Phenology: Jobless Drunken Wasps?

Liz Klimas shares a photo as well as the clever description of these fruit-loving insects:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/09/09/theres-a-plague-about-to-hit-the-u-k-and-it-involves-jobless-drunk-wasps-seriously/

The British wasp in the photograph looks very much like a North American wasp that can also be described as drunk and jobless about this time of year. Ours are sometimes called yellowjackets, to distinguish them from wasps of better character. They are bigger than paper wasps and, when slurping up fermented fruit juice, more inclined to sting. They nest in the ground and have been known to fly out in swarms and attack fruit pickers.