Had a surprising turn of events with a "tweaker" today...

I work for a local NDE company and needed to hire an assistant radiographer (industrial x-ray). Well, a former employee got word and contacted our office. Now, when he worked for us before, he was a hard worker. But, he had some addiction issues.

That's not even why we let him go, though, to be honest. Work just died down at the time. So, based on his old work practices and the fact that he told us he had been to rehab and was in recovery, we decided to give him another shot. He was supposed to come in on Monday to start the hire-in process. But, he called me today to tell me he wouldn't be taking the job after all.

My immediate thought was "Well, you just blew this bridge up " I was aggravated, to say the least. Been in contact with him for 3 weeks (allowing him to give notice to his other job) and now he's going to bail 2 days before?

But, then he started telling me why. He's been in a sober-living facility in Baton Rouge. He's joined a church and has family there. A support system. A strong one.

Here, he'd be on his own. He's young and impulsive. He'd be making a good amount of money. With no one to answer to. No one to guide him. No one to tell him when he's making a bad decision. And, he's smart enough to know he's not ready for that yet.

He apologized profusely. I couldn't be mad at him. Hell,I was kind of proud of him and told him so. Also told him that, when he thinks he is ready, and IF we have the work, call us back and we'll see if we can help him out then.