Booze fueled workplace drama!
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
Booze fueled workplace drama!
Man, what a day. I work as a pro cook and it's a rough-and-tumble lifestyle. Lots of drinking and drugs. What can I say- we work hard and play hard. At any rate I work with a nice younger guy that's a real burnout. He's a recent vet that got discharged for being a drunk basically. His life is pretty much a spiral down the drain, it's sad to say. Last night he learned he'd read the schedule wrong and had to close tonite and flipped the eff out; he was screaming, kicking stuff, etc. As he left for the night he was bitching that he needed to put his notice in.
Well, tonite he showed up an hour late and so drunk he could hardly walk. One of the guys called the sous chef; he didn't want to come in and deal with the guy so he told the kid who called to tell him to go home. Long story short, I thought for a minute the two of them would come to blows. He was screaming that he's "killed guys in Afghanistan for less", he ain't leavin', etc etc. Eventually we got him out of there without violence, although I presume he drove home (too drunk to walk, I imagine).
It's a sad deal. He's an alcoholic and he knows it, he just doesn't care yet. It's something I've seen so many times over the years...The kitchen is hot, the work can be stressful and the hours can suck. You drink to cope with the stress, but you come in so hung over you can't see straight. The fact that you feel like $hit makes the day even harder and more stressful, so when you get off you can't wait to get $hitfaced and blow off steam. Which leads back to the next day sucking again...
I hope he made it home without killing anyone. He might have saved his job if he'd have just left right away, but the screaming match in front of a dining room full of customers almost certainly cost him his job. All I can hope is that it will be the wake-up call he needs to get his $hit together.
All I can say is THANK GOD I GOT OFF THE RIDE! That was me, albeit without the freak outs. I used to drink til I passed out, scrape myself off the mattress and pour myself into my chef coat and head off to work, too. Spend the first few hours trying not to pass out, then sweat the booze out over the next few hours. Of course, as miserable as I felt, by closing time I was ready to tie one on again.
Sobriety is such a gift. It's easy to take it for granted until you see someone with the monkey on their back. I can see now that worst day sober was better than my best day drunk.
Well, tonite he showed up an hour late and so drunk he could hardly walk. One of the guys called the sous chef; he didn't want to come in and deal with the guy so he told the kid who called to tell him to go home. Long story short, I thought for a minute the two of them would come to blows. He was screaming that he's "killed guys in Afghanistan for less", he ain't leavin', etc etc. Eventually we got him out of there without violence, although I presume he drove home (too drunk to walk, I imagine).
It's a sad deal. He's an alcoholic and he knows it, he just doesn't care yet. It's something I've seen so many times over the years...The kitchen is hot, the work can be stressful and the hours can suck. You drink to cope with the stress, but you come in so hung over you can't see straight. The fact that you feel like $hit makes the day even harder and more stressful, so when you get off you can't wait to get $hitfaced and blow off steam. Which leads back to the next day sucking again...
I hope he made it home without killing anyone. He might have saved his job if he'd have just left right away, but the screaming match in front of a dining room full of customers almost certainly cost him his job. All I can hope is that it will be the wake-up call he needs to get his $hit together.
All I can say is THANK GOD I GOT OFF THE RIDE! That was me, albeit without the freak outs. I used to drink til I passed out, scrape myself off the mattress and pour myself into my chef coat and head off to work, too. Spend the first few hours trying not to pass out, then sweat the booze out over the next few hours. Of course, as miserable as I felt, by closing time I was ready to tie one on again.
Sobriety is such a gift. It's easy to take it for granted until you see someone with the monkey on their back. I can see now that worst day sober was better than my best day drunk.
Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 34
Originally Posted by MythOfSisyphus 
Wow! The guy was actually back at work today. I can't believe he didn't get fired. I'll have to see what the deal is.
Member
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: San Diego
Posts: 611
Wow it kills me because I lost a couple really good jobs over drinking / drugs and now that I'm sober I can't find a job at all yet he still has one! Oh we'll I certainly don't wish bad on the poor fellow, I just had to shake my head at this.
You have a good point about what a gift sobriety can be and how we do get those reminders when we see others in the middle of active addiction. After I got cleaned up I had to watch my beloved father get two DUI's in a month, become a missing person for 3 days, go to the hospital over 10 times, dislocate his hip and shoulder while drunk, chase his wife (my mom) of 30 years away to the point she quit speaking to him, alienate his own mother and all his friends, loose a house, sleep in his car, and almost kill another guy in a bar fight, etc. All those were pretty good reminders of why I'm working a program of recovery and why I never plan to pick up a drink or a drug again.
Good post thank you.
You have a good point about what a gift sobriety can be and how we do get those reminders when we see others in the middle of active addiction. After I got cleaned up I had to watch my beloved father get two DUI's in a month, become a missing person for 3 days, go to the hospital over 10 times, dislocate his hip and shoulder while drunk, chase his wife (my mom) of 30 years away to the point she quit speaking to him, alienate his own mother and all his friends, loose a house, sleep in his car, and almost kill another guy in a bar fight, etc. All those were pretty good reminders of why I'm working a program of recovery and why I never plan to pick up a drink or a drug again.
Good post thank you.
as a sober contributor
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: California
Posts: 1,312
Wow!
Alcohol fueled stupidity at it's worse!
It must be a huge reinforcement to your vow of sobriety but it really makes me wonder how management could possibly allow this guy back in the building!
If I was a customer in that restaurant, I would have talked to the mgr and let him know if that individual was allowed back in the kitchen, my buisiness would be taken elsewhere.
Hope you have a GREAT day at work.
It must be a huge reinforcement to your vow of sobriety but it really makes me wonder how management could possibly allow this guy back in the building!
If I was a customer in that restaurant, I would have talked to the mgr and let him know if that individual was allowed back in the kitchen, my buisiness would be taken elsewhere.
Hope you have a GREAT day at work.
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 5,937
Everyone I work with is baffled. The saute guy that had to cover his drunk as says it's basically "a slap in the face" to everyone that got screwed because of him. Our exec & sous are kind of doormats- great guys and really nice, but there's nothing resembling any discipline at all.
The manager that had to walk him out had the day off, and I'm off tomorrow. We'll see what's up on Thursday.
The manager that had to walk him out had the day off, and I'm off tomorrow. We'll see what's up on Thursday.
Currently Active Users Viewing this Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
