Dysfunction

No chance to see Comet Lemmon this morning through the cloud and snow.

Some big juicy flakes fell but didn’t amount to more than a skiff. Still nice to see.

***

This year while working as a manager I had the misfortune of dealing with quite a few troubled workers. There is more and more people racked with anxiety every year. Mostly young Canadians who didn’t make it through the Covid lockdowns unscathed. It is a shame to see. It makes you wonder how they are going to make it.

But the worst was a 50-some-year-old alcoholic. Drinking on the job, late, cranky, emotional, miserable, complaining, missing days, injury prone, sloppy, hungover, driving drunk, fucking up and lying at every turn. He also has done a turn for beating his kid, wife and mother. All despite a three month stretch in rehab paid for by the government. An absolute pain-in-the-ass to be around. A complete dysfunctional boozer!

Now I come from a long line of functional alcoholics. Guys who wake up and make it to work on time. Keep putting one foot in front of the other regardless of headache or sickness, putting in an honest days work usually for themselves, raising their hands first for the tough jobs, keeping their mouth shut, they don’t drink until after the shift and laugh it off. Granted they are not easy to live with and they’re their own worst enemy, but they don’t fuck up at work. Guys like this are a dying breed as we all become a bunch of snivelling whiners.

I felt like grabbing this worker, smacking the shit out of him and teaching him how to be a goddamn man. Of course that would have been a trip to HR. It made me more angry that he couldn’t handle the booze than what a complete fuck-up he was at work. Hopefully the government will spring for another session in rehab as some people just shouldn’t drink.

Luckily I didn’t have to deal with him long.

***

3 thoughts on “Dysfunction

  1. mountaincoward's avatar

    mountaincoward

    Totally agree with you about the attitude problem of some workers today – so unprofessional and never heard of teamwork! I’ve worked with (to my knowledge) two raging alcoholics – both were great at their jobs drunk or sober and they always turned up to work. But then I’ve been on nights out with younger co-workers… When I’ve stayed out. with them until the wee small hours they’ve said to me “but you’re on earlies tomorrow morning, how are you going to get into work for 0645?”. I would reply, “I look at it this way, I have to!”

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    1. underswansea's avatar

      underswansea

      Most of the alcoholics I’ve known have been excellent at their jobs as well. There is not as many as there used to be. The guy I mentioned was not one of them.

      We actually have had young workers phone in sick because they are hungover, like that is an excuse for missing work.

      Liked by 1 person

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