Tweet
Hi, Guys and Gals.
I have a problem at work that I would like to discuss. Unfortunately I am not able to give too many details at this time, but I would like your feedback.
About eight years ago I started working as a private contractor for this company and everything was fine.
Approximately two years ago the branch manager's niece, who had a low level part-time supervisory role in the company, as well as a substance abuse problem, was caught stealing by managers from the corporate office. She was summarily fired by corporate management, yet the branch manager, who has a thirty year personal relationship with the corporate owners was left untouched.
My problems began when corporate management replaced the calm and competent substance abusing supervisor, with a contractor from among the ranks of the workers.
The new part-time supervisor, a forty-something year-old who I will call Michael, has worked for this company since 1991 and is a bona fide emotionally disturbed person, with a looong list of personality disorders.
During my first weeks with the company I learned there was something very wrong with Michael when an eighteen year-old female customer informed me she and her sixteen year-old sister were subjected to inappropriate sexual comments made to them by Michael. This customer informed me that after dealing with Michael she took a long shower in an attempt to clean off the filth she was subjected to....and still felt dirty after bathing.
Over the next five years I listened to countless customers describe their experiences and observations of Michael, which included:
1) Referring to customers (in the presence of other customers) as Jews, niggers, gooks and spics. As well as making other totally inappropriate ethnic slurs or racist remarks.
2) Making inappropriate sexual comments, or asking sexually related questions of female customers whose ages range from fourteen years-old to sixty-years old.
3) Stealing from customers by overcharging them for the service we provide.
One customer, a sixty-something year-old woman told me about the time she was alone with Michael and he asked her if she wanted to make-out with him. When I questioned the veracity of her allegation she became upset with me and told me not to accuse her of lying.
Several other female customers, whose ages range from fourteen years old to fifty years-old told me that when they were alone with Michael he made comments to them about their "titties."
One woman even told me Micheal asked her if he could see and touch her breasts. Again, when I questioned the veracity of her allegation this woman became upset with me and told me not to accuse her of lying.
The list of complaints about Micheal goes on and on. I asked these customers if they called the company and made a complaint against Michael. Some informed they did call the company and some said they did not bother complaining to management about Michael's egregious conduct.
Even though I knew Michael's behavior was effecting the business and the way some people viewed me, I kept my mouth shut because it was blatantly obvious that branch management, as well as corporate management were aware of Michael's behavior, yet they were willing to ignore the numerous complaints lodged against him.
During the first year I worked for this company, and after listening to countless complaints about Michael, I decided I did not want anything to do with this sick person. When he attempted to talk to me I would walk away from him because I did not want our customers thinking I was friends with this EDP. He did not get the hint, so one day during my first year with the company, I told him straight to his face that I think he is a sick man and I would appreciate it if he stayed away from me.
He did not seem fazed by my comment to him but he did stay away from me.
Then, four years later when the company made him my supervisor for three days of my work week, I figured Michael would retaliate and I would have to find another job. I was wrong. Though this is when the real nightmare began.
One day, a customer who grew up and went to elementary school with Michael approached me and while laughing his butt off asked me who the lunatic is that put Michael in charge of the business. This customer informed me that Michael was a sick kid in elementary school and he has gotten worse over the years.
The customer stated that Michael was the kind of person that did not know when to keep his mouth shut and that even when he was being beaten up for shooting his mouth off, he would antagonize his assailant(s) by saying things like, "what's the matter with you, you can't hit me any harder?"
During his first week as supervisor Michael asserted his new-found authority by placing his sickness on display for all to see. He started by yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs at workers and customers who did not follow his instructions to the T. He made comments intended to demean and humiliate both customers and workers.
I personally witnessed him screaming at customers who have difficulty with the English language by admonishing them to, "speak English, you dumb f#$k."
He talks to many of his subordinates in the same manner. Though there are a few workers that Michael does not treat harshly. When I asked these workers why he does not demean and berate them as badly as he does others, I was told they approached Michael and threatened him with bodily harm if he continues..that is not my style. I consider myself a peaceful, law-abiding citizen.
Honestly, I like the type of work I do and felt that I should not have to leave this company and start over with a new company. So I hung in with this company, confident that Michael would not last long. Again, I was wrong.
Finally, after eighteen months of being abused and listening to countless customers relate their stories of abuse at the hands of Michael, I went to my branch manager and made a simple request. I asked the manager if he would please tell Michael to show me the same respect that he shows the managers in the company.
About two weeks later the branch manager approaches me and says he did not want to cause problems for me by mentioning my name, but he did ask Michael to be more respectful toward his subordinates. Unfortunately, nothing changed, even though the manager has access to three video cameras and one microphone that captures and memorializes onto DVD, Michael's work area.
That same year, during the Christmas holiday, after listening to countless customer complaints and watching Michael talk to customers as if they were morons, I finally flipped out. I went into the managers office and at the top of my LUNGS told him that Michael is a sexual predator, racist and thief....and I was going to the corporate office to report his conduct.
A few days later I went to the company's corporate office and had a sit down with the president of the company. This is when I learned why Michael was able to get away with his sickening immoral and illegal conduct.
After presenting the president with evidence that included secretly taped conversations of women, teens and others describing in their own words Michael's conduct, the president looked me in the eye and said, "You don't expect me to fire a much respected veteran of XXXXX XXXXX, do you?"
It was at this time that I realized the stories and rumors about the president's history with the company were probably true.
One story is that when he was a manager with the company, without sufficient provocation, he punched out a worker and intimidated another worker who witnessed the assault into keeping her mouth shut.
Another former worker related to me a story about how he witnessed the president, then manager, berate and make fun of a company supervisor who was living with a severe physical handicap.
As this meeting with the president "progressed" it became more obvious to me the president was almost as disturbed as the man I came to complain about.
During this meeting the president listened to three teenage girls describe Michael commenting about one of their fifteen year-old freind's "titties."
The president became upset with me and questioned the legality of the recording, as well as the character of the fifteen year-old children who described their encounter with Michael, a forty-plus year-old man.
After this meeting I returned home and about one hour later I received a call from my branch manager who informed me the president would like to talk with me again.
The next morning I showed up for the meeting and was confronted by the president, a corporate manager and my branch manager.
During this meeting they all smiled at me while suggesting I was a bad guy for secretly collecting evidence of Michael's conduct. The president informed me he spoke with his attorney and did not want me recording customers because it may be an invasion of people's privacy.
I almost laughed in their faces at this one.
Here I am bringing them solid evidence that one of their employees is completely out of control and poses a major liability to the company, yet they ignore this evidence, and instead chose to chastise me for engaging in conduct that is perfectly legal in our state, as well as thirty seven other states.
During this meeting the president and managers assured me they would have a sit down with Michael and straighten him out. In order to gauge their sincerity I asked the president if he would stop by the local office (which is located about two miles from corporate HQ's) and review the office surveillance tapes to insure Michael was complying.
Again, I almost laughed in the president's face when he informed me he was much too busy securing million dollar deals and did not have the time to closely monitor Michael's conduct.
Think about it. Here is a guy that is so important and competent at his job that he negotiates million dollars deals, but the best he can do when hiring a supervisor is Michael??? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
During this meeting I asked the branch manager how many complaints a week he receives in relation to Michael. The manager looked me in the eye and replied, "none."
I smiled at him and with an incredulous tone to my voice asked, "you never received one complaint about Michael?" Again, he smiled at me and said he never received a complaint about Michael.
During this meeting I suggested that since they placed Michael on the payroll and gave him health insurance coverage, that maybe they should strongly suggest he see a mental health professional to help him with his problem.
Both the president and branch manager became visibly annoyed at me while saying there is no need to because there is nothing wrong with Michael.
During this meeting I asked the president and managers why they will not replace Michael. They stated they have no other workers who are qualified to replace him.
That is not true. This is where we come to the corporation's reason for keeping Michael in his low level supervisory role.
There are at least two other workers who competently perform Michael's duties when Michael is off. Due to the low pay scale offered for this position, neither of these two workers are willing to perform these duties on a full-time basis.
So the bottom line is these corporate managers are willing to ignore and exploit Michael's sick and predatory behavior in order to save five or six dollars an hour.
After this second meeting I show up for work and Michael comes out of his office and informs me that until further notice I am no longer working his shift...and that if I want to continue working there it will have to be on the days Michael is not supervising.
I have to tell you I was upset. Two of the shifts that Michael works are the best money making days of the week. I spent three years working Sundays before being permitted to change my days off to include Sunday. Now I am being forced to work Sundays once again so this company can continue to exploit this sick man.
The first thing I did was contact a customer who is just as annoyed with Michael's conduct as I am. She works for a labor attorney and gave me her employers phone number. The attorney informs me that I have rights under the whistle-blower law and that he would be glad to assist me in suing the company.
Frankly, I'd prefer to live without anymore drama so I changed my shift and now work for a wonderful man who is polite and respectful toward most everyone.
It's been over a year since I changed my shift and while I have suffered a financial loss, I no longer work for Michael. Though I still hear workers and customers complaining about him on a near daily basis.
I should mention that when Michael is not performing his duties as a supervisor he works in the same capacity as I do. The law requires that I be licensed by the local political jurisdiction and that I be of sound mind and good health. Rumor has it that Michael has been banned from most establishments that serve alcohol within a ten mile radius of where he resides.
In the last few weeks a competing company that provides the same service as mine has moved into the community. This competition is stressing out the managers in my company, but they still refuse to terminate Michael.
This past week I informed my branch manager that a regular customer, a business woman with a Masters Degree, was victimized by another contractor (not Michael) when he asked her what color panties she was wearing. This customer assured me she informed three different people in the manager's office of this encounter.
When I told the branch manager about this incident he informed he knows nothing about her complaint and he is too busy to take on any more work by investigating her complaint. And that unless she comes and makes her complaint directly to him he is going to do nothing about it. (stand-up man, huh?)
Here is my quandary. Like I said I try not to make waves and would prefer to remain below the radar. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....
I see this as an opportunity to publicly expose a corporation that intentionally created a hostile work and business environment by subjecting it's workers and customers to a very sick sexual predator, racist and thief.
I'm fairly certain my state's Human Rights Commission would be interested in my story and the evidence I collected to justify my concerns...and I am 100% confident if I report Michael's conduct to the political jurisdiction that licenses him, he will lose his license...as he should.
My problem is that I'm unsure of how to proceed.
Like I said, I enjoy my current job...but I really would like to teach a lesson to the unsavory characters who are exploiting this sick man in order to save a few dollars on a paycheck.
Folks, I assure you that I am not skewing any of the comments I have offered here. Excepting the eighteen year-old who claims Michael made her feel dirty, I have reliable evidence to support each and every claim I've made.
Any opinions?
I have a problem at work that I would like to discuss. Unfortunately I am not able to give too many details at this time, but I would like your feedback.
About eight years ago I started working as a private contractor for this company and everything was fine.
Approximately two years ago the branch manager's niece, who had a low level part-time supervisory role in the company, as well as a substance abuse problem, was caught stealing by managers from the corporate office. She was summarily fired by corporate management, yet the branch manager, who has a thirty year personal relationship with the corporate owners was left untouched.
My problems began when corporate management replaced the calm and competent substance abusing supervisor, with a contractor from among the ranks of the workers.
The new part-time supervisor, a forty-something year-old who I will call Michael, has worked for this company since 1991 and is a bona fide emotionally disturbed person, with a looong list of personality disorders.
During my first weeks with the company I learned there was something very wrong with Michael when an eighteen year-old female customer informed me she and her sixteen year-old sister were subjected to inappropriate sexual comments made to them by Michael. This customer informed me that after dealing with Michael she took a long shower in an attempt to clean off the filth she was subjected to....and still felt dirty after bathing.
Over the next five years I listened to countless customers describe their experiences and observations of Michael, which included:
1) Referring to customers (in the presence of other customers) as Jews, niggers, gooks and spics. As well as making other totally inappropriate ethnic slurs or racist remarks.
2) Making inappropriate sexual comments, or asking sexually related questions of female customers whose ages range from fourteen years-old to sixty-years old.
3) Stealing from customers by overcharging them for the service we provide.
One customer, a sixty-something year-old woman told me about the time she was alone with Michael and he asked her if she wanted to make-out with him. When I questioned the veracity of her allegation she became upset with me and told me not to accuse her of lying.
Several other female customers, whose ages range from fourteen years old to fifty years-old told me that when they were alone with Michael he made comments to them about their "titties."
One woman even told me Micheal asked her if he could see and touch her breasts. Again, when I questioned the veracity of her allegation this woman became upset with me and told me not to accuse her of lying.
The list of complaints about Micheal goes on and on. I asked these customers if they called the company and made a complaint against Michael. Some informed they did call the company and some said they did not bother complaining to management about Michael's egregious conduct.
Even though I knew Michael's behavior was effecting the business and the way some people viewed me, I kept my mouth shut because it was blatantly obvious that branch management, as well as corporate management were aware of Michael's behavior, yet they were willing to ignore the numerous complaints lodged against him.
During the first year I worked for this company, and after listening to countless complaints about Michael, I decided I did not want anything to do with this sick person. When he attempted to talk to me I would walk away from him because I did not want our customers thinking I was friends with this EDP. He did not get the hint, so one day during my first year with the company, I told him straight to his face that I think he is a sick man and I would appreciate it if he stayed away from me.
He did not seem fazed by my comment to him but he did stay away from me.
Then, four years later when the company made him my supervisor for three days of my work week, I figured Michael would retaliate and I would have to find another job. I was wrong. Though this is when the real nightmare began.
One day, a customer who grew up and went to elementary school with Michael approached me and while laughing his butt off asked me who the lunatic is that put Michael in charge of the business. This customer informed me that Michael was a sick kid in elementary school and he has gotten worse over the years.
The customer stated that Michael was the kind of person that did not know when to keep his mouth shut and that even when he was being beaten up for shooting his mouth off, he would antagonize his assailant(s) by saying things like, "what's the matter with you, you can't hit me any harder?"
During his first week as supervisor Michael asserted his new-found authority by placing his sickness on display for all to see. He started by yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs at workers and customers who did not follow his instructions to the T. He made comments intended to demean and humiliate both customers and workers.
I personally witnessed him screaming at customers who have difficulty with the English language by admonishing them to, "speak English, you dumb f#$k."
He talks to many of his subordinates in the same manner. Though there are a few workers that Michael does not treat harshly. When I asked these workers why he does not demean and berate them as badly as he does others, I was told they approached Michael and threatened him with bodily harm if he continues..that is not my style. I consider myself a peaceful, law-abiding citizen.
Honestly, I like the type of work I do and felt that I should not have to leave this company and start over with a new company. So I hung in with this company, confident that Michael would not last long. Again, I was wrong.
Finally, after eighteen months of being abused and listening to countless customers relate their stories of abuse at the hands of Michael, I went to my branch manager and made a simple request. I asked the manager if he would please tell Michael to show me the same respect that he shows the managers in the company.
About two weeks later the branch manager approaches me and says he did not want to cause problems for me by mentioning my name, but he did ask Michael to be more respectful toward his subordinates. Unfortunately, nothing changed, even though the manager has access to three video cameras and one microphone that captures and memorializes onto DVD, Michael's work area.
That same year, during the Christmas holiday, after listening to countless customer complaints and watching Michael talk to customers as if they were morons, I finally flipped out. I went into the managers office and at the top of my LUNGS told him that Michael is a sexual predator, racist and thief....and I was going to the corporate office to report his conduct.
A few days later I went to the company's corporate office and had a sit down with the president of the company. This is when I learned why Michael was able to get away with his sickening immoral and illegal conduct.
After presenting the president with evidence that included secretly taped conversations of women, teens and others describing in their own words Michael's conduct, the president looked me in the eye and said, "You don't expect me to fire a much respected veteran of XXXXX XXXXX, do you?"
It was at this time that I realized the stories and rumors about the president's history with the company were probably true.
One story is that when he was a manager with the company, without sufficient provocation, he punched out a worker and intimidated another worker who witnessed the assault into keeping her mouth shut.
Another former worker related to me a story about how he witnessed the president, then manager, berate and make fun of a company supervisor who was living with a severe physical handicap.
As this meeting with the president "progressed" it became more obvious to me the president was almost as disturbed as the man I came to complain about.
During this meeting the president listened to three teenage girls describe Michael commenting about one of their fifteen year-old freind's "titties."
The president became upset with me and questioned the legality of the recording, as well as the character of the fifteen year-old children who described their encounter with Michael, a forty-plus year-old man.
After this meeting I returned home and about one hour later I received a call from my branch manager who informed me the president would like to talk with me again.
The next morning I showed up for the meeting and was confronted by the president, a corporate manager and my branch manager.
During this meeting they all smiled at me while suggesting I was a bad guy for secretly collecting evidence of Michael's conduct. The president informed me he spoke with his attorney and did not want me recording customers because it may be an invasion of people's privacy.
I almost laughed in their faces at this one.
Here I am bringing them solid evidence that one of their employees is completely out of control and poses a major liability to the company, yet they ignore this evidence, and instead chose to chastise me for engaging in conduct that is perfectly legal in our state, as well as thirty seven other states.
During this meeting the president and managers assured me they would have a sit down with Michael and straighten him out. In order to gauge their sincerity I asked the president if he would stop by the local office (which is located about two miles from corporate HQ's) and review the office surveillance tapes to insure Michael was complying.
Again, I almost laughed in the president's face when he informed me he was much too busy securing million dollar deals and did not have the time to closely monitor Michael's conduct.
Think about it. Here is a guy that is so important and competent at his job that he negotiates million dollars deals, but the best he can do when hiring a supervisor is Michael??? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
During this meeting I asked the branch manager how many complaints a week he receives in relation to Michael. The manager looked me in the eye and replied, "none."
I smiled at him and with an incredulous tone to my voice asked, "you never received one complaint about Michael?" Again, he smiled at me and said he never received a complaint about Michael.
During this meeting I suggested that since they placed Michael on the payroll and gave him health insurance coverage, that maybe they should strongly suggest he see a mental health professional to help him with his problem.
Both the president and branch manager became visibly annoyed at me while saying there is no need to because there is nothing wrong with Michael.
During this meeting I asked the president and managers why they will not replace Michael. They stated they have no other workers who are qualified to replace him.
That is not true. This is where we come to the corporation's reason for keeping Michael in his low level supervisory role.
There are at least two other workers who competently perform Michael's duties when Michael is off. Due to the low pay scale offered for this position, neither of these two workers are willing to perform these duties on a full-time basis.
So the bottom line is these corporate managers are willing to ignore and exploit Michael's sick and predatory behavior in order to save five or six dollars an hour.
After this second meeting I show up for work and Michael comes out of his office and informs me that until further notice I am no longer working his shift...and that if I want to continue working there it will have to be on the days Michael is not supervising.
I have to tell you I was upset. Two of the shifts that Michael works are the best money making days of the week. I spent three years working Sundays before being permitted to change my days off to include Sunday. Now I am being forced to work Sundays once again so this company can continue to exploit this sick man.
The first thing I did was contact a customer who is just as annoyed with Michael's conduct as I am. She works for a labor attorney and gave me her employers phone number. The attorney informs me that I have rights under the whistle-blower law and that he would be glad to assist me in suing the company.
Frankly, I'd prefer to live without anymore drama so I changed my shift and now work for a wonderful man who is polite and respectful toward most everyone.
It's been over a year since I changed my shift and while I have suffered a financial loss, I no longer work for Michael. Though I still hear workers and customers complaining about him on a near daily basis.
I should mention that when Michael is not performing his duties as a supervisor he works in the same capacity as I do. The law requires that I be licensed by the local political jurisdiction and that I be of sound mind and good health. Rumor has it that Michael has been banned from most establishments that serve alcohol within a ten mile radius of where he resides.
In the last few weeks a competing company that provides the same service as mine has moved into the community. This competition is stressing out the managers in my company, but they still refuse to terminate Michael.
This past week I informed my branch manager that a regular customer, a business woman with a Masters Degree, was victimized by another contractor (not Michael) when he asked her what color panties she was wearing. This customer assured me she informed three different people in the manager's office of this encounter.
When I told the branch manager about this incident he informed he knows nothing about her complaint and he is too busy to take on any more work by investigating her complaint. And that unless she comes and makes her complaint directly to him he is going to do nothing about it. (stand-up man, huh?)
Here is my quandary. Like I said I try not to make waves and would prefer to remain below the radar. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.....
I see this as an opportunity to publicly expose a corporation that intentionally created a hostile work and business environment by subjecting it's workers and customers to a very sick sexual predator, racist and thief.
I'm fairly certain my state's Human Rights Commission would be interested in my story and the evidence I collected to justify my concerns...and I am 100% confident if I report Michael's conduct to the political jurisdiction that licenses him, he will lose his license...as he should.
My problem is that I'm unsure of how to proceed.
Like I said, I enjoy my current job...but I really would like to teach a lesson to the unsavory characters who are exploiting this sick man in order to save a few dollars on a paycheck.
Folks, I assure you that I am not skewing any of the comments I have offered here. Excepting the eighteen year-old who claims Michael made her feel dirty, I have reliable evidence to support each and every claim I've made.
Any opinions?
up on so many levels.
Comment