Sunday, January 30, 2011

Major drama on a Sunday

Ok when I say major drama I mean it, and I'm not even kidding. Well job two is definitely gonna be an adventure. I noticed one of the guys just wasn't right, slurring his words, a bit of a stagger in his step, his eyes seemed to be looking at something in California.

He came out onto the front porch smoking a cigarette, it was half gone when he came out so I asked why he was smoking in the house, a major no no. His response was don't worry about it it's no big deal (not being able to type his slurred speech doesn't give this justice). He then puts out his cigarette and staggers into his room. My jaw dropped, head tilted to one side in amazement. I looked at a friend who stopped over to see my other roommate, he looked at me, and I saw all that I needed to see.

I followed him into his room to confront the situation and asked him what he was on. His response was I'm not on anything then the scent of a drunks breath filled my nostril. I promptly asked what he had been drinking and he of course responded that he was sober. I walked away and got my test kit out. We do a saliva test. I handed him a paper cup and told him to spit in it, swearing he was not drunk he complied. I tested the saliva and he was two times the legal limit to drive, but still swears he has been sober six months. Now he is screaming and cursing, getting very belligerent, he calls his mom and asked her for some reason to talk to me. I take the phone and she asked how much has he drank immediately.

Well at this point I now have the owner there for backup as well as two other people and I sit down with him and explain in a very soft tone of voice that he needs to go to detox. He starts screaming, not understanding why, refusing to go. One of the other guys tries to reason with him and he jumps up like he is gonna hit him, oooops mistake, the roommate gave him a little shove and he went to the ground. At this point he no longer wants to fight with him anymore, he now turns his attention to me. Calling me every four letter word he could think of, still swearing he was sober, wishing I would stop picking on him. He then decides that he doesn't like either choice (detox or just leave) so I step out to call the police. As I walk through the door I tell him even his mom knew from three words he was drunk and that's when he decided he wanted to fight me. I stepped into the yard because I have been trained to get someone into an open space when they want to go nuts, this gives the best chance for no one to get hurt if it does come to an altercation. He moved toward me and I push on his chest with my left hand, right hand now clinching into a fist just in case. I think he saw that because he backed down just as fast as he came forward.

At this point I have officially lost my patients for this freaking guy so I call the cops. They show up two deep and that's when I get a lesson in halfway house 101. To legally kick him out we need the same license that a hotel would have, and we don't. The cops realize what we are doing there and support us as far as they can. They even convince him that he does have to leave. He walks away, they drive away, then he comes back.

At this point I am as mad as a midget with a yoyo. I call the cops back because he is trying to force his was back in the house. His key won't work because we changed the locks pretty quick. My roommate tries to go outside and reason with him, but you can't reason with an unreasonable person. This time when the cops come back there are three of them. They very patiently tried to get him to do something that would get him arrested or baker acted, but to no avail. He is in the front yard screaming that he did nothing wrong.

Cops couldn't make him leave, reasoning couldn't make him leave.....I had a bright idea, how about trickery?????

I walk out to him and the cops, interrupt and announce that if he will go to carp detox, have them test him, if he is clean and sober I would pay for a months rent for him out of my pocket. Now this made him think he was even more right, and he agreed.

I know addiction is the same no matter what the persons drug of choice is, because the substance isn't that persons problem, it's their solution (as crappy of a solution as it is). But I will say this, I will take a crack head over a drunk any day. The crackhead might take the tv with him, but when he goes he never comes back. Drunks believe no one is smart enough to figure them out, therefore they can sneak around people who know better and get away with something.

Uuuuuuuuggggghhhhhhhhhhhh! Well that's it for now, I need to research this hotel license thing. (deep sigh) ok everyone, let's make it a great day!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

6 comments:

  1. Sounds delightful. I was an enabler to my former husband (killed at 30 in a car accident), my son (pot, meth --- ), and my darling SIL died from opioids. He was also an alcoholic who became the meanest SOB you'd ever want to meet when he was drinking. Sober? You couldn't have asked for a more kinder, give you the shirt off your back kind of guy. I loved him like a son. I thank you for the hard work you're doing and hope your week gets a lot less stressful!!!
    ~~~Blessings~~~

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  2. I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Looks like you're handling it the best you can. Just wish you didn't have to experience that crap. HUGS.

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  3. life in a halfway house, obviously, that is not where this guy belongs, deal with it, one day at a time.

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  4. Just doing your job. Keep up the good work and good attitude...

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  5. From what I read, you did a great job in addressing the situation. Congratulations.

    Keep up the good work, Chuck - one day at a time.

    JJ

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