Everybody copes in different ways

A dude on the project took a vacation to Ireland recently and returned to work this week. He brought back several things, most of which consisted of photographs of pubs he went to that served alcohol, stores that sold alcohol, him and his wife consuming alcohol and, of course, simply photos of alcohol. I totally understand. He also took pictures of buildings, trees and grass, and statues, places and things name for people who might or might not be ancestors but shared the same surname. But I digress.

The relevant things he brought back -- at least with respect to this Real Temps story -- were a 3-ounce hip flask he purchased at the Jameson's Irish Whiskey distillery in Dublin, duly imprinted with the Jameson's name, and an indeterminate amount of Jameson's Irish whiskey, some of which he put in the flask and brought to work yesterday.

His intention, of course, was to let people of such a mindset take a sip of some fine Irish whiskey. In general, I support such efforts. Naturally, it led to some Temp Town hilarity.

The first such moment came when he offered the flask, toward the end of the work day, to a young lady on the project who has been known to take a taste now and then. She graciously accepted the flask and proceeded to drink like a camel at an oasis. She kept that flask tilted up so long I was afraid she would drown. She apparently left little more than fumes.

That wasn't the funniest upshot of the Bring Your Flask to Work episode, however. Today, he got a text message from another person on the project who is a close friend of the camel and apparently of a like mind. He told me about the exchange, but I didn't see it, so this is an approximation of those texts:

Temp 1: Do you have a flask? Did you bring it today?
Temp recently returned from Ireland: I got one in Ireland, but I only brought it yesterday for samples. Don't have it today.
Temp 1: Darn. I accidentally got drunk at lunch today, and now I'm really just looking for another drink.

Oh. My. God. On the one hand, I'm not sure I understand getting drunk "accidentally." On the other hand, with this project, I totally get it. And I sure as hell understand why anybody on this project would need another drink. No matter how many they've already had.