Thursday, May 17, 2007
Beer Taster Quits & Sues Brewery Over Alcoholism
Millions Apply to Brewery to take over Dream Job
Ok, that sub-heading is not substantiated but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. The headline is true though and it is one of the most hilarious news snippets I've come across.
It appears from this BBC article that a brewery in Brazil, Ambev, has been ordered to pay almost US$50,000 to an employee they had hired to taste beer. In over 10 years of *ahem* "dedicated" service to the brewery, the employee drank about 1.5 litres of beer everyday and received a bottle of beer to take home after work each day. In Court, he alleged that Ambev did not provide him with adequate health care to stop him from developing alcoholism.
It gets funnier. The article then goes on to say that Ambev's defence was that the employee was already an alcoholic when they hired him so they did not cause his alcoholism. What kind of defence is that? Do they also run a medical morphine factory where they hire drug addicts to check the quality & consistency of their product? As the Judge (rightly in my view) points out, that defence is stunning because an alcoholic should never have been hired in the first place to drink beer!
Millions Apply to Brewery to take over Dream Job
Ok, that sub-heading is not substantiated but I wouldn't be surprised if it were true. The headline is true though and it is one of the most hilarious news snippets I've come across.
It appears from this BBC article that a brewery in Brazil, Ambev, has been ordered to pay almost US$50,000 to an employee they had hired to taste beer. In over 10 years of *ahem* "dedicated" service to the brewery, the employee drank about 1.5 litres of beer everyday and received a bottle of beer to take home after work each day. In Court, he alleged that Ambev did not provide him with adequate health care to stop him from developing alcoholism. Let's pause there for a moment and consider 2 things:
1. Why was he getting a bottle of beer a day after work? Was every employee getting the same or did the brewery think he WASN'T DRINKING ENOUGH during the day?
2. 1.5 litres x 5 to 6 days a week x 10 years. Is there ANY level of "health care" that would be adequate enough to stop alcoholism?
It gets funnier. The article then goes on to say that Ambev's defence was that the employee was already an alcoholic when they hired him so they did not cause his alcoholism. What kind of defence is that? Do they also run a medical morphine factory where they hire drug addicts to check the quality & consistency of their product? As the Judge (rightly in my view) points out, that defence is stunning because an alcoholic should never have been hired in the first place to drink beer!Did it ever occur to these guys that there is a reason why Alcoholics Anonymous advocates that their members never ever drink again rather than continue to drink but in moderation? But you can't really blame Ambev - it's not as if they manufacture an addictive substance and should therefore be expected to have basic common knowledge about its effects on people is it?
One last laugh from the article - The Judge notes in his decision that the employee's alcohol dependency had worsened in recent years and "he felt like drinking the same amount on holiday as he drank at work." That is shocking but perhaps not for the reason the Judge had in mind. You see, most of us don't drink at work. This means that if we drank the same amount on holiday as we drank at work, it would be a pretty bad holiday. For this worker though, given how much he drinks at work, if he drank the same amount on holiday as he drank at work, it would also be a pretty bad holiday, but for the opposite reason from the rest of us.
Oh and by the way, the pictures I've attached are not related to the article or the parties involved in the case in any way. They're just funny beer related pictures which go well with this post. Cheers!
# posted by Fore! @ 3:45 PM 
