If you’ve never worked at a bar or hung out seriously with someone who did, you may not be familiar with the phenomenon known among drink slingers worldwide as “after hours.” (Not to be confused with the “after hours” clubs across the Atlantic, where chainsmoking Eurotrash ravers in post XTC-binge funks sit staring at the walls, their dying neon glow sticks flickering pathetically in their pockets.)

On his blog Caskstrength, local bartender Andrew Bohrer defines after hours like this: “After hours is what we call it when bartenders pull the shades and have anything from a shot of whiskey and a heartfelt talk to a bacchanalian orgy.”

Here’s what else he says: “After hours frequently get you fired.”

Case in point: Pyramid Alehouse, where, last night, an after hours turned tragic when a late night passerby spotted an employee crawling through [A DOY!] the window, and called the coppers.

Today, according to the Seattle Times: “Four men and a woman are in the King County Jail, facing burglary charges.” (Full article here.)

I don’t know about you, but not even free beer could entice me to spend much free time at Pyramid Alehouse, which is, let’s face it, a bit of a tourist joint/holding pen for stadium overflow, let alone break in. Wow.

I do want to congratulate The Times for breaking this important story/cautionary tale for booze employees everywhere. (And dig that highly alliterative nut graf: “Police describe it as a sad, sudsy caper: The beer bash by brewery workers that got busted.”) Take that, Twitter.

Thanks to unnamed coworker for pointing me to this story.