BOTTOMS UP

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In the '70's I owned and operated an Insurance Brokerage firm in Westchester County, New York. One of my employees, we'll call her Mary, worked in the collection department. Her job was to collect premiums due if they were late. Mary would call or write to clients so that their payments were sent in before their policies cancelled due to non-payment.
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She was always on time but wore a heavy perfume which I didn't particularly like, but I guess she did. As the day wore on I noticed that in the afternoon her speech slurred a bit and while I did not actually smell liquor on her breath, she appeared to more and more show signs of having a few. She didn't go out for lunch and ate in the office and I never saw any evidence of her imbibing. Her work was satisfactory and never did I have any suspicions of her mishandling any money. However, I felt I had to speak to her and tell her my suspicion that she was somehow drinking on the job and if she had a problem with alcohol, she should tell me and perhaps we could get her some help.
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Mary swore to me that she never drank while she was working and told me that she never would. I said OK, but if I found out she was lying to me I would have to let her go. Not for drinking, but for lying.
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Things went along for about a month with no problem, but she still seemed to me to be drinking during working hours. As was normal, I usually stayed late each evening for a couple of hours to check everything and do paperwork which fell behind. I usually kept some soda in the refrigerator and I was a little thirsty one night so I went for a soda, but was all out. I noticed a large bottle of orange juice. I figured nobody would mind if I took a small glass so I poured a little, went back to my office and, you guessed it, had the greatest screwdriver I ever had. At least the strongest anyway. The next day I asked who's orange juice that was and someone confirmed that it was Mary's.
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Poor Mary, I knew what I had to do but it wasn't easy. I explained to her if she hadn't lied to me we could have worked something out. She understood and said goodbye. And she asked if she could have her orange juice back. So I gave it to her and said goodbye and good luck.
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I had never fired anyone before and it wasn't easy. The least she could have done was offered me a drink once in a while. What is the moral of this story? Be nice to your boss and offer him a drink on occasion or don't lie. You figure it out.