Yesterday, the inventory manager and one of the material handlers were fired on the spot by the head of human resources and the VP of Finance.
One of our night security guards lives near a storage rental facility, and had seen the company truck there several times. The last time, he drove by and saw the material handler unloading our product into a bay.
The next morning, he called us. The material handler was fired on the spot after fingering his boss, who was then called to work, met at the door, and turfed. For the last five years, they’ve been slipping product out the back and selling it for cash.
The galling thing about this is the inventory manager. He’s worked there for five years, the fifth most senior employee still there (until yesterday). It’s a shitty thing to do your employer, but he’s also a coke monkey who disappears occasionally on a binge. The president had made him a personal reclamation project, promising that he would never be fired for that. His direct boss has wanted to fire him forever, more on grounds of incompetence than the coke, but the president wouldn’t let him. The stupid ass has fucked up the best job he’ll ever have. He’s received more lucky breaks in his life than 99% of the world’s population will ever get, and he fucked it up. It hasn’t been revealed yet whether or not the police are involved.
As insult to injury, all of the material handlers knew what was going on, and some had made purchases from him. I hope they get fired, too.
No, the president is a megalomaniacal Japanese man who’s done a great job saving the company from its previous president. He replaced almost the entire management staff and beat the shit (figuratively) out of everyone until the company started operating profitably. It’s actually a pretty good place to work.
The problem is these reclamation projects. The pres is nearing retirement, and has decided that a few total fuck-ups deserve third, fourth, and fifth chances because they’re under 40. It’s like he’s testing a theory, or something. He’s fired other managers as incompetent before, but something about these people makes him think he can train them to be useful people.
The company manufactures plastic commodity housewares: The sort of stuff you buy at Target without caring about the brand name. That was the odd thing about it: our stuff sells for $10-40 a pop, and people buy it because they think “oh, I could use that in the garage”, not because it’s an investment or anything. It’s not the sort of product you worry about there being a black market for. Then again, if it’s all you have to steal…
We did have some stuff that went for up to $300, and looking back through the inventory records, a lot of that seems to walked off on its own.
It’s been confirmed that the ongoing theft was to pay off a largish debt the inventory manager was carrying to his dealer, and for which he’d already been beaten up once.
Apparently, the president was not aware of the firing until after it happened. While playing golf with my brother today, the president said that he would astonish everyone by rehiring the inventory manager.
Is the president buying the stolen stuff and stashing it in his garage? Seriously----are the police involved? Who owns the company? Who is the president’s boss? If the president is the owner, you might have to just suck it up. If not, go over the jerk’s head.
He did it: he told the managers today that he would rehire the inventory manager (though not in any supervisory position) in several months if the (ex) inventory manager came totally clean about what was taken and who was involved. No police involvement.
That’s the problem: the president isn’t a jerk, and I don’t think the inventory manager is blackmailing him (since he often confesses to things that make other people uncomfortable, in this somewhat rural area). Well, he often is, in an entertaining way, but that’s not the point. This guy saved the company. He’s a sharp businessman who took us from going broke to being (routinely) profitable; moreover, he has a very sound philosophy that involves investing in the company and building a solid corporate culture that treats the employees well and makes them want to make the company a success. We’re not just doing well; we’re doing well in the most moral, rational way possible.
Which makes me think that, because we’re doing so well, the president is indulging himself in a few romantic salvation projects. Regardless, it’s bizarre, and somewhat galling to those of us who try hard to do a good job.
To comfort myself, I’ve already starting planning little jokes like calling our ex post facto inventory manager “Winona”, and ostentatiously moving things out of his reach when he’s near my cubicle.
Do that, and the theif (which you cannot mention, because there is no conviction) can sue your butt.
Lawyers will be along shortly to explain how this is moral, right, and just.
Hansel, do you work anywhere near the west coast of North America? I’m in the job market right now and job stability is way up on my priority-list following an ugly layoff after a decade with one company. Any company that offers that sort of security, even to a thieving crack-head, is just the place for me. I’d be happy to move plastic product (during regular business hours,) until the onset of senile dementia, which should be in about thirty-five years, the way things are going. Plenty of warehouse & inventory experience & good references. Willing to relocate. Seriously.
