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Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 12:52 pm: |
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How do you deal with a drunk co-worker? Every day this guy comes in wasted off his A$$. If he doesn't kill someone or himself on the drive in it will be a miracle. I can't tell you how much it pisses me off or the amount of stress it adds to work. |
New12r
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 12:57 pm: |
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Call the cops, tell them he drives in to work everyday drunk. |
Mikej
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 12:58 pm: |
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Call it in on his way in to work, anonymous tip line, vehicle description, license plate number, driving behavior. Or an anonymous tip in the HR suggestion box. Or a face to face talk with him and the address to any local AA or abuse councelers and the offer to go to his first meeting with him. Just depends on how far you're willing to go and how involved you want to get, and if you're willing to have him know you dropped the dime on him. I'd try a friendly co-worker face to face with him and see how his initial reaction is. You take it from there. Sometimes AA works, sometimes it doesn't. |
Freezerburn
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 01:04 pm: |
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Leave the co-worker an anonymous note stating that you will contact the police if it does not cease immediately. He has been given a friendly warning. Next step is to inform the police if the warning is not heeded. Explain that it has been an ongoing problem and you would like your anonymity to be respected. Law enforcement can then pinch him and make the roads more safe. Could you imagine your guilt if he does hurt someone in the future. It would not be your fault, but you would feel the guilt. Doing the right thing is hard sometimes. It is a shame that management is not able to deal with the problem. He should be sent home in a cab and told to get counseling if he wants his job back. He might truly need help. |
Spiderman
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 01:26 pm: |
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http://www.osha.gov/ If your employer won't do anything about it, these guys will. |
Dynasport
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 01:34 pm: |
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What kind of job can he do drunk every day? It will be awkward, but this kind of behavior needs to be stopped. Talk to guy, the boss or the police. But talk to someone. |
Hammeroid
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 01:46 pm: |
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Are you a scaffolder?? Is he actually drunk or really hung our with booze on his breath? |
Tx05xb12s
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 01:54 pm: |
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The appropriate thing to do in this case would be to inform your supervisor. It's their job to investigate and provide administrative remedy. If they fail to address the issue in a timely manner, go to your boss's supervisor and repeat. I agree, you can't let this sort of thing continue. You are enabling this guy's behavior by giving him a pass, so do the right thing. Good luck with that one. |
Mikef5000
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 02:08 pm: |
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1-800-grab-dui |
Cowboy
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 02:17 pm: |
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Are you sure he is drinking or does he ride his bike in and is just HIGH from the trip?? |
Torquemonster
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 02:23 pm: |
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If youre not "el hefe" then take the issue to them (mgmt), as they are better equipped to deal with a troubled employee. You dont know what kind of backlash youd get from this dude by trying to help him out... Definately talk to someone, though. You may be saving a life or two. |
Natexlh1000
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 02:48 pm: |
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+1 on the cops. I would suggest not involving your workplace and not confronting him about it at all. Things like this have the ability to get ugly. If he's coming in drunk, he's already past the point of caring about doing the right thing. Don't talk to the guy. Don't talk to your boss. Don't tell H.R. Just call the cops. But CONFIRM that he's drunk that day before doing so. |
Old_man
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 03:43 pm: |
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Notify the police. It's their job. You don't call him a friend, so there is nothing you can do, yourself, that would help. |
Reepicheep
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 04:09 pm: |
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If you do want to go through the work channels, and do want to stay anonymous, then a google mail or yahoo mail account can make you a lot harder to identify. Not impossible by any means, but it would be a PITA. And you would want to go straight to HR, rather then the manager. HR will have a better sense of the legal implications of ignoring it. And don't do it from work. Even puttting that post above from work, or reading this thread, might not be wise. Google finds this stuff as well, so be careful with specifics. If the guy get litigous, it would not be the first time a badweb posting was used to try and incriminate someone And if you are wrong (though in this case you are not), you are taking a LOT of risk within the company and in civil court. That may be the reason to go straight to the cops through a 1-800 number from a pay phone and be anonymous. Then he gets pulled over by the cops, and either passes the test and goes on his way, or fails and the courts and justice runs its course. I had a similar situation with a close friend. Handling it man to man didn't work. He lied to me, lied to other friends, and lied to his wife. It went on for more then 10 years straight, under circumstances that could not have been better designed to let him be honest and let him get help. What finally came closest to working was, you guessed it, the cops. Three DUI's in about 4 months, apparently the Ohio criminal computer system is some sort of mess, because when he got #2 they didn't know about #1 somehow, but when #3 came up, all heck broke loose. Still probably not enough, and I would not be surprised if he still drives at times, but it sure slowed him down. After we found out he was lying to us, if he had ever been dumb enough to let me know he was drunk and driving, I had already decided I was going to drop a dime on him without hesitation. He was smart enough to know this though, and made sure I never knew... Anyway, that's my 2 cents. It's sad for everyone, I just thank God nobody was killed ... or more accurately, pray to God that nobody was killed, as I don't know how we would know. |
Hammeroid
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 04:16 pm: |
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"HR will have a better sense" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA I needed that one. |
Rocketman
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 06:29 pm: |
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Wolf, write down this URL and leave it where your 'friend' can find it. http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyI d=17545 Rocket |
Teddagreek
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 06:53 pm: |
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I had a boss a long time ago who could quit drinking for week and still be drunk... Despite it all he was very nice.. I couldn't stand the special treatment he got a people looking the other way.. He would always come in late, I looked the other way in hindsight I shouldn't off.. Does he have the smell that permeates out and saturates the air around him.. UGHHHHH |
Buellinachinashop
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 08:01 pm: |
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Maybe if you all drank, the stress wouldn't be a problem. I don't hear of brewery workers going postal. (Message edited by buellinachinashop on January 31, 2008) |
Wolfridgerider
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 08:25 pm: |
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Does he have the smell that permeates out and saturates the air around him.. UGHHHHH Its a great way to start your day!..... or afternoon... |
Nevrenuf
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 08:56 pm: |
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i'm with natex on this one. you have no idea what so ever why he does what he does and it is very hard to get anyone to do what they don't want to do. and you don't know how he'll retaliate if you make it known that it was you. let the leo's handle it. that's their job. |
Lost_in_ohio
| Posted on Thursday, January 31, 2008 - 09:36 pm: |
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You need to figure out exactly what your goal is. Get him fired? Clean air? Get him help? Protect the public? Maybe a place to start would be his supervisor. Most company's have policy's regard this situation. If you get no where that way. If you know his pattern a quick anonymous call to LEO with his address and what time he leaves for work will fix it too. Of course that leaves you alone in the dark with your guilt or lack of..... (Message edited by Lost_in_Ohio on January 31, 2008) |
Cereal
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 12:36 am: |
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Kick his ass? |
Bad_karma
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 12:53 am: |
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Report your worker to the boss. Be prepared for fallout. But your safety is important. You should do all you reasonably can to have a safe work environment as well your employer is required to provide you with a safe working environment. Good luck Joe |
Corporatemonkey
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 01:34 am: |
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+1 on the cops. I would suggest not involving your workplace and not confronting him about it at all. Things like this have the ability to get ugly. If he's coming in drunk, he's already past the point of caring about doing the right thing. Don't talk to the guy. Don't talk to your boss. Don't tell H.R. Just call the cops. But CONFIRM that he's drunk that day before doing so. As someone who has gone down this path (concerned co-worker, not the drunk) I can honestly say this is BY FAR the best advice. DO NOT GET INVOLVED PUBLICLY. If anything bad happens you could get wrapped up in a nasty legal confrontation. |
Gentleman_jon
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 07:02 am: |
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wolf, I completely understand how this alcoholic pisses you off. Nothing worse. However, this person has a disease, and needs rehabilitation and sobriety more than going to jail, although that is probably where his recovery is going to start. I would call your local Alchoholics Anonymous Hotline, and ask their advice. By turning this poor soul into the police you may very well save some one's life. That's excellent. By getting this person the help he needs, you may save several lives. |
Bcordb3
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 08:17 am: |
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If he/she is putting you or anyone else in a dangerous situation, turn him in. Your life is a stake. If the person gets someone hurt and there is an investigation, will you lie for him? He/she isn't doing any favors. Don't depend on anyone else, take the first step before someone hurt. You will doing that person a favor. If your company is like most companies they will have an abuse program in place. He won't get fired if he steps forward and asks for help, if they don't, Hasta, baby. |
Mikej
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 08:34 am: |
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"this person has a disease" Behavioral problem, okay, addiction, okay, disease, I don't think so. A disease is something that is not self-induced. I've seen too many alcoholics who don't even try to get better because they treat their alcoholism like a disease and don't think they can do anything about it. Throw a copy of this book on his desk, anonymously if you want to: 7 Tools to Beat Addiction It was recommended to someone on another motorcycle/biker forum from an addiction counselor who works with lots of AA flunkouts. |
Slaughter
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 08:48 am: |
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The problem might be the labor laws. We had a welder who EVERYBODY knew was a drunk. Foreman FINALLY dismissed him - and he lawyered up and sued to get his job back. Took almost a year before we all got tired of him and his threats to sue the company if they ever "wrongly" dismissed him again. Finally, he passed out in the parking lot one lunch - and the foreman was as sick of it as anybody and he had his picture taken of him PINNING the jerk's dismissal notice to his shirt in the car (he never woke up during the exercise) - and photocopied the polaroid of the event (pre-digital days) and left it next to him in the car. He didn't sue this time. Sometimes it is difficult to do what is necessary because the protections in place to protect the rights of the individual can work against you. |
Sgthigg
| Posted on Friday, February 01, 2008 - 09:51 am: |
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Kick his a@@. When the cops come you can say he attacked you first because he is judgement is impared because he is drunk..like my spelling hahah |
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