NEOMARXIST

21 days sober today!

Curently looking for work as unemployed and really need to sort some employment out, however there is very little formal work available what with the recession and all that, but I have noticed a vacancy for Bar work at a local Bar/club/pub.
However I am a bit wary of applying, for the obvious reasons that I am not sure that working behind a bar and serving/watching others drink alcohol will be good for my goal of maintaining sobriety for the foreseeable future.
What do you dudes reckon? Anyone had any experience of working in a bar/pub whils't trying to stay sober?

Thanks, NeoMARXIST.

Anna

I know jobs are hard to come by, but I never could have remained sober, if I was working in a bar.

Good luck with the job hunt!

Tazman53

For me that would be the equivelant of some one trying to quit smoking crack selling crack. I have heard of people doing it, but not in early sobriety. I would flip burgers before I would gamble my sobriety.

maz09

A person I know actually quit drinking because she started working in a bar, she said the smell of it all the time turned her off alcohol.

lovinmenow

How could you even consider such a thing?

jamdls

I used to have a friend that never drank UNTIL he worked in a bar, just putting up with b s night after night drove him to drink. I can't imagine working in a bar as the smell of alcohol make me really nauseated

NEOMARXIST

It's A JOB, There is hardly anything where I live at the moment, mass unemployment, Gets you off Unemployment benefit, Nice socialable environment to work, easy work/stress free work, need etcetc.

I probably won't apply for the job to be honest.

bartender129

I've worked in bars for 20 years.

I've worked sober for about 10 of them.

One thing to check out is the establishments policy for staff drinking. If it is a place that permits it, I would be real careful about taking the job.

If they have a solid, enforced policy that forbids staff drinking, it will make it much easier to work there.

Bottom line for me though is that I've never had successful times of sobriety if I have had to hide from booze.

Good luck my friend

tommyk

No offense to anyone...

... people consider such things in early recovery when they don't view their recovery as a matter of life & death.

Just my opinion.

resacup

I don't know about bartending but a lot of staff at restaurants drink a lot while working. I think its a bad idea but I respect your need to get a job. Is there a temp agency you can go to?

flutter

I know jobs are hard to find, but I would definitely keep looking.. There's no way I would ever work in a bar.

Course, that's just me, and my sobriety IS a matter life and death.

ex D-Boy

are you an alcoholic or a drug addict? I would say if alcohol is your DOC or if you used to drink a lot as as secondary DOC dont even bother. Just setting yourself up for failure. Might be your subconcious coming at you in a different method to try and disguise its want to drink. A monkey cannot sell bananas

However, me being a drug addict I have found I can be in atmospheres with alcohol and people drinking with no discomfort//triggers at all. I never enjoyed the taste of alcohol and it always took way to long to get the desired effect so I was always turned off. But that is just me, I have been known to be a very strange person lol.

good luck on the job hunt, I know its rough out there. Something will come along thats better than a bartender (plus bartenders have such sh1tty hours, friday/saturday nights till 3-4am? blaaah who wants that?)

Missymae737

Hello,

I put my recovery #1...I in no way could put myself in a situation like working at a bar...I would be wrestling with the devil...My recovery has been hard to come by, and one more time out there just may put me in a coffin, so I can't take any chances...

Bottom line, keep your recovery #1 and don't put stumbling blocks in your path...It is not worth it.

Aysha

I was a bartender for 10 yrs.
I never drank. I never liked alcohol. And thats how i got alot of my jobs was by letting them know that.
BUT..I am a drug addict. And I use to do ALOT of drugs in alot of my jobs as a bartender.
Whether it was a club, bar, or restaurant. I was pretty much getting high during work and other times.
Probably good I wasnt a drinker. I really would have been a mess.
But thats just me.

AlkalikeH

Each time i took a job at either a bar or a restaurant, everyone was either high or drinking. I was so in the low end of everything and the shifts were so brief yet intense (cooking or pouring drinks) that i never had the chance to even take a ****! and i was always so exhausted that i rushed myself out of the place. Work is work. Still, everyone else was either drinking wine masked with Coca-Cola or doing blow out of little plastic tubes.

BUT on the pubs i always drank: all employees had to remain sober during their shift. The staff was allowed to drink after work, for free; so most of them stayed and had more than a few with the usual customers. So it is a mix. Like someone said, depends on the working environment and policies.

Still, i would look into anything else were alcohol is not involved. Be well!

SullenGirl

I have been working in the serving industry for a LONG time and as an alcoholic I have come to accept that it's probably not the best idea in the world. First off, alcohol is so widely accepted to people who work in this industry. It doesn't phase anyone to get pissed every night of the week... It seems second nature. Second off, patrons ALWAYS offer to buy you drinks as well as the establishment. Any place I have worked, always hands the staff free alcohol here and there.

I don't drink because I tell myself I can't. I avoid the liquor stores and when going out with friends, I make a decision to walk in there with them and NOT drink. I found this SO much harder to do when working around it all day, all night, all the time. It's so easy to just say "I'll just have one" after work, without even thinking about it because you've been handing them out to customers all day. Also, most people in the serving industry drink, and I found they were the FIRST people in my life to help me make excuses for myself "oh you're doing so good, you'll be fine, you deserve it!"

Anyway, I know everyone's sobriety is different... Some people can handle it, some people can't. I wasn't an every day drinker, I was a binge drinker, so it was SO easy for me to come up with excuses to drink.

serenityqueen

I used to HATE the taste of any alcohol. I'm an addict first and foremost. I worked in bars for awhile, always doing a lot of coke. Where I worked, it seemed to be the DOC for nearly every single employee at each & every bar I worked at. Then, when everyone was, uh, a little wired at the end of the shift, they started drinking. Long story short, I soon added alcoholic after my name.

I think you could find some other job out there. I know they're very hard to come by, but I just think you'd be playing Russian Roulette every shift. Please think long and hard before even considering something like this.

Judy

Mary52

If you hang out at a barber shop long enough, you're going to get a haircut.

crisco

Don't try it until six months to a year. You have to very militant in sobriety and you have to be the master of managing your emotions. In addition, frequent participation in meetings is highly recommended.

Personally, I think it is playing with fire, but a job is a job.

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