Episode 12 - Alcoholics Anonymous

[JulyDiaz 2797]

We get our first hangup and it's pretty rattling. Let us know what you think.

[NicholasArthurTallidis 247]

I actually imagined this exact scenario the other day. If I had to call from work (which, depending on the day, I could get away with), there would be a good chance I'd be summoned for a conversation or someone would come by my desk and need to talk. When I read that this was the hangup that they discussed on CBB the other day, I imagined the circumstances were much more tense. I got the feeling that this guy might have actually had something come up during the call, not that he got too uncomfortable to continue.

[Charcoal City 104]

I love the Catholic guilt Chris feels at the end

Typical Gethard.

 

I think the caller really had to do some work but I always give people the benefit of the doubt.

[ChrisCamp 0]

Listening to this call, I honestly believed that the guy had to get off the phone at that moment. I didn't sense the uneasiness that Chris did at all. He seemed genuinely interested and engaged in the conversation up until that point. Did anyone else feel that way or am I off base?

 

Also, Hi I'm new to the forums! Woo!

[NicoleDuresky 0]

Hey Chris, you really can't claim 15 years sobriety and then talk about how you did molly at Bonnaroo in 2012. I am two years sober. My issue was alcohol. That doesn't mean I get to go out and smoke weed on the weekends and claim it's okay because I'm not a drug addict specifically. I'm sure it's super hard to admit, but your sober date is four years ago now.

 

I really love you and love the show. I've cried. I've re-listened to episodes. But that was a major turn-off. And potentially very damaging to other alcoholics out there listening.

[H.P.Hovercraft 119]

Someone please check on Chris, I think he took the end of that call very hard lol! I totally believe the caller when he says he was at work, you could hear people talking in the background as he was trying to get off the phone.

 

That said, not to start arguments in the forums, but to offer a differing opinion: everyone experiences addiction differently, as everyone will experience the recovery process differently. Maybe some former alcoholics/heroin addicts/meth abusers/etc can smoke pot on the weekends and consider themselves sober. Others don't consider themselves "clean" until they've kicked cigarettes and caffeine as well. I think it's important that people dealing with addiction be allowed to dictate the parameters of their sobriety (not, obviously, in the legal sense, but in the sense that they be given control over their own narratives). "Perfection is the enemy of progress", and someone who went from being a falldown drunk with a history of fist fights with his roommates might feel that just being the guy who gets a little stoned at barbeques is a far enough journey.

[NicholasArthurTallidis 247]

Hey Chris, you really can't claim 15 years sobriety and then talk about how you did molly at Bonnaroo in 2012. I am two years sober. My issue was alcohol. That doesn't mean I get to go out and smoke weed on the weekends and claim it's okay because I'm not a drug addict specifically. I'm sure it's super hard to admit, but your sober date is four years ago now.

 

I really love you and love the show. I've cried. I've re-listened to episodes. But that was a major turn-off. And potentially very damaging to other alcoholics out there listening.

 

If there's one thing not to take a high horse on, it is addiction and sobriety. A decade of sobriety is not flushed down the toilet because of a one-off relapse. Maybe in the fucked up world of AA/NA, but for the human body, brain, and spirit one can be "imperfectly sober". The black and white terms you're presenting have only shown to keep addicts in the spiral. Commend them for their overarching achievements rather than harping on the blemishes. Sobriety is not a date or a coin, it is an approach.

[Kickpuncher 5012]

If I had to call from work (which, depending on the day, I could get away with), there would be a good chance I'd be summoned for a conversation or someone would come by my desk and need to talk. When I read that this was the hangup that they discussed on CBB the other day, I imagined the circumstances were much more tense. I got the feeling that this guy might have actually had something come up during the call, not that he got too uncomfortable to continue.

 

Agree 100%. I was expecting the caller to sound clearly uncomfortable or even angry and for the "hang-up" to be a lot more abrupt. If he made up the boss story, he was nice about it and I doubt he could/would have handled it that courteously and smoothly if he had really been rattled.

[TimKrol 0]

As a recovering catholic, I have to agree with the observations everyone else already made-- Chris you manage to be charming at the same time, but I too was scratching my head about your chagrined reaction to the so-called "hang-up."

 

Why not do the obvious? Invite him to call back to pick up where you left off!! [Anonymously of course, wink wink]

 

Great show, and thanks for making it!