A Boss Helps a Worker Address His Heavy Drinking After a Broken Relationship

Russ dropped out of high school when he was seventeen years old and eventually got a job at a local brass processing plant.  For the last four-and-a-half years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working and conscientious employee who seldom calls off work because of sickness.

Approximately nine months ago he started going out with a young lady named Emma.  They seemed to get along real well right away and looked as if they had a lot of good times together.

The Heavy and Excessive Drinking Begins

When Russ met Emma, he almost never drank.  This circumstance changed when Russ and Emma began seeing each other on a fairly constant basis.  In actual fact, their relationship was going great until Emma called Russ one night around 2 AM and said that she had to call off their relationship and that she couldn’t tell him the reasons for her decision at that moment.

The next morning before he went to work, Russ went to Emma’s apartment and found out in an instant that Emma had already moved out.  Russ took this very hard.  Actually, he was taken aback because they seemed to be getting along so well.

When Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Leads to Work Problems

So what did Russ do about Emma?  Instead of working through his grief and anguish, he started getting intoxicated nearly every night.  It didn’t take long for his coworkers or for his supervisor to notice that Russ was coming to work late at least once per week and that he often called off ill.  What is more, some of the workers made an appointment with staff in Human Resources and mentioned that Russ over and over again came to work with a strong odor 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 afternoon he invited Russ into his office.  He told Russ that he had recently noticed an extreme change in his work performance, behavior, sick time, and in his attendance.

When a Manager Can Encourage a Worker to Get Help For His or Her Abusive and Hazardous Drinking

Russ’s boss also said 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 manager then stated the following:  “Russ, your fellow employees are not reporting you to the Human Resources Department to get you into any trouble or because they don’t like you but instead because they care about you.  And I care too.  I don’t want to butt into your business, but it is obvious that you are manifesting some of the typical symptoms and signs of a drinking problem.  Consequently, I want you to go and see someone in the employee’s assistance program to discuss your drinking circumstance.”

“Russ, I’m no doctor or a psychiatrist, but I have seen several of my friends and relatives go through some really bad alcohol side effects. Not only this but I have also seen 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 neighbors, friends, family, co-workers, and relatives.”

Russ respected his manager quite a lot and as a result followed through with his suggestion the next morning when he called and scheduled an appointment with a counselor in the employee’s assistance program.

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

Although Russ didn’t automatically feel any better or less depressed about the hurt he still has about Emma, he felt some comfort knowing that his boss 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 quite a few weeks and he truthfully felt some hope that he would get his life back on track.