A BAD SEASON FOR AMATEURS

WE ARE grateful to the Wall Street Journal for an apposite report this week
on the perils of drinking on the job, especially by inexperienced topers
who cause more problems than veteran drunks.

A survey of 14,000 American workers revealed casual drinkers are not only
absent and late more often than their alcoholic colleagues, but they get in
more work-related arguments, too, when tipsy or hung-over.

The findings challenge popular wisdom blaming heavy boozers for the
estimated $27 billion a year in lost productivity.

``It's subtle,'' says Thomas W. Mangione, director of the study. ``It is
individual people who don't do this very often, but because there are so
many . . . in aggregate it totals up to a very big problem.''

Mangione said the NIAAA survey supports other studies that found it was
casual drinkers, not alcoholics, who cause most drunk-driving accidents and
deaths.

A timely caution for the holidays, when many amateur wassailers are tempted
to dip too deeply into the office party punch bowl.

Checked-by: Richard Lake