Is "Happy Hour" Anything But?

Although happy hour with your co-workers often feels a lot more like "awkward and miserable" hour, attending these social gatherings can actually be a great way to network, schmooze with your boss, and foster potential friendships with colleagues you don't interact with in the office. That said, one G&T too many could seriously damage your reputation—you don’t want to be remembered as that guy who table-danced on the bar while wailing his alma mater’s fight song

To investigate this ever-awkward aspect of working life, CareerBuilder.com recently conducted a Happy Hour Survey. They looked into how many workers attend these gatherings, which industries rank highest for happy hours, how many people feel happy hours improve their career opportunities, and what happy hour “mishaps” are most common. A few interesting findings:

• Health care workers have amongst the highest attendance at happy hour events. Hopefully they're not on call after...
• The most common "mishap" is (surprise, surprise) talking shit about co-workers or bosses.
• Apparently, 4 percent of respondents "accidentally" sang karaoke—which doesn't seem so bad unless they gave their own rendition of Barbara Streisand's "Back to Broadway" album.
• 8 percent of those surveyed admitted to kissing a co-worker (quadruple that number to correct for those who weren't surveyed).

For more info on how to avoid happy hour snafu’s, check out our survival guide on Attending Work Events.

CareerBuilder.com Happy Hour Survey [via Metafilter]