In college, pretty much every night was a celebration. There was Taco Tuesdays, Wacky Wednesdays, Thursday college specials Downtown, and keggers on the weekends (can’t exclude Sunday Fun-day). Now that you are thrown into the real world and have 9-5 jobs it’s hard to turn off this party mentality. Especially if you move to a new city and are going out to meet new people and take your mind off of work and how much you miss college.
Drinking during the weekdays may seem doable for you- that is until you experience your first hangover at work. You meet some new people for cocktails at a fun new restaurant at a city and start with a nice glass of wine. However the wine decides it wants another glass of wine.. and then the two gang up and decide they want a cocktail.. and the next day you wake up very confused with a tattooed arm from the bar stamps, a scratchy voice from singing Journey, and an episode of Fragile Rock taking place in your head. A year or two ago you would have just skipped class, but workdays are like finals- if you miss it you fail the class, (aka your fired). If you do make it, your concentration, performance and communication with clients and coworkers inevitably suffers. Here’s some tips we’ve learned here at the Mad Grad that while not scientifically proven, allows you to have a geat time at Trivia night while avoiding being demoted to the basement with Milton the next day:
Limit yourself to one drink an hour. Seriously. Alcohol tends to get bossy after a couple of drinks, so don’t let it takeover. Instead of focusing on the drink, focus on conversing with friends and take small sips.
Hit up the happy hours: Whoever invented these must have experienced a hangover at work and realized if they start drinking earlier than they do on a weekend, they can go home earlier and be more rested for work the next day. (They also must have been living on an entry-level salary and found tremendous joy in 2 dollar specials)
Stay hydrated: If you feel yourself getting a little drunk, have some water. Have water before you go to sleep, and the next day when you wake up. It might sound excessive but it will save you from a monster headache the next day.
Eat Something: We all know what happens when you skip dinner and race to the bars to meet a friend: you feel like a 80 pound girl, getting wasted after 2 drinks. Before drinking have carbs, fats or sugars which slow the absorption of alcohol.
I’m hungover, now what?: If you are still drunk, do not go into the office. Take the sick day. If you go in, have a huge glass of orange juice (vitamin C helps speed up the metabolism of alcohol), a big breakfast with protein and carbohydrates, drink water like its in your job description, have a multi vitamin (with B vitamins), have a banana, and avoid coffee which further dehydrates you. If you by some miracle wake up in time to shower, high five your alarm clock, as this will wake you up and wash away the lingering alcohol and smoke smell. If you don’t have time for this, wash your face with cold water and use some cover up under your eyes. In this scenario honesty is not the best policy- bosses have a lot more sympathy for pneumonia, flu and food poisoning than they do for too much Jack Daniels. Make yourself look as great on the outside as possible and if all else fails.. blame it on last night’s sushi dinner.
