Saturday, December 7, 2013

Just One

One of our managers walked into our corporate office after hours one evening last week and noticed the odor of alcohol in the air. And the client who was supposed to be at work wrapping up some last-minute details was missing. So our manager placed a call to his cell phone. No answer.

After that he called the man's roommate and asked him to let him know when the man returned home. And sure enough, he showed up after 10 pm, just as the manager was settling down for a night's sleep. He got up and went to the man's house anyway. And when he gave him an alcohol test it proved he'd been drinking.

The man protested that he had only one shot. But one shot is all it takes to get fired and discharged from TLC. The man was given the option of going to another house to start over. And he accepted. But he left the next morning, quite likely to continue drinking.

It was sad to see this man leave under such circumstances because he’d recently celebrated one year of sobriety. And for him this was quite an accomplishment because he'd been drinking for years, had more than one DUI, and had suffered continual disruptions in his life because of his alcoholism.

I one time heard him share from the podium about waking up in the middle of winter lying on his back in a stream outside of Salt Lake City, wondering how he’d gotten there. His last memory before that moment was that he was having a good time somewhere getting drunk.

During his time with TLC he did an excellent job. He was always pleasant, friendly, and respectful to everyone. We’ll miss his help because it's difficult to find responsible employees who want to work for us while they also work on their recovery.

The only positive thing is that his relapse reminds us that we must remain vigilant so we don’t follow in his footsteps.

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