Drunk VP. How to manage?
I joined a new team recently and I’m pretty sure one of the VPs I’m working under is drinking in the office. At first I thought it was just the way he talked. But the other day he walked up to my desk to give me instructions and he could hardly get a sentence out. His speech was so slurred and staggered that it was quite obvious he was drunk. It was in the morning.
They’re also starting to act a bit erratically, like forgetting what they instructed and how they staff work. I’ve never dealt with anything like this before. Our group is transaction heavy with lots of client requests so maybe that’s how they’re getting through the day? Idk. Not going to HR because that would be a disaster. No one has said anything so I won’t either and will have to be more careful around documentation.
Has anyone else had similar experiences?
Get drunker than him
Beat me to it
Does your group have a COO type position?
What exactly is your concern?
You have no knowledge of what goes on at that level, so perhaps hold judgement and mind your business, frankly.
Because I don’t want to start getting blamed for his drunk mistakes
I mean that's valid.. you'll figure it out. Just don't snitch - i'd bet it turns out not in your favor.
Found the VP
This country used to be great. Now a 3 martini brunch gets you reported to HR.
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Some retard unironically wrote this and thought he slayed btw ^
u sound like no fun
rip shots together and have a good time?
Yeah bro let me just rip some shots at 10:30am in the office
Why not take some initiative? Your MBA associate would be so dissapointed
get a testicular transplant bc urs clearly aren't working properly
this
Congrats on your alcohol dependency
it's a stressful job and a crappy lifestyle. some people deal with it by taking prescription drugs, some - weed, some - alcohol. whatever works for you.
Going to go out on a limb here and say this is bad advice
you can try to raw-dog it, but there's usually a limit. for a normal average human being it's not realistic to constantly work 80+ hours weeks under constant stress and sleep-deprivation for 7+ years (work experience at VP level) and be completely fine and happy and not need alcohol/weed/prescription drugs to deal with anxiety and anger/iritability/frustration that you can't release in a workplace (and all your waking hours are spent in a workplace).
Not sure why people get on this website just leave dumbass comments.
OP – there’s two scenarios in my mind. Either you’re on a small team with just the VP and an MD, in which case your group / office is small enough that you can talk to the MD (assuming the VP is truly a spiraling alcoholic of course). Scary but it’ll show maturity and get you off the hook a bit.
If you’re at big firm though, that means you have other people on your team and staffed between you / this VP. If that’s the case, talk to them. This isn’t really something a first year should have to handle on their own.
Yeah… ignore the shit posters. Obviously drinking heavily early in the day is likely a signal of more issues to come. It’s worth it to try and distance yourself if you notice it becoming recurring.
I’d honestly take this in a completely different direction. Maybe it’s alcohol, but can you smell it? Alcoholics have a certain smell if they drink enough.
If not, it’s most likely severe sleep deprivation. You mentioned how deal teams are really execution focused, maybe it’s a combination of a lack of sleep, chronic stress, and poor life choices that led to brain damage or just not really functioning efficiently.
Or he just has a lisp/some adjacent speech impediment that worsens when under certain conditions (ie stress or sleep deprivation).
I would highly advise you against potentially ruining your reputation by accusing a vp that simply has a different issue. Simply document everything possible and speak with an analyst or someone you’re close with that also works with the vp if you truly think that’s the case. This is a stupid thing to try to point out if he’s still executing well and your work and qol is the same as before you started noticing.
I would mention to HR / Staffer / someone senior that you’re noticing abnormal behavior from the VP. Let them decide what the cause of it is. Would keep your assumption that he’s drinking to yourself since you’re not 100% sure.
Maybe try to ask him whether everything is okay when he is still sober. Subtly try to find out whether he has always been like that. However, in the case of problematic alcohol consumption, you won’t be the only one who has noticed.
My assumption is he is drunk from the night before. Been there
Don’t cover for them. If the VP is too drunk to function, handle the situation safely and document what happened.
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