A-1 Recovery Solutions

Getting sober and staying sober is rarely easy, but Nathan feels that he is on a roll. Two months into recovery, and he has not had a sip of alcohol. Better yet is the fact that he is actively working on sobriety, which is better than simple abstinence. “Dry drunk,” is how his AA peers put it.  

This morning, the menu of Progress and not Perfection entails going to another job interview. And for the first time in two months, he wants a drink to quiet his nerves. 

“I miss the bitch. She was trying to kill me, but boy do I miss the bitch sometimes,” he muses. “Gotta keep moving.” 

Day after day, he fine tunes his resume, like a roadie with a guitar who will never see the stage himself. The job market seems good enough, but he has a hard tom latching on to any recruiter’s fancy. Is it timing? Bad luck? He doesn’t know, but an old-fashioned interview in person is a promising start.  

“Next stop—Fourth and Larabee.”  

Shit. Nathan has missed his bus stop thanks to his overthinking the interview. Overthinking his choice of clothes. Overthinking everything, including his purpose. He manages to get off on the next stop, and he doubles back in the direction of his would-be employer, an office supply operation in the vein of Kinko’s. Does he really want to work at A-1 Business Solutions? It is better than being out of work, and his money will only hold him for another month. Plus, the routine of a job is good for his mental health and burgeoning sobriety. 

He passes a liquor store on the way to A-1. “This would have been convenient back in the day,” he thought. Nathan liked to think that he was quite adept at keeping a maintenance level buzz throughout the day, without getting caught. Cough drops, hand sanitizer, and cigarettes kept him in the clear with co-workers and bosses. And if someone did smell booze on him? Simple--”I tied one on last night; you’re just smelling me ‘pore out’ today, haha.”  

He keeps walking, as he has too much to lose. If he wiffs on this job opportunity, he isn’t sure how many he has left in tiny Fairhaven, WA. There are plenty of restaurant jobs, and Nathan cut his teeth in the business. For 15 years, he served, cooked, greeted, and tended customers in one form or another. He wants to stay away from that life for now, however. There are too many heavy drinkers in the business. And even if he is wrong with that conjecture, the nature of the work will make him want to imbibe anyway. The cherry on top is that it is painfully easy to hide drinking on the job in the aromatic service industry.  

He arrives at the front door of the office supply store, and he is glad that he left early. His public transit miscue didn’t set him back much, time-wise. He is early in fact.  

“Hey there, what can I help you with, today?” says Kristin, the friendly front end clerk. Her smile is welcoming, and she has a way of putting Nathan at ease, even though she is simply doing her job. “I’m here for a 10 o’clock interview with Gerald,” he says. Her smile doesn’t turn to a smirk like he expects it to. Even before you’re hired, there seems to be hazing of some sort. At least in his experience. It is almost as if the existing employee feels threatened by your presence.  

“Sure thing, he’s expecting you! I’ll go get him for you,” she says, exuding impossibly good vibes. Nathan starts to get ahead of himself like he always does, and he pictures himself working at A-1, side by side with Kristin, enjoying the 9-5 monotony. He wonders if she is single, or if there is a policy of dating co-workers at the business.  

“Mr. Puckett?” Gerald’s booming voice and firm handshake snaps Nathan out of his trance. “Hi there, glad you could make it in. Shall we head to my office?”  

Nathan smiles and agrees in his most assured tone of voice. They head back to the bowels of the office space, which is bigger than it looks from the outside. Gerald offers something to drink, but Nathan declines. They settle into the interview.  

“So, it looks like you haven’t worked in a few months. What can you tell me about that?” 

Nathan considers his response carefully. He has been out of work due to drinking himself out of his last job as a copywriter. He wasn’t fired for his ill-advised libations directly; he just quit showing up to work because of hangovers. And the cure for hangovers, which for him was to continue drinking.  

“Yes sir, I feel like the last job had run its course,” he begins, hoping that the potential new boss doesn’t hear his voice shaking. “I had been there for five years, and I think that I had hit a glass ceiling. I like to be challenged with something new. And with my computer skills and--” 

“Stop right there,” says Gerald, smiling. “You want to jump into a new experience; you don’t like being burnt out.”  

“Exactly.”  

Gerald reclines in his chair and spins a yarn about how he was in the same boat when he started working at A-1. How he started from the bottom, worked hard, didn’t feel pressure to succeed. “I wanted to take on more work, though. That’s the beauty of this job—you can move up to corporate if you want to. It’s not like being an astronaut or a cowboy, we are compensated nicely, and it is a steady career.” 

Strained simile aside, this is just what Nathan wants to hear. Something simple and lucrative; a career but not a time-consuming ‘raison d’etre.’ All of his previous jobs wanted him to be career-minded, even the crappy restaurant ones. He appreciates the refreshing honesty of Gerald Walker and A-1 Business Solutions. What it lacks in nomenclature creativity, it more than makes up for it with refreshing honesty and fair pay. Or so it would seem. 

“There’s just one thing,” says Gerald. “Do you think your sobriety is going to stick this time?” 

What the...? How did he know about that? To whom did he talk to?  

Nathan doesn’t remember letting anything slip to anyone, but that isn’t saying much given all of the blackouts he was having. The wreckage of his past follows him yet again.  

“Relax, buddy. Take a raincheck on the cold sweat you’re breaking into,” says Gerald. “I saw your thirty day chip fall out of your pocket when you took your hand out to greet me. I have three years in recovery!” He hands him his chip back.  

Nathan is beyond relieved. Not only are his prospects for the job intact, but he also feels that he may have found an ally. A support system to go along with a decent job. Gerald asks a few questions about his journey.  

“You can rest knowing that this job will actually help me in staying sober. It offers a consistent routine, and now I have you to chat with about things in my progress!”  

Gerald ponders this for a moment, purses his lips, and spins his chair to look out the window. Nathan feels that he jumped the gun on celebrating this recent development.  

Just be the eager, reiliable employee, dumbass. Gerald isn’t looking for a sponsee!  

The voice in his head continues to berate him, and Gerald speaks up.  

“Nathan, it wasn’t just the chip falling out,” he says. “I used to wait tables at The Factory, about six months back. I figured I could use some extra cash, and I had the time.” Nathan begins to feel sick to his stomach, and he wonders what time the liquor store down the street opens.  

“I had to 86 you.”  

Nathan averts his eyes; stares at the floor. He takes a deep breath. “Sir, I--” 

“No, you don’t have to explain or apologize. But it takes one to know one, and you were on the same dark path I was years and years ago. I’ve been in your shoes. I just find it fortunate that our paths have crossed again.” 

There is a long pause, and for a moment Nathan is regretful that he was so quick to decide on going to the liquor store if this interview bottomed out.  

“I tell ya what—you have the job. And I’m here for any support you may need. But I’m not going to make you go to meetings with me. You seem to have your own good path at the moment, and I don’t want you feeling like you have to do extra sobriety work with me to keep your job.” 

“I...I don’t know what to say, other than thank you so much,” says Nathan.  

They both stand up, shake hands, and Gerald adds: “it is all about progress, not perfection. You’ll find that I espouse this philosophy with the office work as well as personal recovery work.”  

Nathan smiles and makes his way to the door to grab his new hire paperwork. He walks to his bus stop, past the liquor store, and takes a deep breath. The shiny bottles of vodka and tequila no longer seem like siren songs. He feels more and more like he is looking at a faded picture of an ex-girlfriend.  

“I miss the bitch. She was trying to kill me, but boy do I miss the bitch sometimes.  

Now is not one of those times."  

Perhaps staying sober will be easier than he thought.