“I Walked in 6’8″, I Walked Out 4’6” – AA Speaker – Steve B.
AA speaker Steve B. shares his story of walking into a 7-Eleven to make amends with the clerk he’d wronged, and how Step 9 transformed his relationships and opened his heart to forgiveness.
Steve B. walks into a 7-Eleven to face someone he’d hurt while drinking — and the amends he makes there becomes one of the pivotal moments of his early sobriety. In this AA speaker tape, he describes how the simple act of saying “I’m sorry” transformed a stranger into a real relationship, and how that willingness to make things right rippled through the rest of his life.
AA speaker Steve B. shares his experience making amends at a 7-Eleven, where a simple apology to the clerk transformed their relationship from a transactional one into a genuine connection. He illustrates how working Step 9 taught him that making amends isn’t just about words — it’s about becoming the kind of person worth knowing. Steve emphasizes that the program gives us the chance to repair broken relationships with family and others we’ve harmed, and that willingness to do the work opens doors no amount of drinking ever could.
Episode Summary
Steve B. tells a story that cuts straight to the heart of what Step 9 actually does — and it starts at a 7-Eleven. Early in his sobriety, he realizes he needs to make an amend to the clerk there, a man he’d treated badly while drinking. His sponsor doesn’t give him a choice: work Step 9 or die. So Steve walks back into that store, humbled and nervous, ready to apologize.
When he faces the clerk, his whole demeanor has shifted. He’s not the loud, obnoxious drunk who used to come in anymore. He’s a man who’s actually trying to change. He apologizes for what he said and how he said it. The clerk’s response is simple: “That’s all right. Don’t worry about it.”
But here’s what Steve understands about the amends process that a lot of people miss: it wasn’t really about getting forgiven or being let off the hook. By making that amend, he transformed what had been a purely transactional relationship — a guy buying coffee from a guy who worked there — into an actual human connection. The clerk’s name was Sam. Suddenly Sam wasn’t just “the guy at the 7-Eleven” anymore. He was Sam. Steve had given Sam dignity by owning his behavior.
Steve then shifts to a deeper story about his father, the greatest man he’d ever met, who died during his first year in the program. When his father was alive, Steve couldn’t make an amend — he didn’t have the capacity for that kind of honesty and vulnerability yet. But later, when Steve encountered another man in a hospital who looked just like his father, he was able to make that amend through that person. This is what working the steps does: it changes you so that you can repair not just the relationships you still have access to, but even the broken parts of yourself that never got healed.
Steve closes with a powerful reminder about the impact of this work. He acknowledges that not everyone’s children come back, and not every relationship is repaired. But the fellowship gives you a family when your biological family is shattered by your drinking. And if you really work the program, your real father — whether that’s your sponsor, your Higher Power, or the collective wisdom of the rooms — will never let you down.
This is an AA speaker tape for anyone wrestling with Step 9, anyone wondering if an apology is worth the vulnerability, or anyone who’s lost time with people they love and thinks it’s too late to do anything about it.
Notable Quotes
I walked out 6’8. I walk in 4’6.
I’m sorry for saying what I said the way I said it.
He was no longer just the guy that sold me my coffee at 7-Eleven. He was Sam because I was out of line. And I did what the program suggested.
If you give it to your daddy, I know guys whose kids still won’t talk to them and they have hundreds of sons and alcoholics and uncles and other mothers who have daughters, brothers who have sisters, uncles. This is a wonderful family to have and your father will never let you down if you’re really trying.
Topics Covered in This Transcript
- Steps 8 & 9 – Making Amends
- Humility
- Sponsorship
- Forgiveness
- Family & Relationships
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So, I go to church and the dirty rotten stinking pastor's telling something like a dirty rotten stinking a spitch. And I know I got to work the dirty rotten stinking tent step or die with a big fat liver out to here. He's going to be 24 hours I don't have.
Apologize. Give me 48 hours. It's your fault.
And I will die if I do not promptly. So, I drive back to that 7-Eleven. I walk in there.
You know, I walked out 6'8. I walk in 4'6. Lollipop kill.
The lollipop kill. You know, his eyes get big around. He goes, "Oh, crazy men back.
I must have done something very bad in previous life. Bad karma. And I walked up to him and I've said what I've said a million times in sobriety.
I'm sorry for saying what I said the way I said it. He said, "That's all right. Don't worry about it." Now, I used to go to that church.
I used to sit around with him. His name was Sam. Like his baby wife was having a baby every other day.
But we'd sit around and drink 7-Eleven coffee and scratch and lie to each other. And I had a relationship with Sam because I was an alcoholic who worked the dirty rotten stinking tentstep whether I wanted to or not. And one and one equals three.
He was no longer just the guy that sold me my coffee at 7-Eleven. He was Sam because I was out of line. And I did what the program suggested.
And my father died in my first year of sobriety. The greatest man I've ever met. And I could not care for it.
It was fun in that room. Care for him. And I I I didn't have the amend to make.
And I used to go to county general. One day there was a guy in there that looked just like my dad. And I was able to make that amend because one and one equals three.
I don't know what you're carrying and right, but if you give it to your daddy, I know guys whose kids still won't talk to them and they have hundreds of sons and alcoholics and uncles and other mothers who have daughters, brothers who have sisters, uncles. This is a wonderful family to have and your father will never let you down if you're really trying.