Suspicious activities November 22, 1985

 


Change is in the air, needed change by my thinking – here in Fotomat as well as Dunkin, not to mention my private life.

Just working out here at the edge of the known world in Fotomat makes me feel better.

Part of it is being closer to Jimmy again, somehow being connected to that part of my life that I thought lost.

Ledgewood is only a few more exits along Route 80 and conversations with my old boss from Willowbrook Dunkin reminds me of how well things once were, and how evil Phil is, and how quickly good things can turn into bad things if we’re not careful.

Dunkin has become an inquisition. Fortunately, the focus has shifted from me to John M and his buddy, Mike. They are chief suspects as troublemakers.

Phil and Rich have held back their paychecks until they can grill the two suspects.

There is a discrepancy in hours worked, too many hours for one, and an overlap that suggests both managers were working at the same time.

The problem is both managers are incompetent, despite their bragging otherwise.

John S, one of Rich’s recruits, works the same way his master does, lacking any sensitivity, unable to manager without coercion.

Clara Jean, who has loosely been called a manager, too, is exhausted and lacks the ability to do paperwork.

Phil has instituted a strict policy for punching in, but really hasn’t a clue as to what his managers do after that.

Each in order to get their job done works more hours than they should and often get burned out – as is the case for Mike and John M., leaving John S as a gunslinging loose cannon.

Phil is obsessed with the idea of theft and so is extremely concerned about the overlap of managers since John M and Mike also happen to be drinking buddies.

Phil and Rich suspect them of ill deeds rather than mere incompetence, and they get even more suspiciously when they learn that John M is responsible for filling out the timecards.

John M. is too gung-ho to steal time. He’s obsessed with making sure that everything is absolutely correct before he checks out and will often stay behind when he shouldn’t.

But John M wants to get paid for his diligence. Phil and Rich are so caught up with their own schemes they see John M. as trying to take a slice of their pie.

It’s all right for Phil to sabotage a business or steal a contract. That’s all part of doing business.

But when a man like John M squeeze a few extra hours out of this scrooge, this is a crime.

Phil and Rich are so caught up in their own importance they do not recognize a good employee, nor do they know how to treat him in order to keep him employed.

And so, people like John M become radicalized and bitter, and burn out turns out to be something much, much worse – a sense of hopelessness, if not the need for revenge.

John M. and Mike are so angry so much of the time, I feel the business once more on the verge of collapse.

 

  1985 Menu

 


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