News & politics: Drinking & drugging behind the scenes

Trying to get back on topic and on a more positive note, here is a look at how Korean business practices are changing in regards to alcohol consumption since women are becoming more powerful and putting their foot down about these practices.

"Corporate Korea Corks the Bottle as Women Rise"
www.nytimes.com...

SEOUL, South Korea— In a time-honored practice in South Korea’s corporate culture, the 38-year-old manager at an online game company took his 10-person team on twice-weekly after-work drinking bouts. He exhorted his subordinates to drink, including a 29-year-old graphic designer who protested that her limit was two glasses of beer.

“Either you drink or you get it from me tomorrow,” the boss told her one evening.

She drank, fearing that refusing to do so would hurt her career. But eventually, unable to take the drinking any longer, she quit and sued.

In May, in the first ruling of its kind, the Seoul High Court said that forcing a subordinate to drink alcohol was illegal, and it pronounced the manager guilty of a “violation of human dignity.” The court awarded the woman $32,000 in damages for the incidents, which occurred in 2004.

Not that this thread is about being forced to drink, but it is about those who believe that they must in order to be accepted by their associates. It's ridiculous and incomprehensible to think that someone should have to drink or do drugs to keep their job. Hopefully we'll see things changing here in America as they are in Korea. The business world is corrupt enough as it is without people getting bullied into doing things that are normally prohibited at most ordinary businesses. The Good Ol' Boys' Club is out of style and out of line. If you were in college, being expected to drink to be accepted or beyond your limit by your peers would be considered hazing and this should be viewed the same for the business world.