minorthreat

I'd have to disagree in my own case at least. I may have a good job, but my drinking has still cost me relationships, a deterioration of my already fragile mental state, and huge fees resulting from my DUI.

flyawayfromhere

Yeah my myth would be, "She can't be an alcoholic, I've never seen her drink excessively." But I took my "drunk drinking" to isolation with me, just so people wouldn't think I'm an alcoholic. I believe my mom best described me as "smart, sneaky and fearless"...sketchy territory there. lol

PaperDolls

For whatever reason, I was able to hold down my job during my drinking. Not that I deserved it really. I just got lucky.

I think more often than not, our employers don't know what to do with us. They know we have a problem but they like us and feel bad and don't understand alcoholism. Believe it or not, we're likeable people!

I have a feeling that's why I got lucky enough to keep my job.

babycat

Sorry, but I have to say that you are so wrong in that thinking. I can hold a job and be black out drunk EVERY night of the week. I am an alcoholic. I am still destroying my insides and causing myself massive emotional distress. That is far more than just a problem.

flyawayfromhere

Oh yeah, you DEFINITELY can have a job and be an alcoholic. I've been in school full-time with a part-time job, I've been in a full-time job AND a part-time job and I've held just a regular full-time job...all of these during black out drunk at night and up to work in the morning...sometimes even 16 hours of work the next day. It just depends on your personality. For me, losing a job due to drinking would've meant I'm an alcoholic, so I decided I just HAD to keep my job or it'd threaten my drinking. Seems weird but it happens...we're all wired so very differently. So many of the things I kept together in my life were only for the sake of defending my right to keep drinking in my mind. I did however, gain 50 lbs of beer gut and lose all desire to socialize. lol

Terminally Unique

The job is usually the last thing to go, because even the dullest knife in the drawer knows that you need MONEY to buy alcohol. Well, there are other ways, but I wouldn't recommend them.

flyawayfromhere

Ugh, I'd hate to see the list of things I would've done had I lost my job and needed money for alcohol.

flyawayfromhere

Well actually, I was already doing pawn loans when I ran out of money before payday and needed money to drink. Oh jeeze.

SteppingItUp

With kindness, I believe another myth is that alcoholism is based upon the negative effects it has on one's life.

As an alcoholic, I find I am bodily and mentally different from non-alcoholics. I lose control over the amount I take once I start drinking, and I can't stay stopped based purely on my own resources.

No bailiffs necessary for self-diagnosis...

Terminally Unique

I'd have to agree with you there.

A good thing, too. I can say that I am not an alcoholic or an addict, and nobody can say otherwise.

omenapt

i received a highly esteemed 'OUSTANDING ACHEIVEMENT" award while being a drunk.. 1st ever from my dept.! the picture i had taken with the VP was in the monthly newsletter and boy did i look rough! i have been there sixteen years.. Now that I;m sober i feel more insecuire about my position than ever. go figure!

PaperDolls

I see what your saying.....you've got a point.

Shygirl

Great posts everyone.......I'm speechless. WOW......thank you.

flyawayfromhere

Yeah that's a good point SteppingItUp. You don't need any external force to tell you that you have a drinking problem. I sought out sobriety on my own volition...you don't always need the law, family, friends or a doctor to tell you that you have a problem. Although my growing waist line had said a few things to me. lol

Justfor1

For me if I had a legit source of income like a job and could work 40hours a week I wouldn't consider it a problem. Doesn't working bring self esteem? I once worked in a office setting and relapsed. I went staggering into the office at 8AM visibly intoxicated and ended up threatening my boss. I thought at the time that I was doing the right thing by not calling in sick. Where are you guys working that lets you come in hungover and/or intoxicated? Didn't co-workers and bosses complain about the alcohol smell and/or stumbling around?

Carly2332

Interesting and correct post. I don't wake up every morning and have to drink a beer, I have a job, haven't gotten a DUI etc.....but I have an alcohol problem. Recognizing this, is the key to stopping it before it gets worse. I don't need/want to experience those things before I realize that I have a problem.

babycat

Well, to be fair, I am a massage therapist, so working 40 hours a week is simply out of the question. And I never have to work before 12:30 pm. So, yeah, kind of an alcoholic's dream job. I do have to say tho, nothing is worse than anxiety when massaging. You are fully left with nothing but your thoughts.

nvrbeentospain

I think the thing is that there are lots of different types of alcoholics. I work more than full time and never drink before or during work, but I drink too much when I'm off work. It carries over sometimes in that I show up to work hungover occasionally. Still got the job, though, but I'm still an alcoholic.

Also, I guess I should change the tenses on my statements above to past tense. No more drinking.

Gerbosko

Great posts everyone!

While I held down a job and drank after work (sometimes heavily) I tried my best to hide my alcoholism. When I lived up north I would regularly purchase alcohol at this one gas station, but I started to feel uncomfortable with the fact they probably thought I was an alcoholic so I went 2-3 miles down the road to purchase beer from another gas station. I remember right before leaving work, I would plan which gas station I would go to so they wouldn't suspect a problem.

I started to do that after I moved down south too, but I bought the alcohol at different times (not on purpose) and would usually meet the new shift - I was still getting carded before I quit. It's odd how when I reflect on my past a little bit, it's kinda laughable at what I would do to get alcohol and how I was acting while drinking.

Paraffin

I held down a job for most of the years I was a practicing alcoholic.

When I started drinking after work and on weekends I could not control the quantity of alcohol I would take.

Of the many thousands of occaisions that I decided I would not drink today I was succesful in abstaining only a small percentages of the time.

As far as I am aware it is a mental obsession and a physical craving that qualifies a person as an alcoholic.
I hope there are no readers trying to come to terms with their own alcoholism that use the fact that they still have a job to mislead them into thinking that they are not alcoholic after all.