A Compassionate Manager Helps A Worker Address His Irresponsible And Hazardous Drinking After A Shattered Relationship
Barry dropped out of high school when he was sixteen years old and eventually found employment at a local office supply manufacturer. For the past seven years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working and reliable person who rarely calls off work due to illness.
About five-and-a-half months ago he started dating a lady named Carol. They seemed to hit it off right away and gave people the impression that they had a lot of fun with one another.
When Barry met Carol, he hardly ever drank. This circumstance changed when they began seeing one another on a fairly normal basis. If truth be told, everything was going fine until Carol unexpectedly called Barry one night nearly 2:30 AM and told him that she had to stop dating him and that she couldn't explain the reason at that particular time.
The next morning before he went to work, Barry went to Carol's condo and immediately discovered that she had already moved out. Barry received this news awfully hard. In actual fact, he was dismayed because they seemed to be getting along so well.
So what did Barry do about Carol? Rather than working through his pain and sorrow, he began getting inebriated nearly every night. It didn't take very long for his coworkers and for his boss to notice that Barry was coming to work late at least once per week and that he repeatedly called off sick. Furthermore, some of his co-workers made an appointment with staff in Human Resources Department and stated that Barry frequently came to work with a strong smell of alcohol on his breath or on his clothes.
Barry's manager heard about all of this from Human Resources and also from Barry's fellow employees. So one Friday afternoon he asked Barry to come into his office. He stated to Barry that he had recently noticed a distinct change in his work performance, attendance, behavior, and in his sick time.
"Barry, I am not an expert about alcohol facts and I'm not particularly well-educated about alcoholism facts, but I have seen several of my friends and relatives go through some really destructive issues because of their heavy and irresponsible drinking. My suggestion is that you learn more facts about alcohol and what alcohol abuse and alcoholism can do to a person."
"Why is this relevant? When individuals engage in hazardous drinking, their drinking difficulties not only negatively affect the problem drinker, but they also adversely affect his or her relatives, friends, neighbors, family, and co-workers. Barry, in sum, I would like to see you get some help for your heavy and irresponsible drinking from our top-of-the-line employee's assistance program."
Barry admired his supervisor very much and as a consequence followed through with his recommendation the next work day when he called and scheduled an appointment with a counselor in the company's employee's assistance program. Even though Barry didn't necessarily feel any better or less depressed about the sorrow he still feels for Carol, he felt some comfort knowing that his supervisor and his co-workers cared about him and wanted what's best for him. This gave Barry some emotional relief for the first time in more than a few months and he actually experienced some hope that he would get back on track with his life.