The Program of Suggestions and the Work We Have to Do – Tampa F.

About This Speaker Tape

A dining room chair slammed across his back, and the wood snapped. That was the moment Tampa F. stopped being the "mistake" his drunk lawyer father claimed he was. He spent years chasing a version of success that looked like a white Mercedes, a white ermine coat, and diamonds dripping off him "like a Dairy Queen." He climbed the ranks of the car business only to slide into the life of a loan shark, eventually getting kicked out of the "bad guys club" because he couldn't keep his mouth shut while drinking.

The bottom wasn't a crash, but a slow bleed: getting his car repoed in front of a whorehouse and passing out on a marble floor. After a nurse told him his only options were "more DTs and death," he finally stopped conning the counselors. Guided by a sponsor who told him the program doesn't work—we have to do the work—Tampa traded the flash and the cash for a Higher Power and a life where he no longer scares the people he loves.

Topics

Timestamps

• 0:00 Bobby B. opens with a joke about meeting attendance and a plea for newcomers to stay.
• 2:15 Recounts childhood trauma involving his father and an abusive uncle.
• 4:40 Describes his rise in the car business and his transition into loan sharking.
• 7:10 Laughter: Describes his 'Pillsbury Doughboy' phase with white suits and diamonds.
• 9:20 The low point: getting his Mercedes repoed from in front of a whorehouse.
• 12:30 Describes a near-death experience passing out on a marble floor and the warning from a nurse.
• 15:10 Recounts a violent argument with a partner and a failed suicide attempt.
• 18:45 The encounter with the old man in treatment who told him to 'sit down and shut up.'
• 21:10 Discusses his relationship with Nurse Marge and the necessity of surrender.
• 24:30 Mentions his current business and the reality of his current financial struggles.
• 27:15 Details his sponsorship with Paul D. and the '90 meetings in 90 days' struggle.
• 31:00 Closing thoughts on willingness and the importance of needing other people.