Page 158 - The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

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TO EMPLOYERS 137
desk, a newspaper clipping fell out. It was the obitu­
ary of one of the best salesmen I ever had. After two
weeks of drinking, he had placed his toe on the trigger
of a loaded shotgun—the barrel was in his mouth. I
had discharged him for drinking six weeks before.
Still another experience: A woman’s voice came
faintly over long distance from Virginia. She wanted
to know if her husband’s company insurance was still
in force. Four days before he had hanged himself in
his woodshed. I had been obliged to discharge him
for drinking, though he was brilliant, alert, and one of
the best organizers I have ever known.
Here were three exceptional men lost to this world
because I did not understand alcoholism as I do now.
What irony—I became an alcoholic myself! And but
for the intervention of an understanding person, I
might have followed in their footsteps. My downfall
cost the business community unknown thousands of
dollars, for it takes real money to train a man for an
executive position. This kind of waste goes on un­
abated. We think the business fabric is shot through
with a situation which might be helped by better un­
derstanding all around.
Nearly every modern employer feels a moral respon­
sibility for the well-being of his help, and he tries to
meet these responsibilities. That he has not always
done so for the alcoholic is easily understood. To him
the alcoholic has often seemed a fool of the first mag­
nitude. Because of the employee’s special ability, or
of his own strong personal attachment to him, the
employer has sometimes kept such a man at work long
beyond a reasonable period. Some employers have
tried every known remedy. In only a few instances