Yeah, working in a restaurant and thus being around alcohol in recovery is not something I'd recommend to anyone else trying to sober up, but it's all I really know how to do to make money at present so I've just learned to deal with it for now. I've got some ideas of things I might do to change this situation in the future but for now the restaurant biz keeps me financially stable and that's that. It's just my job, not my life.
It helps that I started a new job in my second week sober this time, so there is not a single person that I work with now who has ever seen me with as much as a drop of alcohol in my system. I honestly don't really focus on the alcohol at work and it really hasn't been an issue at all. I can't say that it's caused even the slightest twinge of a craving or thought of drinking so far this time.
This situation wasn't even a problem tonight--I just thought it was strange and noteworthy that this was the first time I'd really gotten a good whiff of an alcoholic drink when I'm serving dozens of them a day. And also I think it's good for me to remind myself and others here sometimes that I do work with alcohol--it keeps me accountable in some ways just in case it ever does become an issue.
I did turn down an actual bartending position as that would probably be cutting it a little too close for comfort. I don't work in the kind of place where the bartenders are taking shots behind the bar or anything like that, but I still don't think that would be an appropriate decision for me to make in recovery.
And now I'll quit being all blabbermouthy in here and let you Julyers get back to your business. There's some great recovery happening in this class, happy to see you all come together like you have. Keep it up!