About to be fired for gross misconduct...need advise

Manxman_in_exile

If you've got a high tolerance to alcohol, five units is nothing. You would appear completely sober. I've met people drinking two and even three 75cl bottles of vodka a day. Hard to believe but it's true.


Vodka is a bad sign. People don't drink it because they like it - they drink it because they think others can't smell it - untrue BTW.


See your GP. Attend CGL and listen to your case worker.

ds383

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

Er...not a good idea t all. If you are physically dependant on alcohol it is extremely dangerous to just stop. You can have seizures or even die if you just stop. If you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms ( most common being the DTs) you need something to drink immediately.


You say you are attending Change, Grow, Live sessions. You should have a nominated Case Worker and they can give you a plan to gradually and safely reduce your alcohol intake to zero. Might take one or two months of gradual reduction.


Going "cold turkey" with alcohol is far more dangerous that doing it with heroin.


Many people, with good intentions, will say "just stop drinking", but it isn't straightforward as that.


Apologies if other posters have made this point. I haven't worked through the whole thread yet.

Thankfully I'm not at the stage yet where I'm physically addicted. It's just mental withdrawal symptoms I get. If I don't drink for a day after drinking for several days in a row I get extreme anxiety, panic attacks, feelings of impending doom and hand tremors when even just slightly nervous.

ds383

Manxman_in_exile wrote: »

If you've got a high tolerance to alcohol, five units is nothing. You would appear completely sober. I've met people drinking two and even three 75cl bottles of vodka a day. Hard to believe but it's true.


Vodka is a bad sign. People don't drink it because they like it - they drink it because they think others can't smell it - untrue BTW.


See your GP. Attend CGL and listen to your case worker.

I'm at the point where I'm drinking 75% of a 70cl bottle in a day at the moment, and hangovers have stopped. I'll bring a parent with me to the GP next time, I saw him on Monday but I'm not assertive enough with them and struggle to explain what help I need.

I have another meeting with my case worker next week, I broke down to them last week about my job problems and they couldn't really speak to me because of the state I was in. I'm going to gradually reduce the amount I drink because the anti-depressants I'm taking aren't working due to the alcohol.

Manxman_in_exile

ds383 wrote: »

I'm at the point where I'm drinking 75% of a 70cl bottle in a day at the moment, and hangovers have stopped. I'll bring a parent with me to the GP next time, I saw him on Monday but I'm not assertive enough with them and struggle to explain what help I need.

I have another meeting with my case worker next week, I broke down to them last week about my job problems and they couldn't really speak to me because of the state I was in. I'm going to gradually reduce the amount I drink because the anti-depressants I'm taking aren't working due to the alcohol.

So that's 21 units per day. (You're right - 70 cl not 75!) That's perfectly manageable. I AM NOT GIVING MEDICAL ADVICE HERE but you could get down to a level where you could just stop drinking within four to six weeks. BUT YOU HAVE TO DO THIS WITH THE ADVICE AND SUPPORT OF YOUR CASE WORKER. DO NOT TRY TO DO IT ON YOUR OWN.


I can assure you alcohol is a more important problem than any job problems you have.


I think you mentioned a "hand tremor"? You may think you "only" have a psychological dependency, but that sounds physical to me. Get help!

Sncjw

You ignored or missed my post.

Can I ask what is it you want your work to do in regards of support?

Surely you should have sought help when you got the sack from the police due to drinking.

As I have said in the past a person can’t chnage unless they want to and ready for it.

You seem to think other people need to do it. Plus your making excuses for drinking saying it’s not much. Drinking before work and during is bad.

I think you need to solve the underlying reasons for why you drink. Your anxiety. What is it tht triggers it. Then try and solve that trigger. This will help you reduce your alcohol consumption because you won’t need it.

I think you have to relearn coping mechanism for what ever triggers your anxiety then you won’t need the alcohol to cope with it.

nicechap

How did your disciplinary go?

I hope you didn't have false hope by relying on Wandsworth v Sinclair Tribunal Case. They only won because the council failed to give the employee their alcohol policy and then failed to follow it, not because they weren't allowed to sack someone for turning up drunk to work.

Do listen to and follow manxman's advice, you appear cogent and intelligent enough to understand your addiction and know your likely future if you continue as you are know.

Good luck.

Genuineguy03

No one gave the op false hope or advised him to look at the wandsworth case. It would have been of no use to the op, given his past warnings regardless as to whether he drank on premises or not.

If circumstances had been different, then duty of care would have applied. And if the employer failed in there duty of care (which amounts to breach of contract) then dismissal would have been unfair on that point, regardless as to whether a tribunal dismissal for being intoxicated was fair punishment.

But unfortunately the employer in the op's case has been fair, have acted in accordance to their obligations under duty if care, by being supportive and only giving him warnings on previous incidents or similar nature.

Anyway, no point in debating it any further as where just all going round in circles, making it completely pointless, and I cant be clearer than I already have been.

Comms69

Genuineguy03 wrote: »

No one gave the op false hope or advised him to look at the wandsworth case. It would have been of no use to the op, given his past warnings regardless as to whether he drank on premises or not.

If circumstances had been different, then duty of care would have applied. And if the employer failed in there duty of care (which amounts to breach of contract) then dismissal would have been unfair on that point, regardless as to whether a tribunal dismissal for being intoxicated was fair punishment.

But unfortunately the employer in the op's case has been fair, have acted in accordance to their obligations under duty if care, by being supportive and only giving him warnings on previous incidents or similar nature.

Anyway, no point in debating it any further as where just all going round in circles, making it completely pointless, and I cant be clearer than I already have been.

You keep saying the OP has a protected characteristic - can you explain what specific characteristic that is?


Thanks

Genuineguy03

Mental health - Anxiety, likely depression too. He/she's prescribed medication for it by their doctor - therefore has been diagnosed. So his mental health is the comptibutory factor to Hus drinking, there's probably an underlying cause to his mental health issues such as something in his/her past.

ds383

Dismissed for GM. Gonna go and hang myself.