July 9, 2005

• The woman seemed perfect for the job.  She would assist the operations manager and telemarketing for us. She had people experience having done waitress work and she seemed pleasant enough. She made a nice appearance and seemed to enjoy being with people.  I work in a very busy place with lots and lots of people and lots and lots of personalities.  She started to take off of work five and six days at a clip.  Flu, personal problem…I gave her the benefit of the doubt.  I never took much notice to the fact that her skin was always beat red and she constantly carried her “tea cup” with her.  Having grown up with an alcoholic I should be more aware I would guess.  The signs were there.  As time went by the personality started to change.  She was angry then happy.  I again gave it the benefit of the doubt and thought she was having a hard time at home.  Her mother in law lived with her and had one leg due to diabetes (sp?) She was the guardian of her nephew due to drugs and alcohol from the parents.  She had her own son.  I started wondering about the barrage of flowers, balloons and cards being sent to her with “I love you”…from her husband.  My first instinct was this is covered apologetic abuse.  I am such a wonderful husband…after 18 years…did she need reconfirmation or was it his cover up.  I minded my business seeing know visual bruises but concerned about her mental state.  Her son was constantly in trouble with the cops.  She was upset.  One day the front desk supervisor found her passed out and drooling.  Her purse was open and a half drank bottle of vodka was there with some type of pills.  An ambulance and the police were called along with her husband.  Two weeks off of work with the excuse that she was epileptic (sp?).  One of my co-workers told me the medication she was on yes was for seizures but it was also medication used to dry out drunks.  She was sat down and offered help.  She refused and said she would get it on her own and that it wouldn’t happen again (yeah right)…All the signs were now there and we saw them and watched her like a hawk…she was constantly asked to bring in written documentation that she was getting help and kept “forgetting it”…last Monday she was again found with now 80 percent of a bottle of vodka gone and drooling down to her chest…she was sent home and came back to work the next day with a smile and I could see by the signs…still feeling the effects of alcohol…I sat her down with the manager and we fired her…I told her that her illness was interfering with her ability to perform her job description and she was a liability to herself and the company.  The manager told her she broke company policy two times by consuming alcohol in work and she was fired. She refused to leave and refused to pack and sat in a chair telling me how nice we all were and that she was only drinking because she had breast cancer.  Several weeks before that she had a lump in her breast but I was there when the doctor called and it was only a cyst.  I asked her if her husband knew…she said no…I asked her how it would be treated radiation, medication or surgery or chemo she said surgery…I said when and she said…next week…I asked when she was telling us…she started to cry…I told her I knew that it was only a cyst I was there remember…she looked shocked as though she had forgotten…I told her I didn’t believe her…it hurt me being a cancer survivor that she would stoop that low in an attempt to save her job but knew from experience it was the vodka talking and she was trying to enable me…She went to the bathroom for about 40 minutes…I feared she was killing herself…she was in a way…when she returned she was redder if that is possible and drunk…started swearing at me and ran out of the building without her stuff, which I had packed for her and jumped over a fence (she is 45) and left…I was sad…so…maybe I am growing up but I feel no pity for her…I am annoyed because I have to cover her shift and replace her…I feel no sense of human attachment to the situation at all and this is not like me…I am always sympathetic…I am so tired from work and miss my daughter, my xanga an d my bed…now I have more to do…I am angry at her inability to maintain her health and that isn’t right…I should accept her weakness and move on…well…maybe tomorrow…but for now…I am tired, pissed and aggravated…If she doesn’t pick her check up by Tuesday morning I will mail it and call the  corporate office and ask how long it is legally our responsibility to keep her belongings…she has more than I do at the office and I have been there for going on 23 years…this was I would think because it is her only place of expression…and another employee must now be replaced…huggs…Sassy…p.s.:  I will visit all of you soon…

  • 1:20 pm
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