Unique Problem

Darin(in Michigan)

BUY IT!! If the wife can afford snuff and he can come to work drunk, consider how much money can be made through hard work and saving. Live the dream, you're already doing the work.

Lou S.

This is not a technical question but in some way may affect some of the guys out there trying to make a decent, honest living. I’ve been in this business roughly 20 yrs now.. (service tech) and had my share of good and bad employers. Probably the worst was the most recent. What does an employee say, do, jump so high, hide, run, put up with when his boss/employer is an Alcoholic? And I don’t mean in the evening either. During working hours this man became so unbearable that the shop was nicknamed the “Drunktank”. It was a total embarrassment to even be associated with this place. Contractors and the routine service customers were dropping him like crazy. We had a “walk in” service counter and you could imagine the outcome when someone came in to buy a part. At first, I tried to ignore the problem, but being the only service tech employed there (small shop of about 20 people) I found myself making excuses for him, desperately trying to save the shops’ image. One can only come up with so many reasons why the boss is unavailable for estimates, problems, questions, calls, etc while in the meantime he’s out back with several of his “close” employees too drunk to even function at all. It was bad enough trying to hammer out eight to ten service calls a day, billing, ordering parts, answering phones (his wife the secretary generally came in 3 days a week, if at all, due to a white powder abuse problem), let alone putting up with the management in such sorry shape. I could go on and on with eight years of horror stories but you get the picture. What really steamed me though was not only the drinking and substance abuse, but the long hours I put in dedicated to the customer in need, always eating the overtime since he was too cheap to pay overtime, but his “close” friends were always taken care of whether they worked or not. And with all that, not even one thank you from him for being so dedicated. Since then, I’ve moved on to a much more “normal” shop. They treat me exceptionally well along with the dedication of almost 80 percent of the customers I brought with me. As I look back on the eight wasted years there, I can come up with several rather memorable moments: First was him cussing me out on the phone on a Sunday for not being at work (He awoke from a drunk at the shop not knowing what day it was lol) and Second: “Don’t you dare install that 500k steam boiler with 4” piping and fittings, bush it down to 2” so as to save me money”. Two of us almost quit over that fiasco. I guess with all of that behind me now I can finally get down to some really serious business and make a little money and make the world a safer place to live in. Thank you for letting me vent and to all those hard working people A Very Happy New Year!

DanHolohan

Wow,

what made you stay so long?

ed wallace

unique problem

dam you are darn near a saint i would have lasted less then a month i hate drunks and drug abusers

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David Sutton_6

Hello Working man

Well all i can say is WOW, But also i can say that i was one of the in guys, back in the early 80's when i started i worked for a out fit just like that one, doing new const. and laying out the lines on top of the boiler while we worked.. drinking like a fish thru out the day. i had no idea how bad we were...I got sober in 1986 and have been since.... the man has a proplem and his so called tight group is not a help... things will not change till he bottoms out... you getting out of there was the best thing you can do!By trying to stay to make the company work is a bad idea. let him land on his own and maybe he will see the light...It's not a easy thing to do, but can be done....David

jim lockard

your a saint

I have a hard time dealing with a customer on a service call that has had too much. Best Wishes J.Lockard

Tony_23

Works both ways

Not really a unique problem, from the human side. I've had my share of employees with their demons, too.

Boiler Guy

New Year - new goals

There comes a time when you just ...... gotta go
I finally reached that realization 12/22 when I was placed in a situation where many lives were placed in imminent danger due to TOTAL Incompetance. My time has arrived!