a strip club or illegal drinking joints where the
staff coke and liquor starts around 11am... that's someone else's
story.

Cheggs
Who's glad it wasn't worse, cos it was bad enough, thanks.

[Fred Exley]

"Todd W. Roat" <todd.roat@uc.edu> wrote in message
news:745e0233.0409210905.3fe66cbf@posting.google.c om...
>I have heard many times, and seen personal examples, that the
> restaurant industry (waiters, bartenders, servers, etc) tends to be a
> haven and/or incubating grounds for learning/developing/perpetuating
> drinking problems and other addictive problems.
>
> The old urban legend that those in this industry tend to be high
> partiers with a strong tendancy toward such behavior. In my own
> personal experience, this definitely seems true.
>
> However, is there and formal literature, publications or statistics
> that discuss, support or negate this topic?
>
> Many thanks
> Todd

The old urban legend I've heard is that bartenders tend to drink less, and
to have a sense of superiority over others, for the same reason: they see
every day while sober what booze does to people. In my own experience it
seems true, but then again, I never saw them after their shift except when
they were driving me home, so have no idea what they did after that.

[Robert McGregor]

"Fred Exley" <fexly221@msn.com> wrote in message
news:10la4obm243jd5a@corp.supernews.com...
>
> "Todd W. Roat" <todd.roat@uc.edu> wrote in message
> news:745e0233.0409210905.3fe66cbf@posting.google.c om...
>>I have heard many times, and seen personal examples, that the
>> restaurant industry (waiters, bartenders, servers, etc) tends to
>> be a
>> haven and/or incubating grounds for
>> learning/developing/perpetuating
>> drinking problems and other addictive problems.
>>
>> The old urban legend that those in this industry tend to be high
>> partiers with a strong tendancy toward such behavior. In my own
>> personal experience, this definitely seems true.
>>
>> However, is there and formal literature, publications or
>> statistics
>> that discuss, support or negate this topic?
>>
>> Many thanks
>> Todd
>
> The old urban legend I've heard is that bartenders tend to drink
> less, and to have a sense of superiority over others, for the same
> reason: they see every day while sober what booze does to people.
> In my own experience it seems true, but then again, I never saw
> them after their shift except when they were driving me home, so
> have no idea what they did after that.
>

Can't ever recall anyone (apart from pilots, who hold "secret" AA
meetings amongst themselves anyway) claiming to be from an occupation
where alcoholism is a rarity, but I have heard countless
contradictory boasts of particular arenas being notarious for the
worst liquor consumption.

Bob