ALCOHOLISM: THE BOTTOM LINE

[Music] please adjust focus for maximum sharpness of picture adjust volume control for proper level please adjust tone control for maximum clarity of my voice we hope the time spent in these adjustments will provide you with a better looking and better sounding film [Music] so [Music] come in gee i'm sorry i was late again but i couldn't get my car to move the brakes were locked and i had to wait almost an hour for the auto club to come [Music] uh [Music] um [Music] um [Music] [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] so yellow cab company do you know where the olympic labrador motel is you know well can you get a taxi here right away okay i'll be outside okay great [Music] gee i'm sorry i'm late again but i couldn't get my car to move the brakes were locked and i had to wait almost an hour for the auto club to come and loosen the brakes sit down why make waves i don't care what anybody says she doesn't look as though she has a drinking problem now before we make any judgments about the supervisor remember he has no way of knowing whether he's being told the truth or not now look i believe you but you should get your car fixed because the other secretaries are beginning to talk about how many times you've been late in the last month or so i know but it's my car it's keeping me broke you know how many times it's calmed down in the last few months i'll tell you what i'll lend you the money you can take it to my mechanic and get it fixed and there'd be no more likeness okay and we don't want to make any waves julie it's the last time i'll be able to protect you like most alcoholics she's learned to lie like an expert and by not dealing effectively with the cause of her lateness and absenteeism the problem will continue to exist he is also providing you with a permissive situation which has already made waves with his boss as well as other employees who feel that favoritism is being shown now this supervisor is also making the all too prevalent mistake of expecting the alcoholic to look like the stereotyped skid row bum [Music] [Music] i hate to be the guy who ranked you up on monday but i just couldn't make it yesterday you know that old strain in my back well it came on like gangbusters i can hardly move a muscle i was flat on my back all weekend and yesterday too hey herrera you herrera let's go your wife's dream and bailed out come on come on come on you can fix your hair later let's go come on [Music] you know that old strain in my back but it came out like gangbusters i can hardly move my muscle i was flat on my back all weekend and yesterday too i'm gonna have to have a heart-to-heart talk i'm gonna talk to him like a dutch i we've known each other a long time we've got to be honest with each other i drink it's all the other guys who work here but i don't know they don't come in late all the time they don't take off all those mondays listen i don't go off early on fridays either i can't protect you from the front office anymore i think i see it in these worksheets look rudy let's have a heart-to-heart talk i want to talk to you like a dutch uncle if the worker is an alcoholic he thrives on just such heart-to-heart talks from dutch uncles or aunts just as he probably has on other jobs before this one i've been in charge of men a long long time so i know the guy who's late all the time takes off all those mondays and when he comes in he comes in smelling of booze listen i never come to work smelling from boots what are you talking about do rudy to me that guy's an alcoholic me a drinking problem just because i'm out with the buds the supervisor is on the alcoholics home ground in a discussion of alcoholism the alcoholic has many years of practice of deceiving everyone wife bosses policemen and especially himself giving him the skill to lie and to manipulate the supervisor no way no sir you can call my wife she tells you how much pain i had i'm not gonna call your wife but why not because you're lying she'll swear this my wife won't lie to you i'm trying to help you how i can't protect you forever and you're a nice guy and you do good work whenever you're not absent later or hungover so why not admit it you are an alcoholic what the supervisor doesn't know is that alcoholics will frequently not admit to being an alcoholic up to the day of the death not after the dts all the jobs they've lost and the families they've destroyed however the admission of a drinking problem is the first step to recovery the supervisor is rarely qualified to help the worker make this decision nor is it is right to call or diagnose any worker as an alcoholic this is the responsibility of a specialist the supervisor should stick to the matter of job performance that's why i'm asking you cut back taper off you can't go on the wagon all of a sudden like you gotta drink don't drink on something hey not after lunch that way if you get a snoop ball you can still come to work on time on monday and nobody will be the wiser hey if you can do all that good that way you've solved your problem and mine too and i won't have to fire you hey you see how simple it can be what the supervisor should know is that the alcoholic cannot control his drinking which is by definition what makes him an alcoholic working out an arrangement for the alcoholic to drink will not work and will help the alcoholic to destroy himself and the other members of his family alcoholism is a progressive disease and can only get worse as will the employee's job performance and the supervisor's problems with the supervisor to limit his discussion with the worker to work attendance lateness and level of job performance while hung over and to send the alcoholic to the employees assistance department within the company the alcoholic would have an excellent chance of recovery both of them may be fired i'm sorry things got so blown up out of a portion but uh well i did leave a note on your desk and uh i did tell marie where i was going it was uh just one of those unexpected things you know an old war buddy of mine got uh stranded up at the airport i was the only other guy he knew in denver i had to pick him up well he felt real low he has a hard time getting in and out of places so i went to pick him up i i uh put him in a motel right by my house he uh he's a real nice guy and believe it or not i owe it to him because he saved my life once uh murray i don't think i'll be back for the rest of the afternoon hi how you doing usual sure why change a good thing that's right oh my good man what's up let's try another one more come on come on um so look uh i know you have to drive and maybe enough is enough huh maybe you should go home well aren't we being solicitous look my money is good any place that is any place where gentlemen serve gentlemen i put him up at a motel by my house and uh i owed it to him you see because believe it or not he he saved my life once another far out excuse i'm gonna refer him to the next management level let them handle this loser about three years ago you were my most valuable man in the area i don't know what happened but your work has been going downhill for a long time especially in the last year and i've never heard so many excuses you all seem so reasonable and so right if you check out the ones that you can now i've tried to be flexible but i don't think it's worked with you by not confronting the worker with documented records of early departures and later rivals the supervisor gives the worker another opportunity to continue poor job performance until the next serious incident i mean i i hate to say this but uh i don't think that's fair at all i really don't i mean i've done a lot a lot of good for this company i've saved a lot of money and i've also earned it a lot that's right you have otherwise i wouldn't have been so flexible i'm sorry uh i'm giving you so many excuses but some times things run in cycles you know what i mean and i won't have any more wait wait wait just a minute no no no what cycle are we talking about the one where you had to leave yesterday round three well that was on my note did marie tell you marie didn't tell me anything about it why didn't you tell me anything about it well i looked in your office you all right now let's just hold it right here we're not going to check out any more of your excuses and i am through pursuing the elusive truth with you i'm turning you over to our mutual boss hancock let let him work something out with you i only know that you haven't worked out here well that's all the supervisor is merely passing the buck unless he passes documented facts of the employee's poor job performance along with a referral to their mutual supervisor without these facts the employee will be able to continue lateness early departures absenteeism and other details of poor job performance in new assignment until it's discovered to be a problem by a new supervisor this is just one more reason to send the employee to the appropriate company facility to deal with his work related problems which have continued after the appropriate steps have been taken by the supervisor there you are elaine told me i'd find you here boy am i glad to see you happen to you you're gonna find this really hard to believe but i'm lucky to be here today because i almost got killed do you mind if i have some coffee i really could use some well when i got up this morning i got up really early so that i'd be sure to be here on time you know after after all these other times and now picture this if you can i'm driving along minding my own business when this character comes running out into the street waving his arms like crazy i have to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him and i just missed hitting you luckily he tells me that his wife is having a baby and that his car won't start and then i'm gonna have to take them to the hospital right and he thinks it's gonna have to be a cesarean so what could i do i mean i couldn't phone you it was an emergency and things were just happening too fast so i helped him get her into the end of the car and finally we drove off to the hospital now you're not gonna believe this either you know but he didn't know how to get to their hospital so now we got to stop and ask for directions only nobody knows where this hospital is turns out it's a brand new one so finally i tell him to call his wife's doctor's office and they'll tell him which they do right so now i'm driving along like crazy because i don't want her to have that damn kid in my car and besides that she's got to have a cesarean anyway and now hey you won't believe this either i'm telling you we get pulled over by a police car for speeding and before we can tell them what's happening she goes into labor she's lying there screaming with pain and her poor husband just gets hysterical and these two scared young cops who've obviously never done this kind of thing before are trying to call for an ambulance over their radio and they chase me and the husband away but the husband keeps trying to get back to help his wife was lying there screaming so i try and restrain him right only he goes crazy and starts trying to beat up room okay come mr do you have anything to drink tonight no just a little bit not much i'm okay that's why i'm telling you i can go home and i should get some work and i'll be fine well i think it's obvious you've been driving under the influence of alcohol and beverages you're not going to place me under arrest and now it's impossible sit up straight take a deep breath blow into the machine until i tell you to stop [Music] [Music] [Music] you know one of those policemen actually had to pull a gun on him can you believe that one i mean the whole thing is totally unbelievable and then now i gotta wait while this damn kid i knew it my wife's here come on let's go you bailed out while the airport is ambulance to come and pick them all up and take them all away to the hospital and if it hadn't been for all that craziness i would have been here exactly on time just as i had planned to be this is the craziest story he's ever told i'll have to fire him well that's one of the longest and craziest stories i've ever heard from you this year you must think i'm really stupid to expect me to believe that one you know what i think i think you really had a bad night from the looks of things and you're just getting over one of your hangovers and you just have to pull yourself together so that we can meet with a production engineer in shreveport so i'm sure you've had a little hair of the dog on the way in to prepare you for this session me why would i not now let's finish this as easy as we can for both of us your work is bad your attendance is better but i told you and your excuses aren't any better i'm gonna have to let you go i cannot handle an alcoholic well if you're not an alcoholic then you drink too much for someone with your responsibilities i'm sorry but that's the way it has to be you're a luxury this company cannot afford firing the employee does nothing to solve the employees or the employer's problem the company loses the employees training and experience and the employee may lose his life if he is an alcoholic he's a desperately sick individual who needs highly specialized treatment now and the sooner the better when he's no longer employed the best connection he had with a source of help whatever the company program may have been is no longer available to him therefore by firing the alcoholic the company has lost the very lever which can get this person well and save him for himself his family and the company's needs as well and to most alcoholics being fired is a much more serious problem than for non-alcoholics being fired may arouse the fear of the loss of money for liquor as well as a serious loss of self-image most alcoholics will accept counseling in order to remain employed and most will recover there is also the possibility that job termination will lead to the actual loss of life of the alcoholic through the slow suicide of continued drinking or the more violent suicide which is far more prevalent in the alcoholic than in the non-alcoholic with the bottom line here being life itself every effort should be made to get the alcoholic into an alcoholic recovery program with approximately 22 million workers belonging to unions guilds and workers associations labor and management are in an ideal position to help the alcoholic well joe as you can see from helen's work record here we've got a serious problem i have to agree her records show she's been a good worker for 14 years it's unfortunate that her work's deteriorated in the last year that's too bad when that happens but joe is shop steward i don't have to tell you what the joint labor management statement says in cases like this i have no alternatives but to recommend that helen see the employee conflict find out what's causing the job performance problem or to have her accept the discipline which is in this case severe i'd really like to see her get some help it's apparent she's not going to straighten herself out this will be our fourth meeting with her in the last nine months well it certainly looks like i'm on trial doesn't it no helen you're not on trial we're trying to solve a problem who's problem yours are hers neither we're not here to pass judgment on anything other than your job performance now after reviewing your record and after this latest incident i must recommend that you see the employee concert or accept the disciplinary consequences what do you think i am a problem all i need is to be left alone i'll be a little bit more careful about the things than this i'm afraid it's too late for that hell and now you've read it absent late fights accidents sit home twice intoxicated oh it's finally coming out why don't you say i'm loud and clear you think i'm an alcoholic well i'm not and nobody has a right to tell me i am that's right helen no one is calling you an alcoholic but if you have personal problems that's exactly what they are personal and i don't intend to discuss them with you i'm neither qualified nor is it any of my business but your job performance is my business so if you do have a problem that's causing your job deterioration you can as we have told you before see the employee counselor who is qualified to diagnose your problem and if you follow the procedure he recommends i will hold off on any disciplinary action now helen you know that anything you discuss with employee counselor is strictly confidential thanks a lot you don't seem to realize paulie i'd like to speak to helen alone we'll be back in about 15 minutes well look i have a meeting that i have to attend and it's going to take at least an hour why don't you use this office oh thanks i'll see you after lunch and we'll see if we can straighten this problem out fine [Applause] what is the union gonna do about all this baloney all this baloney as you call it doesn't give the union much evidence for a good defense we could make an issue about who kept the records on you and what's in them but that isn't going to do any good in your case because as you know this is the fourth time this year we've been through this you've been absent late time after time you fight with your co-workers and helen you've been sent home twice for being drunk how do you expect the union to defend that kind of work record you're a big help can't you tell her she has no right to interfere with my personal life she's got no right to make me go to the employee counselor if i don't want to that's right helen she doesn't have the right to make you go for counseling but the union management program gives you the alternative to go to the employee counselor who can determine what the problem is and see that you get the help you need or you can accept the consequences of not going the decision is yours but there's nothing wrong with me you're calling me a cycle just like she did i'm not calling you anything i'm telling you that when an employee's job performance falls below a certain level management has the right according to the program to find out why youtube tell her to give me a break i've been with the company for 14 years helen you've had your share of breaks already you're the one that made this record you refused the help that was offered and promised to straighten up but you didn't do it your attendance record alone is enough to get you fired the union's done everything possible up to this point short of arbitration frankly helen i don't think the membership will vote for arbitration in your case once they've heard the facts of a choice for help or discipline is yours choice doesn't look like much of a choice to me helen you've got everything to gain and nothing to lose why not try the employee counselor just like that right you're telling me you want me to see some strength helen it's not what i want that counts it's what you want you're a grown woman it has to be your choice you've read the company and the union policy on this program and you know that asking for and getting help is not going to affect your job security or promotional opportunities in any way so what do i have to do you don't have to do anything but if you decide you want to i'll set up the appointment with a counselor for you tomorrow morning in the meantime i'll tell mrs paulie to hold off on the disciplinary procedure okay okay like you said what have i got to lose what has helen got to lose helen has nothing to lose nor has the company or the union all have a lot to gain by helen accepting the offer of counseling it may even save her life the union has met its responsibility to a seriously ill member the company may well have retained a valued employee and that's good business here at united california bank we have rehabilitated employees for pennies when it would have cost thousands to fire them we have improved morale we have acquired top-level talent from our competitors as the result of our policy of hiring rehabilitated alcoholics our image in the community is that of a socially conscious employer and while we bankers can always use that what company can't these and other monetary savings do not lend themselves to cut and drive cost analyses but we know they are substantial it's no secret that as bankers we're concerned with your profits which is why we don't think your company can afford not to have a program contact your local office of the national council on alcoholism they will help you start one for your company or agency if you don't have a local office call nca headquarters in new york needless to say the bottom line in dollars is of immediate concern to the employer and to the rest of the community who may have to assume the financial responsibility for the alcoholic and his family the bottom line in industry is billions of dollars the bottom line to society to all of us are the billions of dollars that get passed along in consumer goods taxes and rehabilitation services however there are other bottom line without dollar signs bottom lines which don't appear on the neatly ruled business ledgers or on the mute columns of statistical readouts they are the bottom lines of human suffering for the alcoholic and those who he or she affects and of course there is the ultimate bottom line to all alcoholics life itself if there is a bottom line to all we've seen is the positive knowledge that the alcoholic does have a choice because alcoholism is a treatable disease [Music] you