barry beck has probably racked up a couple grand this week alone...

A 2005 British study noted that alcohol use accounted for 2 billion pounds, or $3.3 billion U.S., in lost wages each year, mostly from work missed because of a hangover. Canada reports losses of $7.5 billion each year, with $1.4 billion lost because of decreased occupational productivity caused by hangover-like symptoms, while Australian workers ring up $3.8 billion yearly and New Zealanders $331 million.

A 2000 study performed at the University of California, San Francisco medical center reviewed more than 30 years of medical reports on alcohol and found that American hangovers add up to a whopping $148 billion in lost wages, a $2,000 average per working adult in the country.