I have never seen/heard about a place where that was acceptable, even bartenders are discouraged from it. It undoubtedly illegal now, but was once fairly standard.
Oh, I just realized, dancers at "gentlemen's clubs" are technically drinking while working. Other than that, vary rare situation......?
A personal experience mimicking Mino’s observation.
I was a brand new hire at a metal stamping/sheet metal fabricating company and in my late 20s at that time. The second day on the job I took some time to tour the factory (I was in sales).
On the second “break” of the day, the company owner went around and gave every worker a bottle of beer to drink on their break. A few workers did not drink bear and so handed off their bottle to a co-worker.
When I came back into the office I went to the owner’s office and said, “While giving the workers an afternoon beer is a really nice gesture for management to make, it is likely a very bad idea.” I went on to explain that if there was an accident in the plant and it occurred after the beers were distributed, his liability could expand exponentially (I likely did not use “exponentially” but that was the concept that I conveyed.)
He said his father always gave out the beer and he just continued with that tradition. I suggested that he call his lawyer, which he did on the spot. His lawyer went totally apoplectic. He said that his father was crazy to have started this, and he was crazy to continue. And that he was lucky there were no serious accidents as a result.
My boss was worried that the workers would get angry when he stopped handing out the beer. I suggested he walk around with a variety of soda flavors in the cart and let the worker choose the one they wanted. The change was surprisingly well-received.
It turned out that one beer did not significantly improve their day and many preferred the sodas.
I did ask the boss to blame it on the lawyer and not on my suggestion. (No sense stirring up that boiling pot.)
So, yes. Some allowed beer drinking on the job.
