Would you have a gigantic evening of binge-drinking the night before the most important job interview of your life? If you’re a Sox fan, you’re probably saying, “Why not?”
Well, Sox fans, take solace in the fact that you, too, may someday land a million-dollar job even if you get tanked the night before. Ozzie Guillen recently revealed that he was hung over for his interview with GM Kenny Williams for the White Sox managerial job.
Granted, he was the third base coach for the Marlins at the time, and they had just won the World Series. He had been celebrating at Ivan Rodriguez’s house the night before. In Ozzie’s defense, he did end up as the White Sox’s manager, so Williams apparently couldn’t smell the tequila fumes billowing out of his mouth, or else overlooked them. Ozzie’s performance got me thinking: Is a hangover a good way to prepare for a stressful experience?
Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were notorious for showing up to the ballpark on game days with rather severe katzenjammers. Both somehow managed to focus on 90 mph fastballs well enough to hit .350 and have 50-homer seasons.
Certainly, there are degrees of hangovers. If standing upright for more than six seconds is a painful experience, you probably won’t even be able to find your way out of the locker room, much less hit a curve ball or engage in intelligible conversation. But, if you’re just slightly hazy, a mental state of reduced anxiety may be ideal for encountering high-pressure situations.
A friend recently admitted that he secured his first post-college job offer despite waking up 45 minutes prior to the job interview on a random couch littered with empty bottles of Boone’s Farm. Did his hangover take the edge off just enough to appear calm and confident to his interviewer? Maybe so.
As someone with limited experience with intoxicating beverages, I’ll rely on the expertise of others, like my friend and Ozzie Guillen. Based on their results, my advice would be to keep an extra bottle of Crown Royal around the house. You never know when someone might call for an interview.
