A Space For Girlz

Russ dropped out of high school when he was sixteen years old and eventually got a job at a local Home Depot. For the past eight years he has gained a reputation as a hard-working and diligent employee who only once in a blue moon calls off work because of sickness.

Roughly three months ago he started dating a young lady named Emma. They appeared to get along real well immediately and looked like they had a lot of good times together.

The Heavy and Irresponsible Drinking Begins

When Russ met Emma, he almost never drank. This totally changed when Russ and Emma began seeing each other on a fairly usual basis. In fact, everything was going fine until Emma called Russ one night about 2:30 AM and said that she had to call off their relationship and that she couldn’t tell him the reasons for her decision at that moment.

The next morning before he went to work, Russ drove to her apartment and found out that she had already moved out. Russ took this very hard. In actual fact, he was surprised because they seemed to be getting along so very well.

When Heavy and Hazardous Drinking Leads to Problems at Work

So what did Russ do about Emma’s departure? Rather than working through his pain and misery, he started getting inebriated almost every night. It didn’t take long for his coworkers or for his supervisor to notice that Russ was coming to work late at least three times per week and that he constantly called off sick. Furthermore, some of his fellow employees made an appointment with staff in the HR Department and mentioned that Russ routinely came to work with a strong odor of alcohol on his clothes or on his breath.

Russ’s supervisor heard about all of this from Human Resources and also from Russ’s co-workers. So one Monday morning he called Russ into his office. He told Russ that he had recently noticed an explicit change in his work performance, behavior, sick time, and in his attendance.

When a Boss Can Motivate an Employee to Get Help For His or Her Abusive and Hazardous Drinking

Russ’s boss also said that a number of his fellow employees reported him to Human Resources because he had been coming to work with the strong odor of alcohol. His manager then stated the following: “Russ, your fellow employees are not reporting you to HR to get you into trouble or because they don’t like you but rather because they are concerned about you. And I am concerned too. I don’t want to intrude into your life, but it seems very clear that you are displaying some of the normal signs and symptoms of problem drinking. As a consequence, I want you to go and see a psychologist in the employee’s assistance program to discuss your drinking situation.”

“Russ, I’m no healthcare practitioner or a counselor, but I have seen quite a few of my friends and relatives go through some very bad alcohol side effects. What is more, I have also seen the signs of alcoholism first-hand in my own family. When people have problems with drinking, these issues not only affect the drinker, but they also make an impact on his or her friends, family, relatives, neighbors, and co-workers.”

Russ admired his manager a lot 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 employee’s assistance program.

Russ is Still Depressed But Experiences Some Hope That He Will Get Back on Track With His Life

Even though Russ didn’t necessarily feel any better or less depressed about the pain in his heart about Emma, he felt comfort knowing that his supervisor and his fellow employees cared about him and wanted what’s best for him. This gave Russ some psychological relief for the first time in several weeks and he truthfully felt some hope that he would get his life back on track.