Abraham

So I am a mechanical contractor mostly working in the shop fabricating sheet metal fittings and other stuff. I am in a union so I work for lots of different contractors when I need to although its nice to have a steady job at one place. For the last 10 years I have been in and out of the company I have spent most of my time at. I have worked at a few other places when I was laid off from my main place. I only worked 5 months last year and 6 months the year before. I am usually laid off for 2-8 months at a time. Kind of just called in when they were busy and laid off after. Lately one guy retired and another left. The two main guys who worked steady. Then they called me and another couple new guys in. Now I have been back for 7 months and the other day while talking to the new guy he told me he heard from "someone" that they were keeping me because I stopped drinking. I kind of thought that but was not sure. Was nice to hear it out loud. When the superintendent called me back to work in late july (I stopped drinking june 10th) I said to him that I'm not sure what you have heard about my drinking but I just want to let you know that I quit. I never missed work or drank at work and am one of the best welders they have. I had no idea my drinking could have been effecting my job but apparently I'm in alot more steady cuz I stopped drinking. Not drinking is better in so many ways. Even just showing up now almost 9 months later. Thanks SR

Cityboy

Thank you for sharing that

Surrendered19

That is a great post Abraham. The sober life is so much more simple isn't it? Less to plan. Less to deal with. Better pace. No desperation. Quiet. Calm. Free and clear. I am happy for you.

ThatWasTheOldMe

Drinking has ruined my life in almost every way imaginable.

Steely

Great post Abraham. Your story unfolded so beautifully.

When I read you had been laid off for 5-6 months two years in a row I was expecting you to say how sobriety had allowed for you to handle 'life's ups and downs'. But no, you now have full time work as a result of your sobriety. Great stuff.

Here's to all the welders of the world! Here's to sobriety..

Abraham

Full time for now but time will tell how long that lasts. They still have to get some work. With this new virus I feel like I will get screwed on work because of that once I finally have a good thing going. I think the layoffs contributed bigtime to my alcoholism. Of course I am the one responsible but I have been off for 9 months a few times. 15 months once. I have been laid off for 4-15 months every year except 2 for the last 15 years. Still grossed 68k for 5 months work(with unemployment and sub pay) in 2019. I get by ok but could be so much better off with a steady job all year every year. All that time home alone with cash was not good for me. I did not spend my time wisely. I was off 8 months this last time and drinking at about 6 am. Toast by 10 or 11 am. I could barely manage to stay up for my wife to get home and eat dinner. Once summer rolled around and I wanted to be able to go out after most folks got home from work and realized I was way to drunk to do that really hit me. That along with a doctor appointment and a court date that I wanted to be sober for helped me decide I needed to quit. Even though I knew that for decades really. Then came SR and they talked me through the rest of the way. I consider myself very lucky.

ThatWasTheOldMe

Your fault, only in the sense that you poured the drink.
Any sort of underlying issues probably weren't your "fault" in any sense of the word.

Abraham

Lucky for me there were no underlying issues. I just liked to drink (at first) and did it too much. My motto was "everything in excess". I'm trying to get out of that mentality.

Dee74

Thanks for the positive post Abraham

D

MaximusD

Awesome to hear and amazing that they noticed. Any idea what it might have been that made them notice your drinking was affecting your work? Did you try to weld plastic to metal?

Abraham

I'm not even sure my drinking was affecting my work. I think it was just that I came in all hung over and smelling like booze. I think just the notion turned them off plus they do have to lay off at times and cuz of how I was I got "recommended" before other people. At least I think. Although the superintendent did say I seemed more confident. Although I was always confident and dont feel any more confident but I probably look better and maybe more confident. Most of my fellow workers are heavy daily drinkers at best. There are a lot of variables, with the higher seniority guy gone now and another retired does not hurt. I may have been gone already if they were still there but also may not have been there this long even though they are gone if I was still drinking. Either way I aint complaining. I figure a regular drinker or non drinker is probably better to have around than a alcoholic. Funny thing is though is the fact that being laid off in the first place only made my drinking worse. I should have played my cards right along time ago. Ohwell, I'm playing them right now.