Lady would not quit talking about alcohol

Hey guys, I've been 5 months sober from alcohol/drugs and things have been going super good. I had my first day at the job training which was a big step (I have severe job anxiety), but the training lady WOULD NOT quit talking about alcohol and all the fun it is! She talked about it so much at one point that I felt it necessary to let her know that I am a recovering addict and that it's only been 5 months. She continued to talk about it, mentioned she should be more considerate, then IMMEDIATELY talked about joints, and more alcohol talk! I honestly can't believe how unprofessional this was. This was not even in a setting where alcohol/drugs should come up (training session at work) yet 60% of the things out of her mouth were about them! Sorry for the rant but I'm sure you know how these things go and I just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for reading. I also don't plan on relapsing anytime soon but dang she for sure did not help lol

Congratulations on your sobriety. Sucks about your co-worker. Is she a manager or just someone whose training you? Do you have to work with her pretty often?

I work at a restaurant and tell people I don't drink. My employees talk nonstop about smoking weed which was my drug of choice. I usually just shush my mouth and find something else to do, reminisce briefly, or share a story where I was a train wreck, which makes them laugh but also emphasizes why I do not drink/smoke. They tend not to talk to me about it. They're savvy enough to talk to like-minded people unlike your colleague.

If she's not your manager and she keeps it up I'd take it up with HR.

- Phantogram

She's the trainer at the grocery store so she trains all new people. I won't have to deal with her on a regular basis. The reason I had to rant is mainly because of two things: 1. it is completely unprofessional to discuss that with brand-new employee's during TRAINING and 2. I mentioned my sobriety and she continued to talk about it. I know most people don't understand what it feels like to be a recovering addict, so I'm not too angry with her because she really doesn't understand what it means when an addict mentions they are sober in response to them talking about alcohol/drugs.

It's possible that she is becoming an addict herself if that's all she can talk about . She was also insensitive and unprofessional . It's not easy to complain about people when you are brand new but I would consider it .

Yeah that's also a thought that was came to my mind about her possibly being an addict/becoming one. I know that's all I could talk about when I was drinking/using. I think that I won't complain because I know I can handle someone talking about it. Hopefully if she does have a problem, I might be of some help to her if she comes to me for advice if she decides to get sober. I'd rather not burn a bridge with someone if I can help it!

Congratulations man on your sobriety. 5 months is absolutely awesome! You should hold your head up very high having made it that far. We know so many don't come close. I'm only 20 days fully sober and clean but it's truly a new beginning. I can't explain it, but something just clicked big time. Maybe you felt the same, but it's like I just don't have any choice but to be 100% sober. That's all I desire now. I just do not desire the alcohol and drugs anymore and that's such a new and weird feeling - truly a fantastic feeling!!!! Maybe it's my higher power but I'm rambling now.

Yeah that's a very, very weird situation even for non-addicts to experience I would think. As I was reading your description, I immediately thought two things: 1.) she is definitely an addict just not honest with herself yet and, 2.) she is probably bipolar and was hypomanic there. Her strong compulsion to talk about such an unusual, inappropriate subject for that setting, how passionate she seemed to be, and how much she had to keep talking about it are huge red flags for hypomania. I've been there many times so I know it when I see it.

If that's the case she's probably doomed because she's not really in control of herself right now. If you literally told her your situation and yet she still kept going, that's not being in control really. Barring something miraculous, or unless someone she trusts clues her in, this is probably not going to end well for her. That's just extremely inappropriate behavior for that environment. You were right to bring your situation to her attention and she should have totally shut the hell up at that point but she didn't. Very weird but very hypomanic-like.