I was a sloppy drunk at the company party

A reader writes:

I recently made it through to the final interview round for a job I was very excited about. I’ve been in my current position without a clear path to promotion long enough to have been eyeing the exits for a while, and finally I found myself in a hiring process that felt like it was going really well. I was meshing with all the people who I would be working with at this company. The conversations we had about the vision I would bring to their team also energized me in a way that my current work hasn’t in quite some time.

The final interview ended up being scheduled on the same day as a company party at my current job. I thought that was great, because it gave me an excuse to come to the office looking more put together than usual without raising any suspicions. I was well-prepared going into the interview that morning, got great feedback from the panel of executives I spoke with, and left feeling confident that I had the position in the bag. In fact, I was so sure that I nailed this interview that I celebrated that evening by enjoying the unlimited white wine at the open bar a little (a lot) too much. I even rallied some coworkers to go to another bar once the office party ended, and I insisted on expensing their whiskey shots there. I am pretty sure, from what I remember, that I was a sloppy drunk. At one point someone told me that I was slurring my words, and I have a mortifying memory of excitedly sharing some salacious gossip that I normally never would have spread around.

The next day, I was barely alive at work. Every time someone walked by my desk, I assume they could clock how bad of shape I was in.

To add insult to hangover, the following week I was informed that I did not get that other position I had interviewed for. I had been so fixated on the prospect of being free from this job that I allowed myself to get over-sauced in front of a room full of people who I am now stuck interacting with for a lot longer than I’d anticipated.

How do I move past the double embarrassment of getting drunker than I should have in front of my coworkers and not landing this other job when I was so convinced I had it all locked up?

You can read my answer to this letter at New York Magazine today. Head over there to read it.

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