The most evil man I ever met (3-24-09)
My boss is off for the rest of the week. It started with today. The big boss gave her some time off because she has been under so much pressure of late. Its hard being a record store, or whats left of a chain of record stores these days but its even harder to be one when theres someone in the company who wields an amount of power that he uses unwisely. In this case I am talking about the son of the owner. On paper hes #2 in the chain of command and in real life hes just #2. Hes a bitter, insecure, narrow minded, selfish bully of a man who is in his fifties, but whose maturity level rivals that of his shoe size.
Hes always had his own little business on the side, drawing money from company funds and reaping the rewards of having a successful father. Hes made a few good decisions and a lot of bad ones over the years but hes always been right. When he isnt someone else will take the fall and he will move full scheme ahead to his next gamble all the while having a convenient safety net of family money to fall back on. On top of all that, hes one of the corniest people youve ever met, wears entirely too much cologne and is beyond dishonest. He wants to show off how smart he is and he says awful things like Im 58 but Im 6 foot tall when I stand on my wallet.
Now that Ive given you some background Ill tell you why there is a war inside the company. For as long as Ive been with the company hes been the buyer of merchandise for our internet operation and of course for his own. About 6 months ago he convinced his father that our company was selling everything wrong and that we were costing the company lots of money money that he could make for the company if he was enabled. So a decision was made. New merchandise stopped coming in for us but he was swimming in it. He was buying all the inventory that used to be for us and to top it all off, it was being stored in our building and we had to watch him sort it and listen to him brag about it. Meanwhile our part of the company began to scramble to stay alive with our primary source of inventory taken from us by a competitor inside the same company- does this make any sense?
During the last 6 months our sales figures have dropped, some people have been let go and morale is low. On the other side the son is beaming. He has so much wonderful stuff but its not enough. Hes always taking things from the building whether its our supplies or our overstock, because all that wonderful new stuff isnt enough. Whats enough? Well apparently his goal is to put our part of his fathers company out of business in the best interest of the company. If you ask me its in the best interest of his ego. Over the past few years weve listened less and less to his ideas and started to get downright sick of his obnoxiousness. We didnt give Fredo Corleone the respect he deserves and hes taken it oh so personal. Thus the underlying method to the madness.
A few months ago my boss went on a vacation for several days and I was in charge of our department as assistant manager. Of course something huge came up during this time where as a company some decisions needed to be made. Upon the sons offering to resolve the fate of our company I protested due to his desire to kill us off and his penchant for dishonesty. I voted for a different person to handle it. I was cursed out and hung up on speakerphone. Ten minutes later I went down the street to our corporate office where he was discussing the issue with the vice president of the company.
It may have been a mistake but another employee offered to go with me. Not knowing if I faced a wall of belligerence when I got there I welcomed another person to be there to help back me up and maybe even offer up an idea or two. Upon walking into the office he curses the both of us out and throws another insult our way after that. Hes reclined in a chair talking to the VP and acting like Mr. big shot. His father was away on vacation himself so he thinks hes running the company. I ignore the berating and begin to discuss the issue with the VP. Meanwhile he insults the guy who came with me again and again. The co-worker responds in kind and they go back and forth until the son asks you wanna go outside? At this point I restrain my co-worker and exit the building with him realizing that this is going nowhere but down. I felt like I restrained myself well and handled the matter professionally.
The next day I get a phony apology, a lecture about how he only wants whats good for the company and his resume because I might have forgotten who he was. At this point I told him I thought he was only out for himself, not trustworthy and that I didnt believe him whatsoever. The bottom line was he tried to have me fired even calling his father on vacation to ask permission but was denied. He has his part of the company and my boss has her part and they have no authority over the other persons employees, a fact that I bet really burns this guy up.
Now we finally fast forward to this afternoon.
With a company in decline you have to find short cuts. You have to find ways to get more for less and find whatever help you can to stay afloat. The very same co-worker from that day at the office has an aunt who owns her own business. At his request and her generosity she gives us boxes and packing supplies pretty often which I guess she doesnt need and that we really do.
Around 4pm our driver comes over to me and mentions that he just picked up some boxes and Styrofoam shipping peanuts but that a large bag of them that was there earlier this morning was no longer there. The aforementioned co-worker overhears and comes over. He actually took some of the peanuts from an open bag that was nearly empty and also saw the full large bag that was sitting there only a few hours before. It was simple math from there. It turned out that the son was still in the building. I asked aloud whether I should approach him and inquire about the whereabouts. I had a feeling this wouldnt be pleasant.
I walked over to him and asked him about it. To our surprise he replied theyre gone. He smiled and was happy to admit he took them. He proclaimed they were no w mine. I had to take a step back. I could not believe the depth of evil within this overgrown boy. He wasnt stealing from his father like he usually does. We explained to him that they were donated to us by a family member to which he took even greater pleasure of his prize and then proceeded to insult us. At this point I was at a loss for words but not gestures. I raised a particular finger to him and held it there e for a few seconds. I believe at this point I called him a piece of garbage and turned to walk away. My co-worker was engaged with him verbally once again not much different than a few months earlier and the name calling was rampant. The son always reminds us hes the executive vice president and he can do anything he wants. My co-worker remarked on how he lacked the behavior of an executive VP.
I got my co-worker to walk away with me in the rear providing a buffer but the son starts to follow us continuing on teasing us about how the staff and hours were cut and how were all going to lose our jobs. He went on about how we are never going to get new merchandise purchased for us ever again and mixed in some fat boy and other inappropriate remarks. I was so angry at this point I was twitchy. I tried to keep my co-worker from attacking him while getting in a few verbal barbs of my own that were more observations on his character and social skills rather than flat out name calling. My favorite part of this exchange is when I mentioned that if our things kept disappearing perhaps a few of his things might disappear as well to which he responded hed call the police. I guess he can dish it out but he cant take it. No one is more paranoid than a thief.
After a few minutes of this he finally left the room but not without taunting, goading and teasing us about our jobs and daring us to get into a fight. Another co-worker enters the room as me and the other one are decompressing. No one likes to be insulted and its even worse when its an awful person who thinks he is above everyone and most times gets away with treating people like dirt. The injustice irks me.
While the 3 of us are just starting to get back to work the son returns and starts to try to mess with the 3rd guy in the room. The new witness to this pathetic show wont comply and play the game so he turns his derogatory comments back to me and the other guy. Theres another snide comment about how my co-worker is going to have to return to pizza delivery soon (I dont even think he ever delivered pizzas) and throws in a few more shots about how our boss and oursleves are to blame for our faltering business. It boils down to that there came a point where we stopped paying homage at the enormous ego of this little man. Once he felt disrespected it became a grudge to the grave. He set out to destroy us all and while he is slowly succeeding, for me and most of the other people involved its just a job. Yes I feel a great deal of loyalty to a company Ive worked for over 5 years, a boss whos always treated me well and a job that has been a lot of fun at times that Ive met some pretty cool individuals at but like I said to the son in a parting shot; jobs come and go but you will always be an asshole. He seemed okay with it.
Respect isnt given because of a last name, title and a bank account. Its earned from how you conduct yourself and how you treat others. The most evil man Ive ever met has the respect of no one. Everyone in the company hates him and the morale of the company would rise tenfold if he somehow retired, left or was removed. I do believe in karma a bit and someone like this will get his someday. I wish I could see it though. Id buy front row tickets to that.
Meanwhile theres still 3 days this week to get through until my boss returns. I wonder what fun games and schemes await me and the others. Whether its tomorrow, next week, next month or next year, this isnt going to end well.
My boss is off for the rest of the week. It started with today. The big boss gave her some time off because she has been under so much pressure of late. Its hard being a record store, or whats left of a chain of record stores these days but its even harder to be one when theres someone in the company who wields an amount of power that he uses unwisely. In this case I am talking about the son of the owner. On paper hes #2 in the chain of command and in real life hes just #2. Hes a bitter, insecure, narrow minded, selfish bully of a man who is in his fifties, but whose maturity level rivals that of his shoe size.
Hes always had his own little business on the side, drawing money from company funds and reaping the rewards of having a successful father. Hes made a few good decisions and a lot of bad ones over the years but hes always been right. When he isnt someone else will take the fall and he will move full scheme ahead to his next gamble all the while having a convenient safety net of family money to fall back on. On top of all that, hes one of the corniest people youve ever met, wears entirely too much cologne and is beyond dishonest. He wants to show off how smart he is and he says awful things like Im 58 but Im 6 foot tall when I stand on my wallet.
Now that Ive given you some background Ill tell you why there is a war inside the company. For as long as Ive been with the company hes been the buyer of merchandise for our internet operation and of course for his own. About 6 months ago he convinced his father that our company was selling everything wrong and that we were costing the company lots of money money that he could make for the company if he was enabled. So a decision was made. New merchandise stopped coming in for us but he was swimming in it. He was buying all the inventory that used to be for us and to top it all off, it was being stored in our building and we had to watch him sort it and listen to him brag about it. Meanwhile our part of the company began to scramble to stay alive with our primary source of inventory taken from us by a competitor inside the same company- does this make any sense?
During the last 6 months our sales figures have dropped, some people have been let go and morale is low. On the other side the son is beaming. He has so much wonderful stuff but its not enough. Hes always taking things from the building whether its our supplies or our overstock, because all that wonderful new stuff isnt enough. Whats enough? Well apparently his goal is to put our part of his fathers company out of business in the best interest of the company. If you ask me its in the best interest of his ego. Over the past few years weve listened less and less to his ideas and started to get downright sick of his obnoxiousness. We didnt give Fredo Corleone the respect he deserves and hes taken it oh so personal. Thus the underlying method to the madness.
A few months ago my boss went on a vacation for several days and I was in charge of our department as assistant manager. Of course something huge came up during this time where as a company some decisions needed to be made. Upon the sons offering to resolve the fate of our company I protested due to his desire to kill us off and his penchant for dishonesty. I voted for a different person to handle it. I was cursed out and hung up on speakerphone. Ten minutes later I went down the street to our corporate office where he was discussing the issue with the vice president of the company.
It may have been a mistake but another employee offered to go with me. Not knowing if I faced a wall of belligerence when I got there I welcomed another person to be there to help back me up and maybe even offer up an idea or two. Upon walking into the office he curses the both of us out and throws another insult our way after that. Hes reclined in a chair talking to the VP and acting like Mr. big shot. His father was away on vacation himself so he thinks hes running the company. I ignore the berating and begin to discuss the issue with the VP. Meanwhile he insults the guy who came with me again and again. The co-worker responds in kind and they go back and forth until the son asks you wanna go outside? At this point I restrain my co-worker and exit the building with him realizing that this is going nowhere but down. I felt like I restrained myself well and handled the matter professionally.
The next day I get a phony apology, a lecture about how he only wants whats good for the company and his resume because I might have forgotten who he was. At this point I told him I thought he was only out for himself, not trustworthy and that I didnt believe him whatsoever. The bottom line was he tried to have me fired even calling his father on vacation to ask permission but was denied. He has his part of the company and my boss has her part and they have no authority over the other persons employees, a fact that I bet really burns this guy up.
Now we finally fast forward to this afternoon.
With a company in decline you have to find short cuts. You have to find ways to get more for less and find whatever help you can to stay afloat. The very same co-worker from that day at the office has an aunt who owns her own business. At his request and her generosity she gives us boxes and packing supplies pretty often which I guess she doesnt need and that we really do.
Around 4pm our driver comes over to me and mentions that he just picked up some boxes and Styrofoam shipping peanuts but that a large bag of them that was there earlier this morning was no longer there. The aforementioned co-worker overhears and comes over. He actually took some of the peanuts from an open bag that was nearly empty and also saw the full large bag that was sitting there only a few hours before. It was simple math from there. It turned out that the son was still in the building. I asked aloud whether I should approach him and inquire about the whereabouts. I had a feeling this wouldnt be pleasant.
I walked over to him and asked him about it. To our surprise he replied theyre gone. He smiled and was happy to admit he took them. He proclaimed they were no w mine. I had to take a step back. I could not believe the depth of evil within this overgrown boy. He wasnt stealing from his father like he usually does. We explained to him that they were donated to us by a family member to which he took even greater pleasure of his prize and then proceeded to insult us. At this point I was at a loss for words but not gestures. I raised a particular finger to him and held it there e for a few seconds. I believe at this point I called him a piece of garbage and turned to walk away. My co-worker was engaged with him verbally once again not much different than a few months earlier and the name calling was rampant. The son always reminds us hes the executive vice president and he can do anything he wants. My co-worker remarked on how he lacked the behavior of an executive VP.
I got my co-worker to walk away with me in the rear providing a buffer but the son starts to follow us continuing on teasing us about how the staff and hours were cut and how were all going to lose our jobs. He went on about how we are never going to get new merchandise purchased for us ever again and mixed in some fat boy and other inappropriate remarks. I was so angry at this point I was twitchy. I tried to keep my co-worker from attacking him while getting in a few verbal barbs of my own that were more observations on his character and social skills rather than flat out name calling. My favorite part of this exchange is when I mentioned that if our things kept disappearing perhaps a few of his things might disappear as well to which he responded hed call the police. I guess he can dish it out but he cant take it. No one is more paranoid than a thief.
After a few minutes of this he finally left the room but not without taunting, goading and teasing us about our jobs and daring us to get into a fight. Another co-worker enters the room as me and the other one are decompressing. No one likes to be insulted and its even worse when its an awful person who thinks he is above everyone and most times gets away with treating people like dirt. The injustice irks me.
While the 3 of us are just starting to get back to work the son returns and starts to try to mess with the 3rd guy in the room. The new witness to this pathetic show wont comply and play the game so he turns his derogatory comments back to me and the other guy. Theres another snide comment about how my co-worker is going to have to return to pizza delivery soon (I dont even think he ever delivered pizzas) and throws in a few more shots about how our boss and oursleves are to blame for our faltering business. It boils down to that there came a point where we stopped paying homage at the enormous ego of this little man. Once he felt disrespected it became a grudge to the grave. He set out to destroy us all and while he is slowly succeeding, for me and most of the other people involved its just a job. Yes I feel a great deal of loyalty to a company Ive worked for over 5 years, a boss whos always treated me well and a job that has been a lot of fun at times that Ive met some pretty cool individuals at but like I said to the son in a parting shot; jobs come and go but you will always be an asshole. He seemed okay with it.
Respect isnt given because of a last name, title and a bank account. Its earned from how you conduct yourself and how you treat others. The most evil man Ive ever met has the respect of no one. Everyone in the company hates him and the morale of the company would rise tenfold if he somehow retired, left or was removed. I do believe in karma a bit and someone like this will get his someday. I wish I could see it though. Id buy front row tickets to that.
Meanwhile theres still 3 days this week to get through until my boss returns. I wonder what fun games and schemes await me and the others. Whether its tomorrow, next week, next month or next year, this isnt going to end well.
you rock!
xo.