Almost 6 years ago to the day, I had started on a sort of drunken bender while I was working for my brother. We were installing floors at Exxon Mobile and a Flight Research in Mojave.
I was roomed up with the flooring mechanic and we were starting to get a good buzz going and my brother called. I was told not to talk to him but I thought there were a few things I needed to tell him. He asked me if I was drunk and I said no. My last drunk to date would come about a week and a half later.
In prior jobs, the only time I was even approached or reprimanded about my drinking... was by fellow drinkers. I've gotten away from about everything short of murder for my drunkenness. Most companies don't have the fortitude to make the approach.* I've gotten away with not showing for 3 days straight, came in off a bender, got chewed out a bit and yelled back at my boss... "Just let me get back to work!"... and that worked. I've drank before and during work without too many ill effects. I sometimes needed other drugs to perform certain tasks.
*I've seen a lady who was so bombed at work she could not even swing the doors open to get to the break room. So certain individuals would take her to the break room. I saw her sitting there and handed her one of those itty bitty A.A. books and said, "This is what I do. I don't know if this is your problem or not. That's for you to decide. I hope you get help." She disappeared for about a month. She came back sober as a judge and never saw her tight again.
One of those "fellow drinkers" that confronted me about my drinking was half my own fault. We used to drink outside the plant after hours out in Commerce City near Denver. I would be the guy who would collect the money and go to the liquor store to buy the "swill". I told him I was drinking a couple of shots of tequila during my lunch breaks and maybe a shot or two on break. He pointed his finger into my chest and said, "If we have to wait till 4:00 then you have to wait. Knock that off!" So I did. This was the same guy who I used to get passed out drunk with at his home on Friday nights. He came to work one morning so hung over, he had his truck all loaded up for a delivery that next Saturday morning and got picked up on I-76 for a D.U.I. He was still drunk from the night before he claims. Well... he's been sober for about the same amount of time I've been now. I don't know why or how. I use A.A.