[Baeocystin]

It's not a problem for anyone other than the overly self-conscious, who are looking for reasons to explain their anxiety. Literally no one cares.

[kentt]

I believe I was rejected after a job interview because of not drinking.

Another boss I had any a different job told me he fired someone for not partying with everyone else. If you went to these parties and didn't drink, the boss would harass you all night.

I agree with you that many people are just self conscious, but it's not exclusively that way.

[komali2]

Both of your cases sound like shitty places to work.

[Philadelphia]

I was once rejected from a job interview at a DC startup because I didn't order a beer when they took me to lunch.

[smsm42]

This seems a reason so stupid to reject somebody that either a) they didn't like you but didn't want to tell you the real reason, but didn't care enough to think about a plausibly sounding fake one; or b) you dodged a major bullet as these people had seriously messed up priorities. I'd bet on a) but can't exclude b) completely of course.

[Baeocystin]

Even if that is what they said, do you honestly believe that was the real reason?

[Philadelphia]

Beyond the slightest doubt.

[routelastresort]

Well, it's safe to say you dodged a bullet then :)

[zyngaro]

Interesting. What do you mean by self-conscious ?

[Baeocystin]

https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/01/26/how-to-be-... for examples.

The tl;dr is that people who are insecure will attempt to rationalize their feelings, and this frequently includes feelings of judgement and persecution from others where none exists.