Have you ever worked for an alcoholic?...

[Virginia Dare]

I have, and it was easily the worst time of my working life. He was functional enough to come to work and keep the place running, but in most other areas, not so much. I remember one day we all had to come in on a Saturday to get something done. While the rest of us busted our asses, he sat back in his office and knocked back a six-pack. It's hard to respect somebody when they behave like that. If you don't respect the one who is supposed to be leading you, then what you have is in essence a dysfunctional working relationship.

It occurs to me this is what the White House is like right now. When the boss is dysfunctional, the entire operation is dysfunctional, and as a result our entire government, and thus the world (as we are supposedly the world leaders) is dysfunctional right now.

Alcoholics for the most part are incapable of making clear decisions, and they are incapable of effectively leading, because the alcohol rules them. It's a very sad and dangerous situation we're in right now. Alcoholics who haven't admitted that they have a problem, are essentially living a lie, so as a result, we're all living a lie at this moment. :(

[AlinPA]

1. Yes. He did all the administrative things efficiently, supported us in technical

matters and seemed to have respect for all of us (about 20 in the group). He did not talk about his problem but it was clear that he was attending counseling sessions (company paid).
Some did not like his style of not asserting himself into technical matters but most of us liked it that way.

[Mutineer]

2. I do now.

In 7 years of working for the man I've never seen him truly sober. And he's prone to flights of fancy, things that make no sense whatsoever except to him but yet we're forced to do it. He thinks that these drunk ideas he came up with in the middle of a drunken stupor are sheer genius. Then again, maybe he's right. He's a millionaire several times over. And yes, he's a big W supporter. :-(

[SharonAnn]

3. I have, and I am a recovering alcoholic myself. Unfortunately, I recognized * as an

untreated alcoholic before he was elected. Mostly because of the "black-and-white" thinking, the grandiose claims and statements, the narcissism and the inability to see any other perspective or point of view.

I've been there myself and it was bad for me, bad for my family, and bad for those around me.

There's been a lot written about * and his "alcoholic" personality. It's all consistent with what you say, but bodes even worse than what you imply. It's more than "dysfunctional". It's destructive.

Maybe that should be his motto, "I build nothing but destroy everything."

[BlueIris]

4. Yep. I didn't find out until 2 years after I had "moved on," though.

And it really shocked me. It also explained a lot. He was a competent manager, but was ALWAYS in a bad (read: abusive) mood. His wife told me later that this was likely because, in addition to the fact that he was an abuser, he was in withdrawal a lot.

[elehhhhna]

5. yep. She was hungover every a.m. & drunk after lunch. Every day.

[tularetom]

6. Yes I was 17 years old and my boss was a land surveyor

Every Friday (and a lot of other days as well) afternoon he'd go out to lunch and not come back. No one else was authorized to sign our pay checks so as the junior member of the firm I got sent over to the bar to get him to sign them. Sometimes he'd get belligerent and refuse to sign and once he threatened to punch me out. I knew if I insisted he'd eventually give in just to get rid of me.

It was a totally fucked up situation. Everybody had their own agenda and nobody was willing to concede anything to anybody else. The boss was consistent only in his inconsistency and you never knew how he would react to any situation. I worked there about a year and left when I was drafted.

You are correct - it was very similar to what we as a country are going through right now.

[madrchsod]

7. i`ve worked for a dry drunk

which is just as bad..

[irish.lambchop]

8. Time to attend an Adult Children of Alcoholics meeting!

Though it appears that perhaps some in the administration may have started going . . . James Comey, for one.

[bigscott]

9. I have worked for one

and i am a recovering alcoholic (12 years now). the two combined are the worst! I can see horrible behavior, knowing i have done some of those things myself. Alcoholics NEVER admit they are wrong - everyone else is. Alcoholics cannot believe it when people stop enabling and start disagreeing or confronting. Alcoholics tend to hang around other drinkers or alcoholics.

all in all it is EXACTLY like this administration

[ThomWV]

10. For, With, and Became One Myself

Now I don't drink, don't work either.

[Dr.Phool]

11. These alcoholics give the rest of us drunks a bad name.

[tekriter]

12. One of my first jobs...

was as an assistant to a school janitor for one summer.

What does a school janitor do in the summer, you might ask, seeing as how that school didn't have summer school?? Well, it was a small parochial elementary school, and the summer is when all the floors would get stripped, any painting that needed to be done, and so on.

Being a catholic parish school, they had very little money, and the pastor was a good guy who thought he was doing the janitor a favor by hiring me to in essence do EVERYTHING the janitor was supposed to be doing, but was too hung over.

I'm sure the pastor thought he was helping the guy, but having me around made him worse. He could go off and get drunk during the day now, instead of having to wait until after work.

The pastor just didn't have the backbone to either fire the guy, or tell him that his continued employment depended on him drying out. This was in 1969.

[underpants]

13. A few points on this

first of all it sounds like you buy the "alcohol made me do it""I am going into rehab" excuse.......:evilgrin: just kidding.

Other than that-all joking aside they do very much act like alcoholics. They have no memory of what happened even yesterday ("We need to move forward") completely unaware of past STRONG decisions and no consideration of whether or not any of it is coherent or consistent or plausible. They simply make wild brash decisions and then make other ones that completely counterdict the one they just made and then forget about both the next day. Also they have established from the beginning, using the excuse of wanting "family time", that the whole operation shuts down at 5 PM. Now if you don't think that sounds like a drunk wanting to know exactly how long he/she has to do before they can return to their SAFE drinking spot then you haven't spent much time around alcoholics.

[slackmaster]

14. The worst boss I ever had was a daytime drunk

Meanest SOB I've ever worked for. He was the president of the company, thankfully not my direct supervisor. But my supe was a spineless, worthless, backstabbing idiot.

The best day on that job was the day I got my pink slip and was able to go back on UnEnjoyment. That was April 1982.

[Cleita]

15. Yes, but he actually was a nice person.

However, he was always trying to get one of us in the office to go drinking with him after work. It really got tiresome after awhile. We didn't mind that he didn't work that much because he signed our paychecks and was really a good salesman in bringing in the income needed to run the business.

[Tracer]

16. Yes.

He was the Production Manager at a large newspaper. I was the Art Department Manager.

He'd show up on time, but at 10:00 each morning, he and the Art Director would go downstairs to a bar/restaurant on the first floor and stay there pretty much all day. The two of them would come back loaded at around 4:00.

This was miserable for me, because I not only had to do MY job, but take on the responsibilties of THEIR jobs!

I really hated to do it, since both of these guys were OK people (except for their drunkenness) but I complained to the owner. He said "I know, I know. I'll take care of it".

They were both fired.

Didn't make me feel good at all.

[karlrschneider]

17. Yeah, once. I never knew he drank until I caught him sober one morning.

...

[Coyote_Bandit]

18. Yes

and he was the best boss I've had. Ever.

He made his expectations clear. He did not micromanage. He did not punish folks who were otherwise competent but made an honest mistake - provided they didn't lie about their actions. I am not aware of a single instance in the seven years I worked for him where he lied to me or misled me. I learned I could trust him. He made a practice of hiring folks who had difficulty finding work and allowing them to grow - knowing that they would all move on to better positions. We hired a lot of high school dropouts, a lot of very young people, and a lot of unemployed older workers. We even hired homeless people. A lot of that was because the guy who owned and ran the company had come from very poor and difficult circumstances. He took a personal interest in his employees. And he made it possible for them to better their lot in life. That interest was not limited to the work environment. I always felt like he respected me. Can't say the same thing for some of the multinationals, some of the stuffed shirt financial service firms, some of the legal professionals and (most definitely) some of the religious kooks I've worked for.

Sure there were problems sometimes. He didn't keep regular hours. Sometimes it was difficult to contact him. Since he was the president of the company and one of its co-owners sometimes that was necessary. When he was there he was sober and in control. The man drove a company car which the company insured even though the man had long since lost his driving privileges due to repeated DUI's. A simple speeding ticket was a major ordeal for him. His work required that he travel quite a bit. It was not uncommon for me to have to find attorneys to take care of his bench warrants and fines. Couldn't have the boss carted off to jail. And he was my boss. I reported directly to him - and only to him as did a handful of other folks.

He tried to stop drinking. Repeatedly. Eventually he did. I'm glad I was there to see it. He did a lot of good for a lot of people. It was good to see him come to terms with his own demons.

Comparing shrub to alcoholics is an insult to some of the alcoholics I've known.

[WiseButAngrySara]

19. What a wonderful and inspiring post! ....n/t

[nedbal]

20. great story , thank you, save it / bookmark it to post again

[Blue_In_AK]

21. No, but I was married to three of them...

...and I'll NEVER go down that road again.