Please wish me luck.

[Seraph]

<hugs> I hope everything works out...no...I *KNOW* everything will. I'll be praying for you, and when I say that, I mean it.

Ganbatte, bean! <waves tiny flags> you can do eet!

[bean]

Well, had a sit down session with my boss today. Very informal, very friendly - we've always been on really good terms, but at the same time, he doesn't bullshit, and he's very much by the book. If things are going good, he's your best friend. If things aren't going so good, he pulls you into the office, behind closed doors, and talks to you privately about what's going on, what action needs to be taken, what action WILL be taken (including documentation), and what he expects. The unofficial motto in my store is "Praise publicly, punish privately".

Turns out, yes, I will be receiving an attendance write up, and placed on "final" for 6 months since I've had one before. If I had told him, flat out, that I was missing work because of addiction, he would have been able to ignore the problems as long as I made it clear I was attempting to seek treatment. But because I was trying to cover up issues with "food poisoning" and the like, and those absences had been officially documented as such, well.... policy is policy and my employer is VERY strict on attendance issues. I can't fault the guy for doing his job.

I've been on final before, with the same manager - keep my shit straight for 6 months and I'm good to go.

He did tell me he's also proud of me for getting treatment, and that he really wants to see me succeed both personally and professionally. He's had his own share of issues, and knows I'm not the only one fighting addiction in my store. Hell, my doctor flat out told me I'm not his only patient from my store, or even my department in my store, and I live in a huge metro area.

I just recently switched doctors since my insurance doesn't cover mental health, and my last doctor also told me the same thing about having patients from my store. I switched because of cost - my last dr wanted nearly $300 per visit, even just for refills, and while she was a good doctor, she could also be a bit condescending and I'd have to schedule appointments 3-6 weeks ahead of time. New one is $125 per visit, WAY more approachable, much friendlier, but.... also much harder to get through to on the phone since his practice is so busy and he does a lot of charity/state funded work. I did walk into his office 2 days ago just to get a note to give to my employer, and while he typed it up we discussed switching my medication management to him... he asked what I was on, I told him, he said "Okay, how about this, we do an official visit right now, I write your scripts and fax them to your pharmacy, and we're done for the next month?". Wait what? DONE! And I walked in right at the end of his business day. I'm sure if I had been on anything abuseable it wouldn't have gone so smoothly, but beta blockers and SSRIs aren't exactly fun to abuse.

On one hand, I'm very much against drug testing for any reason. But on the other hand, the very relaxed attitude my employer takes toward alcohol and substance usage definitely can promote addiction.

Today (well, technically now, yesterday) was my first day back at work. I was surprised how rusty I was at the register after only a couple of weeks - PLU's came naturally, but I wasn't "on my game" as much as I normally am and was easily distracted. As far as everyone knew, my boss had told my coworkers and regular customers that I had to take an emergency leave of absence to take care of some family business, leaving it up to me if I wanted to disclose why I was really gone. Bonus points (well that and HIPPA points).

So while I could have potentially avoided a writeup by being a little more honest... things could have also gone far, far, far, far worse. I still have a job that I love, with awesome coworkers, and for the most part, great customers. I think I'm getting a grip on my issues as well.

The bad news is, since my boss didn't know when I'd be back, I'm off the schedule entirely this week, and the schedule has been written around me being gone. I worked about 9 hours today, and bossman has told me it shouldn't be much of a problem to work shifts in for me for the rest of the week as long as I don't mind working some weird hours. But I don't want to cause him to miss labor - doing that would cost the entire department their bonus, not just him. We've taken on a LOT of transfers from a new store in the next city that wound up massively overhiring, so labor is stretched very tight right now. I think we took in 8 transfers from that store just for my department alone, all full time (we normally only start with part time at my store).

"Life is but a dream"...

[Magpie]

I'm glad to hear that things have been (somewhat) worked out at work, and that your doctor is so helpful!

On one hand, I'm very much against drug testing for any reason. But on the other hand, the very relaxed attitude my employer takes toward alcohol and substance usage definitely can promote addiction.

Their rehab policy, however, is very similar to other ones I've seen, including from companies that do routine drug testing, above and beyond what the industry standard is for their line of work.

[bean]

Well, still no writeup. My boss did assure me one would be coming when I worked my first shift, and said it would be that day.

I'm certainly not going to remind him.

Also, sub-boss (asst dept mgr) wrote me back into the schedule for the remainder of the week - I now have 41 hours this week, though I'm missing an event I was looking forward to for 2 months. I'll take the hours, I really need the money, I'm scrambling to pay rent this month (having to pawn some stuff and borrow money from family).

Also have 40 hours next week, and as close to a perfect schedule as I could ever ask for. No closes, 3 mids, 2 almost-opens (we open at 8, I come in at 8:30 one day, 9:00 another), 2 days off in a row (Thu/Fri)! Only downside is I'm working 7 days straight.

I used to love closing, now I absolutely despise it. The earlier I get off, the more time I have to do stuff while it's still daylight.