My boss is an alcoholic
 

Everyone in the office knows, people just step around it. He's not an "acting" boss, has no duties, responsibilities... just puts in an appearance once and a while. A boss due to family ties I guess you could say.

He showed up yesterday for the company Christmas lunch, after a few months of absence. Evidently, this is the time of year (Fall/Winter) where he takes his fall into the abyss of alcoholism.

I watched him with interest as he sat at the other end of the long lunch table. He looked just awful. Later in the buffet line, we had a short conversation. I mean he really looked rough. Hands shaking, skin discolored and ruddy, deep shadows under his eyes, disheveled, tired, and poorly groomed. He was drinking a soda, and barely filled his plate with all the entrees we had before us. He sat by himself and was quiet and withdrawn.

His family members (the other bosses) carry the load. They seem to accept his condition and him for what he is, but he's largely ignored. That is how everyone really regards him - he's there-but he isn't. I guess he's been in treatment many times... several inpatient at the finest treatment facilities in the US.

He's unmarried, no children - so other than being a burden to his family members, he really isn't impacting others with his disease. Just himself. I see him as a hollow man, the core of him has been eaten away from the alcohol in so many ways. What a waste of a life.

It is sad isn't it isurvived....

Perhaps depression/SAD is the root of the alcohol abuse. I'm a believer in diagnosing the root cause and go from there. Alcohol and drug abuse is but symptom of the real problem.

Yes, I wondered about that too - mostly because I understand that his episodes always happen in the Fall and Winter. ( I always thought my X's falls off the wagon, which often happened that time of year - were related to seasonal depression disorder. He'd get depressed during the Winter. I use to dread it.)

This man acts incredibly sad, there is an aura of sadness around him, he radiates it emotionally. Very tragic. I don't know his whole history, but from the reaction from other other people at the company, this has been going on for many years. He gets a wide birth from all, almost as if he was contagious.

gerry, you should keep the focus on yourself

Exactly, and you don't know his families history with him, or anything really about him. You're going off other peoples reactions and heresay possibly, maybe he gets a wide berth from his family because they've learned how to look after themselves and leave him to his life.
I prefer to keep my own side of the street clean nowadays and not speculate on other peoples lives, what they do isn't my business and what I do isn't theirs unless I choose to tell them.

Just be glad that he doesn't actually have an effect on your place of work. I work for two active alchohlics and one dry drunk. They are flaming a**holes, manulative liars and little gods. Their main consultant served prison time for trafficing cocaine.

Other than that it is a swell place to work.