Drinks for a deal an outdated practice

On Sunday, a post by a graduate who recently joined the Zhongguancun branch of Xiamen International Bank in Beijing went viral. In it, the man said that he had been humiliated and hounded out of an official banquet after he told his boss that he does not drink.

A senior company official sought him out at the banquet and slapped the youth, saying he had made their boss lose face. As the humiliated graduate tried to leave, some of his drunk colleagues chased him to the elevator and threatened to beat him up. The youth also mentioned seeing some of the seniors behaving improperly with female colleagues.

After the post went viral, the bank responded saying they are suspending part of the performance-based allowance of two senior officials.

Consuming liquor is a matter of personal choice and persuading or forcing others to drink violates the individual's right. However, some enterprises expect their employees to drink liquor at office banquets and refusing to do so is seen as an offense. Some enterprises even link business deals to binge drinking, buying orders from clients who drink the most.

No one knows how the tradition came to be, but one thing is certain－it is high time the practice ended. Even today, senior employees of some enterprises tell their younger employees drinking more alcohol during business banquets is the secret to landing more business deals for their enterprise.