The Day my Best Friend was Fired
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Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: Waterford, CT
Posts: 15
The Day my Best Friend was Fired
Hey guys, I haven't let in on how my best friend (the PCP/Weed/Alcohol addict) was fired from the place we worked at.
Now, he was actually one of the managers at "Five Guys" for a short time; It was the day after St. Patty's Day, The 3 of the five managers were on shift at the same time; one plotted a joke to pull on Pete for when he got there, right at 3; another helped with it, and the other just listened along; The joke was that all grey shirts (The Managers) including the General manager would be all taking personal days on Thursday leaving Pete(my best friend) to man every single shift, including opening & closing. Thursday at that time was Pete's only day off.
When it got around three, something had gotten an employee angry to the max, to this day I'm assuming one of the manager's said something to him as a joke and they took it wrong. All I remember is the employee storming through the back, with garbage, saying he was done with this place under his breath(out of anger of course). I peered out from the back, as I was doing a list of things the manager wanted me to do in the back; he began teasing the fact how long I was taking in the back, when really I was taking my time back there.
Back at that time frame it didn't take me much to get salty. I took a couple cardboard scraps went outside and slammed them into the dumpster. At that time I didn't notice Pete frozenly starring a both the other empoyee and myself. When I realized he was there, he asked "Do I even want to go in there?".
I tried reassuring him that it was fine to go in, it was that one of the manager's were on a roll. But it was a little too late, Pete had a panic attack. I was about to tell him about the joke that was going to be pulled, but Pete had told me to get back into the building and try to get un-salty. He started his shift off okay, JUST okay. Then came the joke, the managers pulled it off convincingly, I thought Pete didn't believe him, but that wasn't the case. It got his panic attack EVEN worse. He stopped what he was doing, which was doing the buns at the time, and he litterally broke down. The jig was up, they had to reveal it was a joke
He went to the back, and franticly conferenced with the gray shirts one by one, he was one scared guy, he had the craving to use (Smoking, well, you know what, helped his anxiety, or at least that's what he said it did), He was at the point where he was done with using, he wanted to stop and have his daughter back in his life, every craving made him afraid. He was debating with all of them on calling Richard (Our Branch Boss) to go back to being a red shirt(A regular employee), to allow him more time to quit drugs.
It wasn't soon after that another manager told Pete to take a personal day, Pete wasn't stable to work. So the manager was going to cover his closing shift. I had a minute left to my shift, at 4, when Pete was about to leave. I knew I couldn't let him go alone. So I offered to go with him, and we hung out the afternoon after and I tried to help calm him down, (we ended up driving to Rhode Island since it was Sunday, to get him a couple of Beers, of course; he noted that a beer will help calm him down, I got him a couple, little did I know that I was enabling him). But we managed to get him calm for good.
He thanked me later that night, saying had I not gone with him, he would've bought 80 bags of Dust and Overdosed.
Now Pete put a plan into action later that night to talk with Lee(Our General Manager) and Richard in the morning, after his N.A Meeting. He wanted to ask Richard to demote him back to a red shirt, so Pete could focus on quitting drugs more; He asked Richard the very thing next morning, and Richard told him to eff off and fired him.
Weeks later he checked himself into rehab, He didn't want to use anymore, he wanted his daughter back in his life. Of course, he's out now, The rehab wouldn't let him in to the second sober house due to the requirements of having a job and money. So he's living from different place to place, like I said, mainly a tent in the woods as well (Since he was kicked out of his mom's apartment building in the hood).
With that said, I feel really guilty! I feel like I got him fired, that its why he's in this mess; Should I blame myself?
Now, he was actually one of the managers at "Five Guys" for a short time; It was the day after St. Patty's Day, The 3 of the five managers were on shift at the same time; one plotted a joke to pull on Pete for when he got there, right at 3; another helped with it, and the other just listened along; The joke was that all grey shirts (The Managers) including the General manager would be all taking personal days on Thursday leaving Pete(my best friend) to man every single shift, including opening & closing. Thursday at that time was Pete's only day off.
When it got around three, something had gotten an employee angry to the max, to this day I'm assuming one of the manager's said something to him as a joke and they took it wrong. All I remember is the employee storming through the back, with garbage, saying he was done with this place under his breath(out of anger of course). I peered out from the back, as I was doing a list of things the manager wanted me to do in the back; he began teasing the fact how long I was taking in the back, when really I was taking my time back there.
Back at that time frame it didn't take me much to get salty. I took a couple cardboard scraps went outside and slammed them into the dumpster. At that time I didn't notice Pete frozenly starring a both the other empoyee and myself. When I realized he was there, he asked "Do I even want to go in there?".
I tried reassuring him that it was fine to go in, it was that one of the manager's were on a roll. But it was a little too late, Pete had a panic attack. I was about to tell him about the joke that was going to be pulled, but Pete had told me to get back into the building and try to get un-salty. He started his shift off okay, JUST okay. Then came the joke, the managers pulled it off convincingly, I thought Pete didn't believe him, but that wasn't the case. It got his panic attack EVEN worse. He stopped what he was doing, which was doing the buns at the time, and he litterally broke down. The jig was up, they had to reveal it was a joke
He went to the back, and franticly conferenced with the gray shirts one by one, he was one scared guy, he had the craving to use (Smoking, well, you know what, helped his anxiety, or at least that's what he said it did), He was at the point where he was done with using, he wanted to stop and have his daughter back in his life, every craving made him afraid. He was debating with all of them on calling Richard (Our Branch Boss) to go back to being a red shirt(A regular employee), to allow him more time to quit drugs.
It wasn't soon after that another manager told Pete to take a personal day, Pete wasn't stable to work. So the manager was going to cover his closing shift. I had a minute left to my shift, at 4, when Pete was about to leave. I knew I couldn't let him go alone. So I offered to go with him, and we hung out the afternoon after and I tried to help calm him down, (we ended up driving to Rhode Island since it was Sunday, to get him a couple of Beers, of course; he noted that a beer will help calm him down, I got him a couple, little did I know that I was enabling him). But we managed to get him calm for good.
He thanked me later that night, saying had I not gone with him, he would've bought 80 bags of Dust and Overdosed.
Now Pete put a plan into action later that night to talk with Lee(Our General Manager) and Richard in the morning, after his N.A Meeting. He wanted to ask Richard to demote him back to a red shirt, so Pete could focus on quitting drugs more; He asked Richard the very thing next morning, and Richard told him to eff off and fired him.
Weeks later he checked himself into rehab, He didn't want to use anymore, he wanted his daughter back in his life. Of course, he's out now, The rehab wouldn't let him in to the second sober house due to the requirements of having a job and money. So he's living from different place to place, like I said, mainly a tent in the woods as well (Since he was kicked out of his mom's apartment building in the hood).
With that said, I feel really guilty! I feel like I got him fired, that its why he's in this mess; Should I blame myself?
Nature Girl
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: By The Lake
Posts: 60,328
Blame yourself? No dear, he owns his behaviour and the consequences it brings. Taking him for a beer wasn't the wisest thing to do, but he had a choice and he made it....and now he is paying for it.
He knows where help is, he knows that the only answer is to stop using completely, no substitutions, and he will or will not do that on his own when the pain of using becomes greater than the fear of stopping.
Meanwhile, you have a choice to how you want to spend your life. If this is how you want to live it, good luck. If it is not, then it's time to get some recovery for yourself and choose a better path.
I hope things work out better in days to come.
Hugs
He knows where help is, he knows that the only answer is to stop using completely, no substitutions, and he will or will not do that on his own when the pain of using becomes greater than the fear of stopping.
Meanwhile, you have a choice to how you want to spend your life. If this is how you want to live it, good luck. If it is not, then it's time to get some recovery for yourself and choose a better path.
I hope things work out better in days to come.
Hugs
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