I’m not sure about IN state law–born there, got out as soon as earthly possible. But is there nowhere that would classify alcoholism as a disease/disability, and thus worthy of protection?
I ask because I’m living and working in NY and my company wouldn’t fire someone based on this. They’d send them to rehab and keep their job open per FMLA guidelines.
Pokémon, I Choose You !
I think it is “Peekachoo, I choose you!”
Show me where are surgeon ever got fired for a 0.019 BAC and you may have a point. Last time I had surgery, the surgeon was on time and everyone was SHOCKED. At the shitty blue collar job I work at, if you’re late 3 times you’re done.
Maybe in an ideal world you’re surgeon should be held to a higher standard than some idiot blue collar guy who does some mindless unimportant task; but the reality is that the surgeon has far more job protections.
Anyway, blaming the misfortunate OP is scarcely going to help him. Bad enough that he lost his job.
I agree it doesn’t prove he is an alcoholic, but we also know that he bragged about drinking all the St. Paulie Girl causing a shortage in the state and asking if he should put that on his resume:
I am not an alcoholic, but have some recovering alcoholics as friends and have been hanging out at AA meetings recently (no I’m not in denial - I have issues - alcohol isn’t one of them).
The fact that the OP mentions the level as being XYZ is clearly misleading as god knows how long it took from the time he showed up to the time he took the test.
The fact that the OP uses “pass” cause maybe that is what the person at the clinic used as words he seems to have latched on to - which is either some form of denial or ignorance about the law/corporations. Does the OP really believe that they can be at work all day with a 0.079 BAC?
The use of the phrase “without even waiting for the urine test to come back” again evidences a complete lack of reality.
I can’t say the OP is an alcoholic. Being an alcoholic is nothing to be ashamed of. Usually alcoholics have problems with relationships and keeping a job. It could be just bad luck the OP lost his job.
Somehow I don’t think so.
And I’m not trying to pull a holier than thou thing here - I’ve done much worse.
I’ve heard a bunch of AA stories over the last few months. I can’t say the OP is an alcoholic, but I certainly hear stories just like this one while sitting at meetings.
Meetings are entertaining whether or not you are an alcoholic. I’d suggest if you have any free time on your hand popping in and seeing if anything sounds familiar.
I enjoy going to other people’s religious services. But I would feel like a gate-crasher or a phony if I showed up at an AA meeting without an invitation, and with no alcohol-related story to share (or to be unready to share) about myself.
(I barely drink, maybe a dozen drinks a year, clustered around Passover and foreign travel. I have plenty of issues, but alcohol is not one of them.)
And diagnosing alcoholism isn’t an exact science - especially if you haven’t started picking up the physical symptoms. Its a series of behaviors. Which include alcohol interfering with your life (which it has). He needs two more. Ever blacked out? Have increased your tolerance? Spend a lot of time drinking?
He’s got the rationalizing part that co-dependants are so familiar with down pat “I wasn’t legally drunk.” “I had a reason to celebrate.”
I’d say that this thread and the St. Pauli Girl thread together INDICATE he should think about whether he is an alcoholic. At the very least its worth reevaluating his relationship with alcohol and admitting his behavior is his responsibility.
There are open and closed AA meetings. You don’t crash the closed ones. But if you have a reason to visit an open one, you’ll be welcomed. For people who have people in their lives who have issues with alcohol (even if those people are not - or have not admitted to being - alcoholics - or are not seeking recovery) an AA meeting or two is a good thing to get exposure to.
You don’t have to share, you get to pass. And during introductions instead of saying “I’m puzzlegal, I’m an alcoholic” you say “I’m puzzlegal, I’m the friend of someone with a problem and I’m here to listen.”
Oh, that makes sense. Thanks.
I went to an open meeting with my MIL, once, and it as very interesting. She hasn’t had a drink in decades, and credits AA with her sobriety. But since I didn’t meet her until she’s been sober for many years, I don’t feel like that counts as “people in my life with issues with alcohol”. I mean, I guess she does, but they don’t impact me in any way beyond occasionally looking up a meeting time for her when she’s visiting or something.
Second this - the one I go to most often doesn’t call on people - they call it their “speakers meeting” or something, but I’ve been to others that do - and you just say pass. In the listing for meetingings they usually have it listed whether it is “open” “O” or “closed” “C”. They know I’m not an alcoholic and have been nothing but welcoming.
They really were an education. I had no idea to the extent alcoholism devastated peoples lives. There is no doubt in my mind now it is a disease.
I can’t share the stories, but one guys alcoholism (who I know has told this story outside AA) indirectly got him mentioned on TV by a governor (for something “good” he had done), but unfortunately he was lying about part of this - not the part that was good - and it was during an event everyone here knows about - so he inadvertently found himself as part of a terrorism investigation. It got worse from there.
These are INTERESTING stories. I learned more about humanity (and I don’t mean in some kumbaya type of way) from being there. Some are hit or miss, but some have been pretty amazing and moving.
Alcoholism wasn’t what I thought it was. It starts out usually relatively benign and actually helpful (makes people become more social and stuff), but then it just becomes crippling in a way I never imagined.
I ended up picking up an AA member to take her somewhere when I first started going - she lied and said she hadn’t been drinking (I wouldn’t have cared) - she ended up having four vodka bottles in her purse (which could have gotten me an open container violation) - she tried to get an eight year old (who appeared to be a total stranger) in the car with us. Despite the fact she was drunk off her ass she continued to lie, tried to get me to get a motel room (at this point I didn’t know what to do and took her to a meeting), said she wanted to marry me - got to the meeting (we were early) I had to get someone there to help me cause I had know idea when I picked her up she was drunk - I thought she was just slow or something. They said she was way too drunk to come in and at this point she became belligerent and said I had accused her of killing my girlfriend (what I actually had said when she asked why I was helping her earlier is that my girlfriend had basically died indirectly due to drugs).
I raced to her home at this point to get her out of my car - she kept thinking the GPS was a real person, continually was trying to get me to have sex with her, had no clue where we were, couldn’t make it up her steps without tripping (all the while insisting she was sober). I had talked to her roommates earlier who told me her life is like this every day almost.
SHE DIDNT START OFF THIS WAY
Oh also - this shouldn’t dissuade you. I have a good friend in AA who has been going for years and said I got very unlucky and she hasn’t heard of that happening to anyone else.
I have friends that abuse drugs. I have friends that are drug addicts - and they can function (if they have their drugs). You wouldn’t know most of them had a problem.
I was shocked at how destructive alcoholism is. I thought it was just people that got really, really drunk and needed to drink. Sort of like if you took a normal person - had them drink more and made it like smoking so they needed to drink every day. This is not it at all - or I mean it is in a way - but it is much more than that. Much, much, much more than that.
Absolutely awful.
And no one starts out at the awful stage (or if haven’t heard of any yet). It takes (usually) years and years to get there.
You haven’t run into The Second Stone before have you?
Well, I’ve read things both … oh, jazz, never mind
Or wants effective treatment. The more I read about AA the less I believe in alcoholism.
nm, this horse has been beaten to death already. 
If said surgeon comes in “smelling like a brewery”, yeah, I would think the guy should be fired.
Doubt it; doctors have among the highest rates of drug abuse of any profession. Show me any cite, any article anywhere that shows that a doctor got fired for such a thing.
Ummm…doesn’t AA have a thing about taking your own inventory?
It’s not part of the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) standardized field sobriety test. It is sometimes still used in conjunction, but there are tells beyond just missing your nose. It’s mostly a balance test not a touch your nose test. You can “fail” it even while hitting your nose every time.
I spent too much time around MPs and civilian law enforcement in my life. 
Indeed it does, taking other people’s inventory is distinctly frowned upon.