Avoid Looking Hungover at Work

Enjoy a long night out before a day at work? Turning up to your job looking ravaged by a hangover isn't going to impress anyone. Acting exhausted and looking rough is only going to draw unwanted attention. Superiors won’t be happy if you’re inattentive or slacking. Maintain your professionalism and keep nosy coworkers at bay by hiding it as best you can.

Steps

Prepping Before Work

1. Wash up. If you went straight to bed from the pub or club, chances are you’re still reeking with the all the smells of the night before. Take a long shower. Wash well all over, from your hair to your toes. Fresh is best for the start of the day.
   • Have a bucket next to the shower in case you need to vomit. There's nothing pleasant about showering with vomit at your feet.
   • Watch out for any club stamps you’ve got on your wrists. These will be a dead giveaway of the previous night’s activities.
   • Again, pay a little more attention to detail than you would during a usual shower. If you have the time, repeat all your usual steps for a deeper clean.
2. Dress well. Today won’t be the day to relax your dress habits. Whatever the dress code of your work is, reach for its upper limits. Try to remember a day where you felt you looked your best, and dress the exact same.
   • If your office dress is appropriately formal, go for the nicest pieces in your wardrobe. Don't go for something too flashy that will draw conversation. Iron or press anything that needs it.
   • When the dress is casual, throw on whatever you’ve got that’s clean and doesn’t draw too much attention. Just take the time to make sure everything’s on the right way and fits well. Avoid looking disheveled this way.
3. Check your face. Even if you’ve showered and made sure to dress as well as you can, it won’t do much if you’re eyes are still bloodshot or sunken. The devil will definitely be in the details when it comes to making sure no one notices your hangover. Unfortunately, since it’s such a shared experience, most people can spot the subtle clues.
   • Use eye drops to remove red eyes. While you could plead a sudden attack of hay fever, this won't always work. Use the eye drops to clear up your eyes and avoid pointed questioning.
   • Use makeup to hide those eye-bags. Eyeliner on the 'waterline' of the eye makes it look less bloodshot, and a dash of blush fakes the look of health that you will be sorely missing. Men can reach for a slice of cucumber or damp tea bags to fix sunken, swollen eyes.
4. Brush or comb your hair into place. Nothing broadcasts your long night out better than tousled, unkempt hair. If anything, a messy hair-do is an easy conversation starter for any curious coworkers wanting to ask about the night before. Avoid scrutiny by ensuring that every single hair is neatly in place.
   • If you normally rock a well-sculpted cut that takes time to get ready, prepare to do the same even on the morning of a hangover. You could opt for a more economic style, but beware coworkers asking where your normal style went.
   • Keep a comb or brush handy at your work or in your car for mornings like these. Often it will be enough to make sure there are no cowlicks.
5. Check your breath. Alcohol has the tendency to linger in your breath. Even if you can't tell whether it smells or not, assume that it does. Unfortunately this is one of the toughest things to notice yourself while also being one of the easiest to spot for everyone else.
   • Be sure to brush your teeth and use a strong and pleasant mouthwash to rinse.
   • Through the day, suck peppermint candies or chew mint gum. Be careful not to do this when it might be socially inappropriate, such as in a meeting or speaking with a superior.
6. Eat breakfast. Most likely you’ll be hungry from a hangover anyway. Unfortunately our instincts won’t always serve us well in these instances. Very often we’ll reach for grease or carbs to sate our hunger, but these won’t necessarily be the best for you. Grease may end up upsetting your stomach and excess carbs can leave you feeling heavy.
   • Shoot for a breakfast of fruit, eggs, and oatmeal. Try to have two out of the three at least. These will give you energy to push through the day.
   • Drink plenty of water with breakfast. You will quickly find that you’ll want to keep drinking water throughout the day, so get a head start with your first meal.
   • Avoid juice. Although a healthy option, the acidity of the juice poses the risk of bothering your stomach more than it already has been. Stick to water if possible.

Coping at Work

1. Keep to yourself. Do your best to limit personal interaction. The easiest way to not look hungover is to limit how much you’ll be looked at. Avoid long conversations with others and when forced into them, do more listening than speaking. Provided they’re not your superior, a terse “sorry, I’ve got to get back to my work” should deflect any chatty coworkers.
   • Stay away from as many people as you can - your coworkers, your boss, your clients and especially anyone notorious for office gossip. Hopefully your scarcity will be taken as a sign of hard work.
   • If you are an underage drinker, this poses a range of risks. Not only can it be detrimental to your health if you drink irresponsibly, but you are at a high risk of being caught, and likely reported to an official. Most individuals will roll their eyes and go on with their day, but there are few that will take note and inform someone who will do something about it. If your coworkers seem suspicious and question why you are acting unusual, simply respond that you were working on a project or thing (of your choice) and didn't complete it until the early morning. Plan your excuse if you choose to take this route, but remember the consequences of if you are caught. If you are worried, simply don't drink beforehand.
   • If you can't get away from a meeting, stare intensely at each speaker. Allow your mind to completely shut down while you "look engaged.” Be careful not to zone out so much that you’ll look unresponsive, especially if you’re likely to be asked anything.
2. Act as you normally would. Though the previous step cautions discretion, don’t be so unreachable that it’s odd or especially noticeable. Try to make your day exceptionally unexceptional: do everything you normally would, no more or less. Remember in all things you’re trying to avoid suspicion and attention. So much of not looking hungover at work will be trying to look as normal as possible.

1. • This will start with being on time. Again, you’re looking to have to explain yourself very little on the day of a hangover. Don’t trap yourself into having to lie about being late.
   • Keep the day’s schedule. If your job involves a lot of meetings or organized face-to-face time, you’ll unfortunately need to maintain this. It’s far too suspicious to try and cancel things.
   • Watch how you speak with others as well. Keep from being curt, dismissive, or tired with others (even if you are). Maintain a smile and excuse yourself from conversations whenever appropriate.
2. Work slowly and methodically. If you attempt to get through work like a maniac in an attempt to look put together, you'll set yourself up to make a mistake. That’ll be one more thing have to explain away, which you’ll need to avoid. Work deliberately and slowly if you have to. It’s better to work well than to work a lot; it’s easy to blame a slow day on a bad night’s sleep.
   • Find something more menial and less intellectual to maintain a steady-but-productive work look throughout the day.
   • If you’re really looking to do the bare minimum, ask your immediate superior what really needs doing that day in particular. Note though that this might draw their attention to you throughout the day.
3. Tell no one. Nobody needs to know you’re hungover. You may a look a little worse for wear, but if anyone asks you can blame it on any number of things from not sleeping well to the chance that you might be getting a cold. Nothing will undo your hard work disguising your hangover like office gossip.
   • Depending on your social media presence, your coworkers may already know some about your night before. If asked, be vague; “oh I had a great time,” or “Yeah, it was a blast.”
   • There’s a chance a co-worker was the with you the night before. Hopefully you’ll know about situations like these in advance, and you both can agree on mutual silence. If it’s someone you don’t know too well, be prepared for the worst. They may tell more than you’d like.

Managing your Body

1. Take medicine. A hangover can cause you all sorts of physical discomfort. Co-workers will develop concern and wonder if you look bowled over in pain, or if they hear you vomit. Fortunately, the most common problems can be fixed with over-the-counter medication. If you’re a regular drinker or know when you’ll have a hangover, try to keep these in stock.
   • If you feel like you might vomit, drink an Alka-seltzer or take some Pepto-Bismol, as they both settle your stomach. Have an excuse such as food poisoning if you get caught throwing up. If time allows, consider going to a bathroom on another floor or at another office to avoid being seen or heard.
   • If you're in pain with a throbbing head, take some painkillers before arriving at work and keep more to take during the day. Use ibuprofen (Advil) or naproxen (Aleve) as opposed to acetaminophen (Tylenol), as it puts stress on your already stressed liver.
2. Stay hydrated. Once at work, drink plenty of water throughout the day to help keep you awake and reasonably alert. Sports drinks such like Powerade or Gatorade are useful as well. They contain electrolytes which can aid rehydration. Alcohol dehydrates, so you’ll need to put back what’s been taken out.
   • Initially, sip the water slowly. If you're feeling like you're going to vomit, anything you consume can trigger the need to throw up. As the day wears on, you'll probably be able to drink more and faster.
   • You may have people prod you about why you’re drinking so much water. Explain to them that you think you might be sick, and are hydrating to try and avoid it. Hopefully then they avoid you in order to do the same.
3. Exercise. If you’ve got the time before work or during lunch, take just ten minutes to get the heart and sweat going. If only to wake you up a little bit, exercise can help to jump start your body into flushing away the hangover feeling. Even if you’re a seasoned athlete, do over-do it on a hangover day; just enough to get the heart pumping should be good.
   • If you haven’t exercised in quite some time, it may not be the best idea to start the morning of a hangover. Take it easy and follow the other steps here.
   • If you haven’t the time or resources to exercise fully, try to walk to work if it’s feasible. Even that should be enough to get your body started.

Related Articles

• Turn Down a Drink
• Make a Hangover Bashing Salad
• Get Rid of a Hangover
• Deal With a Hangover the Day After
• Pretend to Drink Alcohol

Sources and Citations

See also

• Sneak Your Cat Into Work
• Celebrate Take Your Dog to Work Day
• Kill Time at Work

What links here

• Control Drinking
• Turn Down a Drink