The Ass Of Doom

Russ got expelled from high school when he was seventeen years old and eventually got a job at a local brewery. For the past nine years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working and conscientious person who hardly ever calls off work due to sickness.

Roughly six-and-a-half months ago he started dating a woman named Emma. They appeared to hit it off immediately and looked as if they had a lot of fun together.

The Hazardous and Excessive Drinking Begins

When Russ met Emma, he almost never drank. This totally changed when Emma and Russ started seeing one another on a fairly normal basis. In fact, their relationship was going great until Emma called Russ one night nearly 4:30 AM and said that she had to breakup and that she couldn’t tell him the reasons for her decision at that moment.

The next morning before he went to work, Russ drove to Emma’s apartment and found out right away that Emma had already moved out. Russ took this particularly hard. In actual fact, he was astounded because they appeared to be getting along so very well.

When Heavy and Irresponsible Drinking Leads to Work Problems

So what did Russ do about Emma’s departure? Rather than working through his agony and pain, he began getting intoxicated just about every night. It didn’t take long for his fellow employees or for his supervisor to notice that Russ was coming to work late at least twice per week and that he repeatedly called off sick. Furthermore, some of his fellow employees made an appointment with staff in the HR Department and said that Russ frequently came to work with a strong odor of alcohol on his breath or on his clothes.

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

When a Boss Can Motivate an Employee to Get Help For His or Her Irresponsible and Hazardous Drinking

Russ’s manager also mentioned that a number of his co-workers reported him to Human Resources because he had been coming to work with the strong smell of alcohol. His boss then stated the following: “Russ, your co-workers are not reporting you to the Human Resources Department to get you into any trouble or because they dislike you but rather because they care about you. And I care too. I don’t want to poke my nose into your affairs, but it is evident that you are displaying some of the well known signs and symptoms of alcohol abuse. As a consequence, I want you to go and see a psychologist in the employee’s assistance program to discuss your drinking and your depression.”

“Russ, I’m no medical doctor or a counselor, but I have seen more than a few of my relatives and friends experience some extremely negative alcohol side effects. Not only this but I have also experienced the signs of alcoholism first-hand in my own family. When people have problems with drinking, these issues not only affect the drinker, but they also make an impact on his or her family, friends, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers.”

Russ admired his supervisor very much and as a result followed through with his recommendation 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 loss of Emma, he felt some reassurance knowing that his supervisor and his fellow employees cared about him and wanted what’s best for him. This gave him some emotional relief for the first time in a number of weeks and he actually felt some hope that he would get back on track with his life.