12 Stepping at Work
The Big Book and the 12 and 12 - source material
My
day job at the moment is selling web sites to real estate agents
over the phone. It's easy to get hired their but not easy to be
successful and stay. As a result there is a ton of turnover, with a
new crop of six or eight showing up every week for three days of
training before going out on the sales floor to begin making phone
calls.
Several months
ago one of the new people arrived at work pretty drunk. She was
pushy at our 10 minute sales meeting and was shortly fired, which
was probably for the best. Although she'd made it through
training, she hadn't been on the
sales floor for more than a day or two and the turnover is too high
for the company to do any effective counseling.
There was a buzz among
us as the incident went down, with several people seeming quite shocked. I
thought briefly of telling our managers I'm a recovered drunk and addict,
but realized they'd done a good job without me.
Several weeks ago I
wore my Powerfully Recovered! sweatshirt. It's not the first time I've
worn it, and when asked, I just say something like 'oh, this is one way I
promote my book.' Surprisingly, only one of our more permanent sales
people let me know that he had spend some time in Program. Surprising
because there's only been one and statistics would indicate there should
be one or two more. Maybe they are just more anonymous than I am.
Anyway, a young woman
whom I'llcall Kathy and who had been there maybe a week was delighted with
my sweat shirt and, on break, told me she was both AA and NA and had
recently had a slip. She and her husband were hired together and she
indicated he was still drinking. The next day she sort of pushed me toward
him and said something like "Anne's AA and has been sober a long
time."
You can imagine his
reaction. He was polite enough, but it was obvious he didn't want to hear
anything he was afraid I might say. Which is fine with me-I'm there to
sell web sites and be of recovery service only if someone wants it.
Joan decided the job
wasn't for her and quit; he's still there and every Monday dutifully
reports to me how drunk he got over the weekend. For the last three
Monday's he's found me on break to report. I've had this sort of thing
happen before, and I'm not sure I understand it at all.
I always listen and
yesterday commented that I hadn't had a hangover in years then moved to
another group. I'm certain I've been friendly and open and I suspect part
of him wants to get sober. I'm also sure he doesn't want me to sponsor him
or take him to a meeting or tell him how to run his life!.
There may be a moment
when I can be more than a sober example in his life, although I suspect
I'm too old for him to really identify with me. I'll bet he doesn't really
believe me when I say I remember hangovers!
My hunch is that
there will come a moment when I say something like 'go back to
meetings-life doesn't have to be that way.' Who knows, maybe it will even
work.
It's my job that the
hand of 12 Stepping always be there; sometimes it's my hand, more often
not. I long ago learned I can't get anyone else into recovery; I can only
be there when and if they are ready. I can, and do, include him in my
prayers and stay alert for an opening, but that's just about all I can do.
And, when he reports, I
can be truly grateful I'm no longer practicing my addictions and that I
have the freedom the Program promised.
Love, peace and
abundance,
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