These work memories are from times when I was filling in as General Manager at the New York Center. There are two stories that involved the police.
The first story was during my first time filling in at the New York center. The previous manager had been transferred to a new center being built in the State of Oregon. I was in the manager’s office when I decided to get rid of anything that would not be needed by a new manager. As I went through the drawers I would evaluate everything I found and tossed out anything that would not be needed by a new manager.
The cabinet behind the desk was where I found a small plastic object that had a chain on it. The chain was large enough that one could wear it around their neck. I thought it might have had ear plugs in side and I tried to get it open. I squeezed it and twisted on it several times but it would not open. Finally I gave up and continued through the drawers.
One of the office ladies called me and said the police are here. I said ok, and I went out to greet them. They were responding to a holdup alarm called in by our alarm company. I said I didn’t know of any hold up taking place, and then I thought of the item which I thought was a carrier for ear plugs. I showed the police and explained. They asked why I had pushed the button twice, I explained that I didn’t know it was an alarm button. I think they thought people from Texas (me) were stupid!
Yes we had one of these in Texas but it was square, and bigger, with a chain.
I was glad the police responded quickly.
Another time the police were called to the New York center.
There had been an incident in the center were one person pushed another. The fellow that was pushed came in and told me his story. I called the other fellow in and he told me his version. In fact he had pushed the other fellow. I, following company policy called HR and relayed the incident to them. They said they would consider and get back to me. HR had to review and then get approvals from higher ups in the company.
As I was waiting for the decision to terminate, which I knew was coming, a person from out in the center called me and said, the fellow that had pushed the other person is telling everyone that you better have the police here if you are going to try and fire him.
I again called HR and passed that info on.
It wasn’t too long when I got the call from HR to terminate and they said get the police to be there when you terminate. I called the police and told them what was going on. They sent an officer over that was built like a walking mountain. The officer said he didn’t have a lot of time. I called the employee in to the manager’s office. The officer walked over to him and said this man has something to tell you, be quite and listen. The officer turned to me and said go ahead. I explained to the employee that he was being terminated and that we would send him the paper work in the mail. I explained that he was not to return to company property without calling and receiving approval.
The officer walked over to the person and got in his face saying, do you understand what he has told you? The response was, yes sir. The officer asked, am I going to have to come back here? The response was no sir. The terminated employee cleaned out his locker and left the property.
There is a little more to this story. After the termination I called the other person in to the office and we talked. I explained that I knew what he had done and it better never happen again. He knew what I was saying and he did not have a response.
The inside scoop to this story, the fellow that was pushed knew what he was doing. He said the right things to get under the other fellow skin, assuming that he would push or hit him, and then he could report it and get the fellow fired.
Even though I knew how this had happened, the one fellow had assaulted the other, and that is an offence for termination.
Don Ford
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