HR Undercover

We had to quickly end the assignment of a temporary employee because our customers couldn’t understand what he was saying. Soon after, we received a call from a reporter who was working on a story about the plight of immigrant workers. It featured (you guessed it) the former temporary employee’s experience with OUR COMPANY. The story was never published. Months later, we got an email from that same temp. He reminded us of his brief employment with us, and told us about his new assignment where he could, with the flip of a switch, shut off the service of many of our customers. We figured out where he was and worked with their HR team to bring his new assignment to a quick end.

One of my recruiters told me that the software tester whom we had just hired asked if she could speak with me in private. Although her name was not familiar to me, I agreed to meet with her. She reminded me that, several years before, I had interviewed her for a software testing position for which she had no experience. I had apparently suggested a few things she could do to gain that experience. She heard my name during the interview process, and knew she had to thank me for taking time to counsel her, thus giving her a whole new career. It was one of those moments that makes me grateful to have chosen the field of HR.

We hired a 24×7 security guard for two weeks to protect us from an employee who thought he was the messiah and wanted to be on a national talk show. As he waited for his second coming a few months down the road, he became more and more agitated, to the point of scaring employees and losing a few of our customers. We managed to deflect his attention away from our company, and fortunately have not heard back from him

I was at a joint Management Union meeting prior to negotiations. At this point in the relations with the union, things were quite contentious and there was significant talk of a strike being the preferred course of action by the Union. From a company standpoint, there were significant changes that local management was demanding of the negotiating committee which my boss and I chaired. The dinner was scheduled to start at 7pm with formal discussions to take place throughout the evening. Since I had some other commitments, I arrived separately around 6pm. Not finding anyone at the meeting room, I went to check out the bar. To my dismay, I saw my boss, “Curt” (who had been recently hired to take a hard line with the Union) and the Union Business Manager “Van” sitting at a table drinking. And it was immediately apparent that Curt was drunk. After repeated attempts to get Curt to forget the meeting, we proceeded to dinner. And given the intensity of feelings that were already present, it didn’t take long for things to deteriorate. At the apex of the trouble, I was corralling the local management group in a futile attempt to contain the damage. After taking them to another room to cool off, I heard an explosion of noise, tables being knocked over, chairs being hurled at walls, voices screaming at each other. So I run back to the meeting room and before I get there I see all the Union guys running out of the room. I eventually get to the room and see Curt, head of HR, standing by himself with a chair in his hands, waiting to hurl it at someone. Eventually, I got Curt out of the place and to a motel to sleep it off. Later that evening, I called our President and informed him of the night’s activities which of course led to Curt’s firing. Later, the next day, I got together with Van to find out what had happened. Van told me on the qt that he had set up a meeting at the bar with Curt at 2pm, prior to the 7pm dinner. After the first round of drinks, Van switched to tonic water without Curt knowing. Curt who was drinking vodka martinis, was not going to be outdone by some union guy. So he kept up with Van, drink for drink and by the time the meeting started, he was a mess. When Van finished the story, he just winked at me and walked away.

I was working as a Labor Relations Director for a large, multi-state telecommunications company which stressed safety and safe driving practices at all times. In one of our remote, rural districts we had a 2 man line crew who did not properly park their $120,000 line truck. As a result of their actions, the truck ended sliding down a slope and eventually down a steep embankment and was totaled. Trying to be lenient and taking into account their overall performance, the company decided on 4 day suspensions for both employees without pay. The union was furious and filed an immediate grievance. At the final step of the process, I personally flew there to discuss the matter. I was in the conference room when a large (6′5″ and 300 pounds), loud and belligerent local lineman, who also served as the union’s shop steward, came in with a stack of files and threw them down on the table while glaring at me. I looked at him carefully, saw that he was blowing smoke out of his nostrils and eardrums and then I saw his T shirt. Standing in front of me, shoving his chest out, he had on a black shirt with a bright gold lightening bolt emblazoned on the front with the words “Matanuska Thunderfuck” spelled out in big, bold red letters. Well, that was quite a greeting and needless to say, we did not resolve the matter in that meeting. Later, in a subsequent arbitration hearing, the issue was finally decided in the company’s favor. And somewhere down the road, the lineman and I eventually became friends and were able to take care of our problems locally.

I was traveling on business, exhausted from a hectic week and long cross country flight. I woke up in the middle of the night having to go to the bathroom. I accidentally opened the door to the hotel hallway instead of the bathroom. Oh no! There I was with nothing on and no door key! What do I do? My boss, the CEO of the company was next door…. But I CAN”T knock on his door… There was an emergency phone in the hallway… I called the front desk – told them what happened and begged the guy to come up to my room – and open the door – keep it propped open as I would be hiding behind the curtain at the end of the hallway until he left. Thank goodness, my plan worked! I now wear pj’s to bed while traveling.