The Slosh Pit

For better or worse, the era is long gone. On-the-job cocktails and the office hijinks that often accompany them are verboten in these litigious, politically correct times. Yet one thing hasn't changed since Don Draper's more-or-less-consequence-free saucing: "People need to blow off steam after work," says actor George Wendt, best known for playing the curmudgeonly and ever-present barfly Norm on . These days, the only appropriate window for liquor-fueled co-worker co-mingling is the margarita-and-nacho-heavy ritual we call happy hour.

This poorly lit pastime, however, is usually fraught with tension. "There's often an undercurrent of sexuality, fueled by ethyl alcohol," says body language expert David Givens, author of . "You're drinking and eating in the pleasurable rest-and-digest mode. Emotions become exaggerated." Especially when the wrong person gets control of the jukebox.