Trevor Morley's Tache
Well-Known Member
I've worked in places where the drinking culture was rife. I'll not go into detail but lets just say I was working a 21-day shift pattern (10 nights, 1 day off, 10 day shifts, 10 days off.) For 18 months I did that, and on my 10 days off I travelled home.
For the first year, I pretty much drank for every day of the shift, apart form the day I travelled home. If night shift finished before midnight, we would end up in a bar, if it didn't we would end up at someone's house drinking until the early hours. The day off would be spent drinking from about 1100 until last man standing, which was way past midnight for some. Every day shift I was in the bar by 7pm at the very latest, always finishing past midnight.
When I got home on my 10 days off, first thing I would do would be stock up on beer and wine. I could easily finish 2 bottles of red before my missus had even finished a glass. It was dangerous. I wouldn't drink half as much as I did at work, but it was still way too much.
One day when I got back to work after my 10 days off, I'd found out that one of the guys I worked with had been taken to hospital. He'd collapsed at home, and when he'd got to hospital, they found he had really poor liver and kidney function, and his body had basically had enough. He ended up in detox for 6 weeks, and place on an intensive rehab course. I was a bit of an eyeopener for me, as I actually realised just how many functioning alcoholics I worked with. I pretty much knocked the drinking at work on the head at that point.
I stayed out of the bar by finding something else to do with my time, which is not easy, but I stuck with it. People often underestimate the culture of drinking, but it can easily drag you in, and it is often very hard to get out of.
A few years later I ended up at a funeral for one of the guys I used to work with. He died alone in his flat, and nobody found his body for over a week. He just couldn't stop drinking, and it ended up killing him.
Yes, I still drink, but nowhere near what I used to. I'll be lucky if its more than 8-10 units a week these days; sometimes less or not at all. Don't miss it one bit, but things could have turned out so much differently.
For the first year, I pretty much drank for every day of the shift, apart form the day I travelled home. If night shift finished before midnight, we would end up in a bar, if it didn't we would end up at someone's house drinking until the early hours. The day off would be spent drinking from about 1100 until last man standing, which was way past midnight for some. Every day shift I was in the bar by 7pm at the very latest, always finishing past midnight.
When I got home on my 10 days off, first thing I would do would be stock up on beer and wine. I could easily finish 2 bottles of red before my missus had even finished a glass. It was dangerous. I wouldn't drink half as much as I did at work, but it was still way too much.
One day when I got back to work after my 10 days off, I'd found out that one of the guys I worked with had been taken to hospital. He'd collapsed at home, and when he'd got to hospital, they found he had really poor liver and kidney function, and his body had basically had enough. He ended up in detox for 6 weeks, and place on an intensive rehab course. I was a bit of an eyeopener for me, as I actually realised just how many functioning alcoholics I worked with. I pretty much knocked the drinking at work on the head at that point.
I stayed out of the bar by finding something else to do with my time, which is not easy, but I stuck with it. People often underestimate the culture of drinking, but it can easily drag you in, and it is often very hard to get out of.
A few years later I ended up at a funeral for one of the guys I used to work with. He died alone in his flat, and nobody found his body for over a week. He just couldn't stop drinking, and it ended up killing him.
Yes, I still drink, but nowhere near what I used to. I'll be lucky if its more than 8-10 units a week these days; sometimes less or not at all. Don't miss it one bit, but things could have turned out so much differently.