Bill Binge has come to you for advice. He looks disheveled and has an odor of alcohol about him. He has provided the following information.
Bill was a Vice President of Rigrental Corp. where he headed the sales division. Rigrental leases truck trailers throughout the U.S. It has 14 sales representatives who Bill supervised. He also maintained regular personal contact with Rigrental's six largest customers (who represent 30% of the company's business). Bill is 55 years old, he earned $65,000 a year in salary and each Christmas for the past five years received $15,000-$25,000 a year in a bonus based on the division’s rental income. Bill's office was at the company headquarters in Indioho, a fictional state in the U.S.A.
Early last November fifty-one percent of Rigrental shares were purchased by Keen Investments, Ltd. which hired Bob Boss as Rigrental's new President. His third week on the job, Boss sent a memo to the sales personnel stating that too much of the department's entertainment expenses (5%-22%) was spent on alcohol consumption or gifts of alcoholic beverages. It also noted that Mr. Binge had the highest percentage expenditure for this item. Boss also noted that he had learned that several sales representatives habitually came in very late or not at all on Mondays and that this conduct included Mr. Binge. Boss continued: "I am a recovering alcoholic. I know the signs of alcoholism. Several of you obviously have a drinking problem. The Company personnel manual says ‘employees will be dismissed only when there is good cause.’ Well, I now decide what is good cause for dismissal. You will no longer be reimbursed for purchases of alcoholic beverages and any employee who consumes alcohol when working shall be deemed dismissed from the moment that alcohol touches his or her lips and that includes your conduct when entertaining a customer. Also, anyone who comes to work under the influence of alcohol will be immediately dismissed. Finally, I may require some of you to undergo alcoholism treatment. Failure to undergo recommended evaluation or adhere to prescribe treatment shall be good cause for dismissal.”
Boss thereafter met with Binge. He rejected Binge's statement that social drinking and good salesmanship go hand-in-hand. Boss told Binge: “You are a drunk and I am about to do you the biggest favor of your life. You are being placed on a two week paid leave of absence as of tomorrow to attend an in-patient alcoholism clinic. You will provide me with a copy of the rehab's report and adhere strictly to any treatment program it prescribes. If you don't, you are fired." Binge replied: “I resent being called something I am not, but as a gesture of cooperation, I will go along to get along.”
Binge attended the clinic where he was told he was an alcoholic because he admitted to having at least one alcoholic drink almost every day. He spent the next two weeks undergoing the clinic’s treatment program (basically twice daily attendance at what he described as a religiously oriented support group meeting promoting prohibition against consumption of alcohol). Bill says that he was only a moderate drinker and had no trouble not drinking during the two weeks.
Bill had no alcohol for the first two weeks after the program but on a Saturday night, ten days before Christmas, while at a local restaurant with his wife and two other couples, he had a glass of wine with dinner. Bill did not know he was observed by a detective hired by Boss. The next Monday morning Boss convened a meeting of the sales department.
According to Binge, Boss announced that there was a single item on the agenda. He turned to Binge and said: "Bill, when I called you a drunk a few weeks ago I knew whereof I spoke. My diagnosis was confirmed by the Rehab Clinic and you went through detoxification. You were given a chance to accept a program of recovery and continue with your life as a recovering alcoholic. You failed. Saturday night you were at a restaurant downing a bottle of wine. You violated our rules and therefore no longer are a vice president or sales representative in this company. We will let you stay on as a janitorial maintenance employee. Your desk is being emptied and your personal affects are being transferred to the maintenance department's locker room. If you ever satisfy me that you have found sobriety and your alcoholism is under control, I will let you have the next available opening as a sales representative. If you choose not to stay you can leave right now but, since you are being fired for cause, don’t expect the usual four week’s severance pay. This meeting is over." Boss left the room and after a few murmurs of sympathy, Bill was left by himself. He requested that his personal affects be sent home and he left the building.
Bill has been drinking heavily ever since. He says in the past he was a social drinker but due to the stress of what Boss put him through he has now developed a drinking problem. He needs a job once he gets his drinking under control but expects to have a hard time finding one since everyone in the trucking industry probably now knows about Boss’ statements in firing him.
My thoughts? Bob needs to read his big book and talk to his sponsor.
While I know that people pronounce others alcoholic all the time, I don't know that it does much good. I know that until I was ready to admit I had a problem, nothing anyone said would have sunk home. I drank until I tried to stop, then found out I couldn't stop, and so continued on for a few more years, praying for a solution to my problem. When it finally got so bad I knew I would stop or die, I managed to find AA. And found the solution.
Think Bob could have gone about it differently, no egotistical accusations etc.., if it had happened to me perhaps I would have found recovery sooner/hit bottom sooner, who knows? And I believe you don't develop a drinkiing problem as a result of some catastrophe or incident, either you born alcoholic or you weren't. Tough love. Interesting scenario though.
Boss sounds like a control freak trying to impose his will upon the Universe.
Boss thinks that his "judgement" is "right" and "just" and holy.
Boss has no place diagnosing binge as an alcoholic.
Boss is using his boss status to "persuade" binge around to his way of thinking. (power tripping) "a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still"
Boss should remember that old saying:
"if you want to keep drinking, that's your business, if you want to stop, that's ours."
I think our job is to make ourselves available for alkies to reach-out. When they reach out, we will be there.
So, the boss could have made himself available by announcing his alcoholic status, and revealing the source of help, the solution etc, and LEAVE IT AT THAT.
Boss could rub salt into binge's wounds by sending him home with no pay when he gets caught drunk at work. This way, boss is showing binge that his drinking really is affecting his work. If binge keeps comming to work drunk, maybe sacking him would become an option. This would add more evidence to binge about his alcohol problem.
Eventually, binge might come to a point where he decides that he might have a problem.
"You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink it" BUT, you can put salt in his oats to make him thirsty.
