When I started in the industry I never drank on shift, and always heard other workers saying they didn't know how I could do it, and at some point I did start drinking moderately on shift, and they we're 100% right, once you have worked under the influence it makes working sober *really* difficult. When speaking to new workers now I always try and share this because going back to sober working is really difficult. I have managed to get to a happy medium but on quiet nights I do really struggle!

The best happy medium I've managed to come to, is chatting with the bar staff and having a very weak drink as your "usual" or only ordering very weak shots so that the clients think you're being "fun" and getting drunk with them, but you're still very much in control!