““Do
not get a job until you have completed step 5” Huh??! What??!!
Not heard that rule before? Well perhaps because it is not the
message of Alcoholics Anonymous. It is, however, the message of one
“happy” Dennis, the hyper-manic control freak of Ealing. (We put
the word happy in inverted comas because we feel it is inaccurate to
call him “happy” - mania and happiness are not the same thing.)
The advice he is dishing out to any newcomer who asks him for
sponsorship seems to be getting more and more wacko. According to our
witness he tells new sponsees that they cannot go to work until they
have completed step 5. In practice this is proving to be rather
dangerous and damaging advice. For example, any sponsee of his who is
in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance – a government benefit given to
those who are out of work on the condition that they look for work
and will accept a job if they are offered it – could find
themselves in serious trouble. In the strict world of welfare
benefits any failure to look for work, or to refuse work offered
while receiving Job Seekers Allowance, could result in suspension of
the benefit. But an unfortunate newcomer caught up in “happy”
Dennis’ mad world of sponsorship is not allowed to work until they
have completed Step 5. This means of course that they will be going
to the Job Centre with the intention of deceiving the government that
they are looking for work, whereas in fact they cannot have that
intention because they have been “ordered” by their lunatic
sponsor “happy” Dennis that they must not work until they have
completed Step 5. “I felt uncomfortable and dishonest” says
one (now working) ex-sponsee of “happy” Dennis. “I was going to
the Job Centre, but I was not really looking at the jobs. I had to
pretend. I was really scared I might get found out and lose my
benefit, and then end up homeless and without any money to live. I
rushed through Steps 4 and 5 as fast as I could just so I could feel
honest and start working again.”
We would
like to know where exactly in the Big Book - or any other approved
literature of Alcoholics Anonymous - does it say that we cannot work
or accept a job until we have completed Step 5. The literature does,
however, tell us that rushing through Steps 4 and 5 is not good
practice for long term recovery. Is it not a disgrace that newcomers
in the Ealing area are being forced to deceive the government by
behaving dishonestly, and with some threat to their financial
security, and moreover endangering their own future sobriety, in
order to abide by the insane, irresponsible and selfishly-invented
“rules” of one “happy” Dennis? AA has to operate within the
Law. The activities of “happy” Dennis of Ealing bring AA into
disrepute, and put vulnerable individuals at risk. “
Comment:
We only put a fraction of what we hear from the area on the site.
You simply would not believe what is going on in Ealing at the
moment! See our Cult: Where to Find (GB) for more details on the
cult meetings here (and elsewhere).
Cheers
The Fellas
(Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
PS. Our
usual thanks to our Ealing reporters.
