anyone in the service industry?

[aphexphonics]

hey guys,was wondering if anyone on here has ever worked in the service industry
and successfully quit drinking?i started waiting tables when i was 18 and am now 25.
after work i feel so wired up from the emotional/physical roller coaster that the need for
a drink usually takes over,and my alcohol consumption has grown exponentially over the years the longer i'm around the "server lifestyle".it seems as though a lot of my server friends have problems with
alcohol as well (i work with a guy that has had five dwi's) so it's hard because drinking heavily and going out to bars nightly is "normal" behavior with everyone i'm surrounded with.

i feel like i'll never be able to quit under these working conditions,but i actually really enjoy waiting tables and the money is good,it's just a stressful job and was wondering if anyone has made it out alive and sober i've never posted before,but i've been lurking for a couple months now.at 25 i know i'm still young enough to turn my life around,just hoping i haven't done too much damage to my mind and body yet

thanks for listening! :new:

[Guest]

anyone in the service industry?

Hello Aphexphonics

Welcome to MWO. I've never worked in the restaurant trade, but I do know some who have. They say that heavy drinking is rife in the industry often as a result of long hours, poor conditions, low pay and often worse where live-in accomodation is limited. Places such as hotels in rural areas where there is little else to do off-shift.

[RedJib]

anyone in the service industry?

Welcome, aphexphonics. It sounds like you're struggling with some ambivalence about quitting alcohol, and that's normal for all of us on these boards. There are bound to be several members who've quit while working in your industry, just like there are many who've quit while also holding down alot of other stressful jobs (police, teachers, firemen, social workers, sales reps etc.) and some of those are also associated with regular after-work socializing and drinking. Really, though, the job itself isn't the issue, right? (I've only seen one peron on the boards who actually had to drink at work, "professionalwino" because tasting was his chosen profession. The rest of us drank outside of our work hours or on-the-sly while on the clock.)

Can I put it another way? The question isn't so much "can it be done?" as "Am I willing to do it?" The answer to both can be yes, or it may be that you decide that you won't be able to manage sobriety while still attached to that type of work. Whatever proves to be true, you'll know when you're ready to try and answer the question for yourself. Often, we seem to have to experience something awful, or really frightening, but I hope that you don't have to hit that wall before making a decision. Good luck to you. I think it's great that you're thinking about this at 25, and wish that I'd had the sense to do the same.

[cymru]

anyone in the service industry?

I have worked in restaurants all my life (I was born in one!), and have had a love/hate relationship with them regarding alcohol.
I t has always been me that the problem lies with, not the restaurant. If im in the frame of mind that I dont want to drink, then working there is fine, but if im drinking, then the restaurant is something I can manipulate so that I can drink.
I have been at manager level for the last 10 yrs or so, so actually getting hold of drink for me is easy. 'Im going downstairs to do a stock take' 'Ill be up in the office' 'You all go on a break, ill hold the fort'. This gave me licence to drink. I could open a bottle of wine or slip some vodka into my coke and no one would know. Inevitably though, this has led to me leaving several jobs, because I was unable to perform to the standard required.
But when I have not wanted to drink, I have had the best yrs of my life working in catering. It is at the end of the day what I enjoy doing. I get a great buzz from it, and worked for 5 yr sober in a restaurant and enjoyed every minute. The alcohol there didnt bother me one bit.
So, for me anyway, it all depends where my heads at. My alcoholism really does dictate my lifestyle in every department, and if my mindset is drinking, I will get alcohol, working in a restaurant or not. Its just easier to justify it when your with ppl around it.