A Boss Helps a Worker Address His Abusive Drinking After a Ruined Relationship

Russ got suspended from high school when he was sixteen years old and eventually found employment at a local office supply manufacturer. For the past seven-and-a-half years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working and reliable employee who hardly ever calls off work because of illness.

Approximately eight months ago he started dating a young lady named Emma. They seemed to hit it off immediately and looked as if they had a lot of good times with one another.

The Abusive and Excessive Drinking Begins

When Russ met Emma, he almost never drank. This situation changed when Emma and Russ began seeing each other on a fairly normal basis. In reality, their relationship was going fine until Emma called Russ one night just about 4 AM and said that she had to breakup and that she couldn’t explain the reason at that moment.

The next morning before he went to work, Russ went to her apartment and found out that Emma had already moved out. Russ took this particularly hard. As a matter of fact, he was stunned because they appeared to be getting along so very well.

When Heavy and Hazardous Drinking Leads to Problems at Work

So what did Russ do about Emma’s departure? Rather than working through his suffering and pain, he started getting inebriated just about every night. It didn’t take long for his coworkers or for his manager to notice that Russ was coming to work late at least twice per week and that he frequently called off sick. What is more, some of the workers made an appointment with staff in Human Resources and stated that Russ frequently came to work with a noticeable smell of alcohol on his clothes or on his breath.

Russ’s boss heard about all of this from Human Resources and also from Russ’s co-workers. So one Monday morning he invited Russ into his office. He told Russ that he had recently noticed a distinct change in his attendance, sick time, behavior, and in his work performance.

When a Supervison Can Motivate an Employee to Get Help For His or Her Irresponsible Drinking

Russ’s manager also stated that a number of his fellow employees reported him to Human Resources because he had been coming to work with the strong smell of alcohol. His supervisor then stated the following: “Russ, your fellow employees are not reporting you to the Human Resources Department to get you into trouble or because they don’t like you but instead because they are concerned about you. And I care too. I don’t want to poke my nose into your life outside this company, but it is obvious that you are manifesting some of the basic symptoms and signs of alcohol abuse. As a consequence, I want you to go and see someone in the employee’s assistance program to discuss your drinking.”

“Russ, I’m no healthcare practitioner or a therapist, but I have seen quite a few of my relatives and friends go through some very bad alcohol side effects. Furthermore, I have also witnessed the signs of alcoholism first-hand in my own family. When individuals have problems with drinking, these problems not only affect the drinker, but they also make an impact on his or her relatives, neighbors, family, friends, and co-workers.”

Russ respected his boss a lot and as a consequence followed through with his suggestion the next work day when he called and scheduled an appointment with a psychologist in the employee’s assistance program.

Russ is Still Depressed But Feels Some Hope That He Will Get His Life Back on Track

Although Russ didn’t automatically feel any better or less depressed about the hurt he still has about Emma, he felt some reassurance knowing that his manager and his co-workers wanted what’s best for him and cared about him. This gave him some emotional relief for the first time in several weeks and he truthfully felt some hope that he would get back on track with his life.