The Winning Hand: West End Times Article - November 21, 2009
Don’t think that for one second that when you’re in a different zone and all you’re thinking about is gambling, that you are not affecting your day to day job and how people see you.
I will always go back to the basic premise that the vast majority of gamblers lose money and that the vast majority of those people are not happy people when they lose money.
Be it tens of dollars, hundreds, or thousands, it is all relative.
Dr Pavlov once said that within 10 to 12 minutes of a person waking in the morning, their mood is pretty much set for the day. That was said many years ago and it still holds true today.
Simply speaking, when your coworker in the cubicle next to you had a bad night the night before at the local Brasserie playing VLT machines, it is clearly written all over their face when they show up to work the next morning. Sadness, grief, remorse, irritability, anger, guilt all exude as they try to work the day as best they can.
Companies have seen theft at the workplace, lying, cheating, forged checks, company credit cards have been known to be used for online gambling by people in the finance department (who have access to these cards), employees calling in sick the morning after or the night before a losing spree.
A gambler’s judgement becomes awfully clouded when all they have on their mind is ‘When to gamble?’ ‘Where to gamble?’ ‘With whom should they go gambling?’ and ‘Where is the money going to come from?’ What scheme does a gambler come up with when they are preparing for their next devastating bout with Lady Luck?
Companies should try their damndest to spot employees who may be in trouble. Realizing, of course, that not every company is large enough to have its own Human Resources Department, small-time owners and/or managers can learn, and should learn, how to spot problems at the office and be able to refer these people for help.
The loss of productivity at the workplace as a result of gambling and gambling problems is massive (as is any addiction that spills over to the workplace). This is why education is so very important.
About Me
- Howard
- Having gone through the tunnel and made it out the other side, Howard Riback is a gambling survivor who has seen it all. After 25 years of gambling, Howard overcame his own addiction and is living proof that an addiction can be cured quickly and permanently. From his own despair, Riback built a new career as a counsellor to those who, like him, have reached bottom as pathological gamblers. But forget the white-coat approach. Howard’s experience led him to create a unique approach to treating compulsive gambling based on practical methods and proven results. The extent of theory in Howard’s methods can be summed up in his own words: “It takes a former addict to know an addict.” With a 97% success rate in helping his clients ovecome problem gambling for good, Howard is leading the way to a new paradigm. Howard has certificates in Problem Gambling, Prevention and Treatment of Youth Gambling as well and the list goes on. But his clients aren’t looking for someone with a formal education - they come to him for his proven track record. Visit www.theribackgroup.com for information on Howard’s services and seminars as well as videos and articles.