How to Deal With an Alcoholic Boss
Working for an alcoholic boss is a daily confrontation with lack of job security. While there are a great many articles written about how an employer may deal with an alcoholic employee, there is very little help for an employee with an alcoholic boss.
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Instructions
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Do not attempt to save your boss from her alcoholism unless you either know what you are doing because you have had professional training in addiction counseling, or are working under the direction of someone who has such training.
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Contact your local Alcoholics Anonymous or Al-Anon district office and ask for help. Although there are other organizations that also work with alcoholics, these two are the best places to start learning about how to work with and possibly even help your boss. You can find these organizations listed in your phone book or online.
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Above all, do not confront the alcoholic because she will likely deny that she has a drinking problem. Regardless of whether you are correct in your assessment of your boss' alcohol problem, you are likely to be fired and possibly even sued if you create a dramatic scene.
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Tips & Warnings
Though symptoms of alcoholism are often quite visible, some alcoholics function very well even after drinking significant amounts. It makes no difference whether the alcoholic drinks wine, beer or hard liquor because the core problem is the person's physical ability to metabolize the alcohol and very often people who have sensitivity to sugar also crave alcohol. Many alcoholics can stop drinking for months. Many can control their drinking in public, but will consume large quantities of alcohol in private. Income, education or social class make no difference because an alcoholic is just as likely to be a top executive as a dive bar drunk.
Always remember that the only person who can help an alcoholic stop drinking is the alcoholic himself.
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Comments
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birdversuscrow
Oct 28, 2010
Ha! I wonder if you work at my job. I work for a woman who is anti-social, and shows little emotion other than random bouts of rage when anything is not in perfect order. Her boss is her drinking buddy, so they seem to have a created a dramatic and pretty warped perception of everything going on around them. Neither of them is 100& so there in-lies their suspicion of everything-it absolutely sucks to be in the building with them. I hate my job and never know when they're gonna fire me for something random. -
learner23
Oct 13, 2009
What do you do when you work with a raging alcoholic? This guy is at a high enough level that he is creating insanity around everything he touches. Cannot imagine why HR is not doing anything, but it makes work horrible. Since the economy is so rough, a lot of us feel stuck and trapped.
