Justfor1

Let me just warn everyone that the charge of DUI has a lifetime of consequences. I received a DUI in 2003 & it is still effecting me today! I just got my license back last year & employers are looking at it like I just received the charge last year. Which is not true but employers do not seem to understand. I have had 3 interviews & it has come up. Sadly, on my last slip (almost 1year sober) I ended up driving drunk yet again. Thank God, no DUI but I did damage my car a bit running up a curb. I'm tempted to drink simply because society labels me an alcoholic & that is what alcoholics do.

Change4good

You can have many excuses to drink. But they are just that. . .excuses.

tomsteve

thought you were goin into a psychiatric hospital for help?


i would spend the time to go through your posts and look at all of the excuses you have used to drink and remind you of them, but i really dont think it will help.
you drink beause you are an alcohlic.

Justfor1

You are right. I think I have about 252 excuses to drink.

Justfor1

[QUOTE=tomsteve;3975081]thought you were goin into a psychiatric hospital for help?


They said that since I wasn't suicidal I could not be admitted. I did see my psych Dr. who refilled my anxiety meds though.

Mountainmanbob

deeker

That's todays excuse Just1

robgt350

i heard a DUI can haunt you for a long long time. any time you get the government especially criminal, it will be with you for a long long time. hope you land something soon.

Weaver

Sorry to hear things are rough for you just, I've had a DUI and luckily no problems with finding employment. I might be wrong but I thought I remembered you saying you have had 3 duis? Also, take it from me... Society doesn't "label" you am alcoholic, you do by your actions and how alcohol affects your life (which in your case seems to be negatively)

Justfor1

[QUOTE=deeker;3975130]That's todays excuse Just1


Thank you. Yes, indeed that's todays excuse. I have a aggravated assault charge that is considered a "violent crime" that is especially troublesome. I'd rather be labeled as a criminal though than an alcoholic.

Maylie

I will tell you exactly what I told my boyfriend when he was having trouble finding a job because his background showed that he had a felony charge that had been dropped and even though it was dropped employers still wouldn't hire him.

I told him to stop feeling sorry for himself and do something about it. I told him you don't like how people treat you when they see you had a substance abuse problem, well stop having a problem and get your ass into recovery. Get clean and work on yourself and don't stop until you have worked through all the underlying reasons why you used and why you feel sorry for yourself.

The more excuses we make the more we stay in the same rut. Sure, it is really frustrating to not get a job for something that happened 10 years ago..(which I hate to say this, but are you sure that a DUI from 10 years ago is why you didn't get the job? A lot of companies don't even do background checks that go that far) but you can't give up. Keep applying and eventually someone will give you a chance.

I also just want to point out that yes alcoholics drink, but recovered alcoholics don't. So which are you?

Justfor1

Maylie, because I did not get my license back until last year, it is causing an error in the background checks. I did not drive since 2003 because I was so intoxicated every day that I could barely take the bus/train much less drive a car. I have a "theft of services" that employers do not like. All because I jumped the subway turn style because I did not have the $2 bucks. Life is simply unfair & the world is against me.

MadameX

Just for one did you just get one DUI? You also have arrests for other things dont you? Most employers dont care about just one dui if thats all you have on your record especially that long ago. It must be everything on your rap sheet. Just keep trying. Dont give up. Best of luck.

CharlieNoogan

Be proactive about explaining the charge in interviews. At my last job, when they asked me if there was anything else I would like to add at the end of the interview, I said "yes." I proceeded to explain that they would see a DWI conviction on my criminal record, that it was the worst mistake I had made in my life, and that I had followed all court requirements and learned from my mistake. They thanked me for my honesty and said that since driving was not a component of my job duties, it had no bearing. I got the job.

Sudz No More

You've just got to think positive in those interviews Just. Tell them that you are in recovery and that you have made mistakes in the past as a result. Tell them upbeat how fortunate you feel towards a new start and how you "know" you will prove yourself to them. Make them believe it, make them want to believe it and feel excited about helping you achieve your goals. The first step is the right attitude.

Justfor1

I'm finding out that employers really do background checks! Prior to a week ago I was lying about my "rap sheet". They are asking "Have been CONVICTED of ANY crimes the previous 7yrs?" I have several minor arrests & I believe that some of those were dropped or I received "supervision". I must get a printout of my "rap sheet" at the big city police station. When I was homeless I was getting ticketed or hauled in for basically being homeless. I am simply overwhelmed job seeker. At least I know how to be a homeless drunk. I am comfortable with that.

GracieLou

You posted this thread a 3/3/2013.

It starts with "I just want to let everyone know that a DUI is not the end of the world."

http://www.soberrecovery.com/forums/alcoholism/286151-dui-convictions-driving.html

Maybe you need to count your blessings rather than your challenges. I know you have relapsed but that does not mean you can't get back up.

Making excuses or making comments like "Life is simply unfair & the world is against me." is not going to solve anything.

tomsteve

life is unfair:
i got sober in april 2005. diagnosed stage 3 melanoma in may 06. went through 3 1/2 years of clinical trials, surgeries, chemo, every friggin scan thats out there, blood draws up the yingyang. i met a lot of youngens that wont even live to get their drivers license. i am on permanent disability now, but im good woth that.

think i need to take a ride, pck ya up, and take ya to the nearest cancer center and let ya tell the parents of them children hw unfair life is to you.

you are the only one who is against you!


suck it up cupcake.

Justfor1

Gracie, that is true I posted that a long time ago. But that was when I was grateful just to be driving. Now I'm having to find out it effects other areas of my life. I just can't believe after all I been through with that I drove drunk again when I had my slip. At what point should society forgive the convicted drunk driver? 10, 15 years? Or never? I look back on my life as if I visited hell. I just don't understand why I can't seem to catch a break in life???

Justfor1

[QUOTE=tomsteve;3975637]life is unfair:
think i need to take a ride, pck ya up, and take ya to the nearest cancer center and let ya tell the parents of them children hw unfair life is to you.

People like you just don't get it. Is my pain not as real as yours? I just cannot give sympathy to other people when I have received so little in life.