This covers the next month and a half of my job in Maryland. In general, names have been changed or removed. Information may have been removed or added. Length is around 13 pages.
Tuesday, January 2nd. I emailed Ace yesterday asking about buying that nut splitter. I know he told me to buy it, but then I was thinking they said Drew said not to. Alex was even saying he would pay out of his own money. It really wasn't our place to spend it, so I held back. I had emailed Paige before I left for vacation telling her about buying hot chocolate, coffee and water, asking her if that was okay. She said water was a must, hot chocolate was no way, and coffee was a maybe. Today I get the …………. statement, and she says any unauthorized purchases are going to come out of our pay checks.
...
Apparently Enrique says he didn't get paid properly. I texted him, and he keeps his own log of his hours. It contradicted my spreadsheet so I did more looking. Turns out the spreadsheet had yet another glitch in its logic. Probably a bunch of people didn't get paid for part of Monday. I would love to blame it on the stupid spreadsheet which seems to have an error at least every other week.
...
Saturday, January 6th. ...Ace called me while I was out and about. He seemed deliberately happy. He asked me what was up. "Getting my car inspected." "How's that going?" "It's going, so that's good."...
I told him the result of my inspection, and I wasn't too happy. I had failed again. This time there was an entirely new list of things that needed to be fixed. I had gone to one place to get the inspection done and was given an enormous list of things to fix, some of which were absurd, at drastically marked up prices. I went to a more reasonable and reputable place to fix it up, which cost me what I had originally paid for the car, and then had them check it out again to make sure it was good for another inspection. Then I had [gotten my car inspected at] this one, and it was painfully obvious by the shrill gleam in his eye, the nonsense of the items to be fixed, and this context that he has just taken $80 from me for nothing but to try to force so much out of me I could hardly believe it. I ranted to Ace, I had worked a month just to get the car as fixed up as it was, and if I was to do these fixes, it would mean I would work another whole month. ... He said let him call his girl Darline at ………….. ... Ace called me back to tell me he had hired someone he used to work with. He told me a little about him. Smart, technical, reserved, like me. He could read Alex, but Reid and me he didn't know sometimes.
Monday, January 8th. ...[Ace] asked me what I meant with the car mechanic I had been to, when I said they were "bad." I had said that in a creepy way. I told him how when I got a flat tire Alex checked the air in all my tires and they were flat. I had been to the mechanic a few weeks before, specifically wrote for him to check the tires, specifically asked him if he had checked them and he said he had. I was driving flat bald tires in the middle of winter with a bad suspension and alignment. And he just lied to me and let me walk out of there like that, when it would have been so easy to just check them. That was dangerous for me, and this was on top of everything else he did. Ace repeated that this was a common thing among mechanics, but then said it wasn't that big of a deal.
…
He was very excited to hire Reid. It meant a lot that leadership was accepting people he recommended. "But it is a lot of pressure." Of course this same pressure applies to me. He wanted me to send an email back to Reid, the engineer he had hired, and to make it as professional as I could. This was important to him--that I put a very good foot forward here. I was hiring a real professional.
…
There was something we had to get to. My car had to be taken over for an inspection. He called up Darline and explained some other guys had been giving me a bunch of nonsense to fix, and asked if she could help me out. "All we can do is try." [He said] I drove Ace to …………. in my messy dirty little car.
…
I arrived at …………. and we went out to meat Darline. She is a strong and fresh woman, who seemed to embrace us with a little love and mischief. She and Ace got along very well, and joked about the porta potties on the ………….. He paid an enormous sum for …………., I left my beloved car behind, and we went to drive the vehicle away together. He said I didn't need to stay and wait for it to be inspected. …
We sat down, and Ace on the [opposite] corner from me, and didn't look at me much or say much. He seemed pensive and sad. I simply waited for him. Given everything that had happened, I wondered if this might be the gracious way he had chosen to say goodbye. "Tell me about Reid." He told me about his family. A wife and a son, maybe two or three, named ………….. He said he had an associates in engineering. He was at least as good--no, better than Ace in AutoCAD drafting. He had worked at …………. before meeting Ace, and that is where he is coming from, so he has stayed there a long time. He has a history in auto mechanics. "Sounds perfect for you." I really meant it too. It sounds like he is going to be a very capable help.
…
We stopped back at the office so I could drive his new truck over to the …………. office. It is very much like his other one, except bigger. The thing ticked and hummed, although I wish I knew how to adjust the seat forward.
...
He also told me that his truck was hit. He said it must have happened at the ………….. "So soon after you got it?" Then I realized I had just driven it. "I didn't do it. I would have noticed it crash." "Guilty conscience?" "No!" He said there were light scratches, high up. I went outside to see this thing. I searched around the car, and there it was. A large dent in the back, with small white scratches. The way it was, I did not see how it could have been me. I would have had to back up into something at a weird angle, and I only backed up by the office. Ace said it was clearly a car's bumper, and asked me who had been on my side of the car. Could have been Zeus for all I know. "It's only things." Ace brushed it off and walked away. [Having experienced a few minor car dents, it is extremely unlikely I would not have noticed. Given that I could have been given some blame, this could be harassment of me or Ace or both. It is a very unlikely thing to have happened. -2/18/20]
…
When Ace came back, he said he cannot believe his car got hit. "And only three days after I got it." Yeah, that is pretty unbelievable. He was ready to wrap this up and go home. "What am I going to do with you?" Fire me? No... just give me a ride back to the auto shop so I could pick up my car. "Darline hasn't called yet?" I called her up, and she said they were just finishing up the inspection and she would call me in a few minutes. Ace found it strange it had taken so long and she hadn't called.
…
As I clocked out, I made an odd discovery. My green tag worked, my red tag did not. I tried it on two clocks.
...
Ace asked me if I had gone back to martial arts and if I was still keeping that up. I said I had, and they wanted to promote me again. I liked the class. It was fun and useful, but it was not as systematic and rigorous as I was used to. I wished I could have the good qualities of both. [I believe it was after this that another black belt taught class who was much more rigorous. -2/18/20]
...
He was still worried that Darline had not called back. "It isn't even your car and you're worried."
…
It was a short trip from there to ………….. Darline called me as we pulled in, asking for my email. I told her I would be right in, and when I arrived, she said it was hard to hear me with Ace being so loud right next to me. She seemed a little upset, and made nervous jokes about my street address. I waited for them to finish the paperwork. "You passed."
Tuesday, January 9th. ... The printer was in error. I cleared it, and tried printing off a USB. That glitched so I restarted the printer. It needed more paper. It took a little while, and I delayed Alex a little, but I printed off everything he needed.
...
Liev came in and told me they needed paper towels, and that the printer needed to be fixed today. He said this in a very demanding tone. I couldn't believe it had not been fixed yet. I went back to my other tasks. Alex came in and said he couldn't stand listening to Liev anymore, and I had to do something about it. I said the last thing I heard was that the copy guy ordered a part, but I'd make something happen. I called him and left a message. I emailed him. And then I called him again. He picks up and tells me that he fixed it the last time he was out here. He also told me that Marshal had yet to pay his invoice. "I'll call Marshal and tell him how important it is to us that we pay you." He said that he was doing a job in the middle of freezing rain and had to focus, so he hung up. I went over to the inspector's trailer to investigate. The printer was on, and I tried to copy something. The man in the corner office said it worked now. He had been printing things off this morning and showed me. Everything we tried worked. I wondered if Liev had not been told. I also noted the notes to the Traffic Manager course sitting there on the table in the hall. [This was a course I was going to be taking. It was a day of training with a test at the end. The notes would have come in handy, and could have been pressure for me to cozy up to the inspector. -10/12/20] I called Liev, but he said there was a different problem. There were lines being printed off on the pages. He told me he would show me. I called Marshal, but he was not in the office, nor would he be in tomorrow Melissa informed me. Ace passed through the office at this time. There was much bustling going on outside. Alex tells me the ………... is not doing so well, and he had to go pick up some diesel for it as it was out. Ace tells me the thing is literally sinking. But he does give me a piece of advice. If I can't get Marshal to pay promptly, offer to pay with a credit card. That will break up the log jam. I call Rob the copy guy back and tell him I did look at the printer and it seems to work well, one inspector is very happy, but the …………. inspector is choosing to show his frustration about other things by putting pressure on us about this. He says when he came the last time they were fighting with each other. "It's always something, but we got to try to be team players." And I offered to pay with a credit card. He tells me I can with the link he sent Marshal. I asked him to send it to me, and he suggests he just send all future invoices to me, "Because apparently Marshal doesn't have time." I say I would be happy for him to copy me in those emails and I could get that moving for him. He tells me he has some deliveries, but can be around here about 4 pm. He seems much nicer now. And so I get that invoice paid before he has time to arrive. [There had been issues with authorizing payments, as well as confusion over what was authorized and who could approve. I had been putting my foot down more and showing concern, so this may have been an attempt to push me into a gray area with a purchase. Entrapment and/or harassment. Including Marshal's unavailability and the pressing demand. Either I may have done something wrong in terms of HQ or in terms of my local group. Also Liev's demand for paper towels was not in our contract with them as I will later discover, and could be construed as bribery. We should see more about that later. -2/18/20]
...
But then he told me he wanted someone else's information, but he wouldn't tell me who. He said this person was tested in December, and then brought …………. over, and they tried to remember the date, and showed me the clinic address. It was a …………. clinic. "If you could tell me the name that would help a lot." "………….." It finally came. I told them I'd get his latest results to him as soon as possible. [I'm pretty sure it would not be right to give out someone's private medical information to someone else without their permission. The sorts of traps range from illegal, to things that could disrupt my relationship with my support network, to reputation damage. -2/18/20]
Monday, January 15th. ... Then I am told that Drew's email is being spammed with like 20 emails. Oh glorious, Outlook is being its special self. I tried to go back to diagnosing that problem, glancing longingly at my task list for the day. I did manage to determine it was not my send/receive cycle. 5-10 minutes is considered about right, mine is 30. A virus scanner? I doubt it. I didn't use to have this problem, and I didn't download or activate any scanners when the change happened. Unfortunately, it is probably my slow internet connection, and there may not be much I can do about that. If there were, that would be amazing.
...
Ace noted that I had been speaking a lot more, and Alex noticed it too. "She talks now?" They said. Ace tried to think back to when this transformation happened. "It was after your week of working here alone. Maybe you are making up for being so quiet that week. What happened? What changed?" He seemed genuinely curious. I didn't answer, and he started to joke that pretty soon I was going to be out drinking. "I'm just joking, you know that right? You have this impenetrable fortress of integrity, and it is like throwing little rocks at it, which I think is fun to do sometimes."
Tuesday, January 16th. ... I got the confirmation back from …………., but it was not for the double cutter we had agreed on, and there was no power assembly. I had to ask them for yet another correction, and this time I got an email from the president of the company. So first they give us this awesome quote that we want boiled down to two items and updated, then I say go ahead with the purchase, then I call it in to purchase the thing, verifying the part numbers and price, and the quote number I was going off of, then I receive no confirmation (apparently because their server crashed or something like that) so I ask for one, then it is the wrong thing, and now I have spoken to the president of the company and hopefully it is right now. He was out of the office though, because there in ………….? everything is frozen. He is hoping it will ship tomorrow, no guarantees. But I'm going to have to watch this whole transaction very carefully. [This was a very expensive thing. -10/12/20] ...
Tuesday, January 23rd. ... Ace called me to tell me that my email was repeatedly sending my message again. I had sent that email to …………., Randy, Carson, Drew, and Ace, and they were all getting spammed. I shut down my computer. I drove myself to the post office to overnight two receipts which would have cost $25, but I just sent them priority instead. When I turned my computer back on, my zombie Outlook continued doing that no matter how many times I told it to stop sending things, so I just had to leave it off and use gmail. ...
Wednesday, January 24th. ... I started up Outlook, and it immediately shot out that same email to our esteemed colleagues. My heart sunk. When was this going to end? I tried to tell it to cancel, but it was determined to send this email.
...
Then [Ace] wanted me to look up Enrique’s time card info, because he was wondering how they clocked in 1/2 [hr] ahead of time before I was even here. He got very upset at Rodrigo and Enrique for taking advantage of the company, saying it was disrespectful to him. And I mean very upset. He was talking about going off on them. It was like they were taking advantage of the situation, and he felt like firing them for it. "Do they think I'm stupid? I'm smarter than they are. And I've got all these other boys eager to work." Of course, this wasn't about Enrique and Rodrigo. Ace headed out and asked me to talk to them when they clocked out and innocently ask them why they clocked in a half an hour early. He said the way they answered would affect how he felt about it. I saw Rodrigo, and I do not think I was nearly as nice as Ace wanted me to be. I asked him why he clocked in so early. He said if we wanted he wouldn't do it, but I pressed why. He explained they had to drive from some distance, so they had to come early to make sure they were here on time. I asked him where they clocked in. The Box truck. "But isn't it locked?" "Yeah, but ………….." I wasn't trying to be mean, but I was still a little angry from talking to Ace, and I kind of made it look like Rodrigo was up here breaking into cars so he could clock in on unauthorized time. Anyway, I just said it wasn't up to me to set policy about when he could clock in, and we were talking about it, so that's why I asked. I called Ace after they left, saying they sounded like if we even implied we didn't want them to they would stop. Ace was sure that the behavior could be corrected, but that didn't mean that it didn't demonstrate the type of people that they are to have done it in the first place. And he said he doesn't forget that sort of thing. Neither do I.
Monday, January 29th. I went in early. I figured Reid would come early, so I wanted to have a moment to get everything settled before meeting him. I arrived around 7:30 AM. I could see many cars already there, and people moving about in the office. When I entered, I saw a new face, and presumed it must be him. He is …………., and has …………., focused eyes, but his demeanor was that of someone from the back country, casual, unassuming. He was quiet but not unsure of himself or his place here it seemed. I gave him a big smile and shook his hand introducing myself. I was excited and jittery. Ace told me he was going to take Reid out and show him around, and let me get settled. There was a weariness in his eyes. I let them go and went to my desk.
…
Reid and Ace came back in, and Ace released Reid to me. He told me one thing he could already tell, Reid would not need the job clock keys I was carrying as he was salaried. "Good catch." "You know I'm always watching." I sat across the table from Reid and [asked him how his drive was. His eyes flashed.] He answered agreeably, but did not say much. … It was almost strange having someone fill out a form without much difficult. …
He completed his tax forms, and the I-9, apologizing for the rough state of his drivers license. [His picture was hardly visible.] It seemed to work fine. ... I was very curious to see these two together, however Ace was very nervous introducing his friend. He got through the basics, and let me get back to my task. ... The high expectations and the general lack of feedback I got from [Reid] gave an edge to the situation. He asked me if I had any recommendations for a doctor. That was his one introductory question to me. He said he wanted to go get regular checkups, and wondered if I could refer anyone. [This is another example of one of the first questions being about my medical access. As I pointed out around Oct 13th, this seemed to be the first thing Brian Andrews wanted to bring up with me. We will see it again in the HONYs. My guess is Reid was an undercover FBI agent they had taken pains to place. I will expound more later. -2/18/20] I didn't have any recommendations for him, but did tell him I found …………. to be a good location. He said he would look around and let us know if he found any good ones. I left him with the basic information for the clinic, said it was very nice to meet him, and I expected to hear lots of good stories about Ace. He said he had a few, but not too crazy, and after a false start or two he headed out.
…
He tells Reid about how we are such different sorts of people. How I don't drink or cuss, how I love the Lord, and pray for them all the time. ... That I do what everyone else hopes to do, but think they can too if they just tried.
Wednesday, January 31st. … Reid was in the other room, but he was keeping one ear bud out, and seemed to be listening with interest, trying to gauge what environment he found himself in. After this conversation he stood amongst us with a bright smile.
…
Reid came in with his completed tests. This was strange. The first test came out perfect. I almost never see a perfect test, and I don't think ever on the one I was grading. Then the next one. Out of seven tests, he got four perfect, and two with one mistake, and one with two mistakes. Even for people who are well versed and experienced in the field, that is absurdly good. Either he is really capable of absorbing large amounts of information, or he cheated, or I know not what. He worried that he didn't do well, and insisted he would retrain on anything he missed. I told him we always work with people on the things they are not sure about. This is definitely anomalous. Two of the questions I didn't know in depth well enough to educate him, so I looked them up. "I did that bad that you have to do all that?" … He asked me for a three hole punch, some tape, a binder, etc. I helped him out, and he was courteous, and had a gleam in his eye. When I went over his results with him, I explained that the four perfect tests was very rare. And [he said] one of the ones he got wrong, that there were over 100,000 injuries from falls each year, was not in the video. He suggested putting it on to check. I said I was indeed curious... And then we watched the video. He was right. As far as I could tell, that information wasn't in there. It was lunch time. I had brought a lot of food, and offered him a taco-like substance. He declined, and said he didn't know what he was going to do for lunch. We didn't talk much. I was intensely focused on my work, and it was actually rather enjoyable. He would whistle every once in a while, and joke about something. ... He seemed pretty focused and diligent himself. He found very useful work to do right on his first day. When he headed out, he thanked me on our first full day together of lending him various office supplies and offering lunch. It was nice to work with another person that I could totally ignore. He was wondering if he had to work tonight, looking over the windfinder website. He said that might be the hardest thing about this job, waiting till 4:30 to know if you need to go to sleep to get back up and go to work. Ace came back, and wasn't super happy. He didn't think we were going to work tonight. The weather was crap.
…
I noticed on the time sheet Rodrigo hadn't signed in again. "Rodrigo still hasn't been back." Ace reassured me it was fine. I think it was since I had spoken to him. "I wonder if I upset him when I spoke to him." "We never talked about that. After they spoke to you they came directly to me. I played good cop-bad cop with them, and basically blamed you because you were paying them for unauthorized time. They were getting you in trouble. Although I did know about it. But they said that they didn't know they were getting paid for that time."
…
Ace tells me that not everyone is frugal like me, and sometimes they just need the money. They are not bad people, they just have expenses. "Yeah, Sharon." A sarcastic Reid interjected. Ace said this goes to show you that sometimes bad behavior needs to be corralled.
…
[Ace] apologized for hitting me on the shoulder this morning, saying it wasn't meant to be anything abusive. "Me too." Reid added. [His voice was high pitched and mocking] That struck me as a reference to the #Me too movement. Let's say for argument's sake that that was his thought. Then he would be injecting himself into an argument he has no concept of, picking a side, and attacking by mocking victims of sexual assault in the work place. Have you not heard the saying "don't grab a dog by the ears"? Reid Reid Reid. Child. Let Ace and I work this out. You are not a party to this, and you don't know what the heck is going on.
Thursday, February 1st. ...This morning was snooper training. ... The technical problems persisted. The projector failed, and they turned to the TV, but there was no cable. I eventually took one from Ace's extra screen, and that worked, but it didn't matter because no remote meant we could not change the input. This is such a small office, where could the remote have gone? They went back and forth to a few things, and it took probably a half an hour for them to get started.
...
I had never used a snooper or seen one work up close, so it was hard at first to picture what they were talking about. After their lecture they took us outside. Enrique asked me if I could get him some more wool gloves, and I ran back to get a set, checking carefully to make sure I had one for each hand. I gave them to him, but then he calls me back and says I gave him two of the same side. He also asks for a pair for Reid. I grab that and return. There were 5 gloves left in the bin. I gave one to Enrique. I gave a pair to Reid. And then I had two of the same side left.
…
I did however realize that employee pay was in the cost estimation, and I know Paige would spaz out if I gave unauthorized people access, so I just deleted that for now. Normally it is Ace and Alex and I in the office, and we are all authorized to everything that I am, but with Reid it is different. …
But this looks more like someone who is a good fit for their job. Reid asked a question about the 401K, and I explained he did not need to sign another direct deposit form. I also warned him of what my experience with this process has been like so far. They seem to make it hard on you. I said I wasn't going to go out and say they did that on purpose, but that had been my experience with people I'd tried to work through it before. He asked me if I had it and I said no. He asked me why, and I told him, I just didn't want it.
…
Friday, February 2nd. ...Before I got there, I was pulled over, and criminally charged with having a sticker in the wrong location. When I got back I clocked out for a few minutes and switched my plates around and did some legal crap. Reid was still sitting there quietly by himself. … [Shortly afterwards, Alex called me and told me he needed some information from our other location across the bridge. This would mean I would have to drive past the same spot the cop had just pulled me over.] …
Monday, February 5th. ...Reid asked me what I did over the weekend. I told him the normal chores and reading. He asked me if I did jujitsu. I said no, it is hard to practice without a partner. He joked about asking people to volunteer to be thrown. I said that is one great thing about this class, you can show up as a white belt, and you are handed a black belt who shows you how to throw her on the first day. That will sell a class. I asked him if he had done any martial arts. He said he did Tae Quon Do in middle school. He was really small as a child and got picked on a lot, with his brother too. There was one kid who would always flick his ear. He spoke to him about it one day and the guy got enraged and grabbed him. He defended himself using Tae Kwon Do, but then his sensei heard about it and kicked him out of the dojo. Because self defense is not what that is for. [There were things about his story that are similar to my personal experience.] I was sweeping the floor when Reid came in and started coughing. "Just kidding with you." He said. Reid makes a variety of strange and disarming noises throughout the day. He has a light and friendly, yet cynical sense of humor. He makes an effort to be friendly with people.
…
Ace talked about a boat that he wanted. He talked about a girl he has dated a few times, a medical doctor. She didn't want to come to …………., but he thought she might if there was a boat to go to. [After this the tone in the air shifted. I was soft and subdued, like I had been hurt. Ace was putting on an air of confidence, but wasn’t vicious towards me.]
…
Ace headed out for the day, thanking me. Reid tried to ask me more personal questions about my schedule, how often I did jujitsu.
…
[When I went home, while alone in my room, I ate the lunch I had forgotten that day which may have gone bad.]
Tuesday, February 6th. ...Reid asked me if I did jujitsu last night. "No." I said flatly. Why does he keep asking me about my schedule? Does he want to come? Maybe I should invite him. There was more awkward silence. I found Alex to be more relaxed than I've seen him. But there didn't seem to be the same sort of report, or attempt to come up with one, between Reid and Alex. Alex told me that I got the same grade as him on the traffic manager course. I was shocked and elated. I got a 90. Not bad for a topic that was unfamiliar to me. I laminated our certificates. I seem to be developing a little stack of these things. [Often people who claim they are victims of intelligence agencies spying on them will be accused of being delusional, or paranoid schizophrenic. Reid was someone who was extremely smart, educated, and dedicated. Working at this job was a time in my life when my “mental health” or positivity/clarity was lower than usual. However, I was still functioning well enough to take tests alongside someone like Reid and get the same score. Disorganized thinking and speech is a warning sign of schizophrenia, so taking this and the other tests should be more difficult for me if I suffered from schizophrenia. -10/12/20]
…
Reid asked if anyone had any fingernail clippers. I said I did. He asked if I had any rubbing alcohol for it. I said I wasn't aware of any diseases that could be spread by fingernail clipping. He said Hepatitis C could actually be spread that way. Ace laughed at my expression, saying that I didn't know that but now I was going to look it up. [He was quite fearful and insistent that I would not be careless with germs.] I got him the fingernail clippers and the alcohol. [The evening before I had acted hurt when Ace talked about going out with other girls. Then I go home and go ahead and eat some food which may have gone bad. I was clearly upset and did something suggesting I wasn't taking very careful care of myself. The question is how aware was I about the health risks? Reid gave me a test of my general awareness shortly after it. Ace was afraid and insisting I was the sort of person who would be very careful. It appears to me Brian Andrews may have thought that Ace had done something to cause me to endanger my health, and was angry with him, as he was "competing" with Ace. -2/18/20]
Friday, February 9th. ... I forwarded Randy's email to Rob, and as expected I received no response. I texted him that the cyan was out. His response: "I just put a blue one in" Okay... were we supposed to ration ourselves? I went to the printer and took pictures of its status, and sent him many more messages explaining what it was, and asking him when he would be by. I got no response. I called him. He did not answer. I called and left a message. He called again later on, and told me that he just changed the blue one, and there must be an issue with the sensor, but it should work fine. I ran over to the printer and pulled out the cartridge as he asked. He said I could tell if it was empty by the weight. I compared it to the black and could not tell any difference. Then I put them in. It still said there was no ink. I tried printing something in color, and it told me there was no cyan. I asked him when he could bring more and he told me he would "order" them, and they would be here Monday, maybe Tuesday. "Ok, that's what I will tell them." Then he acts like I am impeding on his valuable time. He says he just walked away from a customer and is getting paid $150 an hour and he has to go. I look up the service agreement I paid for him. I only paid up through November. Maybe Marshal didn't pay any more after that. Either this man got paid and is resolutely useless, which would be irritating because I would have to double pay to get another service started, or he did not get paid, and is wasting my time being passive aggressive rather than just telling me.
...
Reid stopped in to ask about the work orders, and I walked him through a few things. He seemed to be getting worn at this point. He wondered about working nights when you know you're coming in the next day, and flipping back and forth. "I don't know how Ace does it." I said. But Reid said he still wanted to still be involved in the day shift, because the one sets things up for the other. He also didn't have many critiques of my job description. He only asked that people know how to use basic hand tools. I don't know Reid, that is asking a lot. When I was updating my post status table to match his notes, I told him when he selected the start and finish times for a night shift, they should be on separate days, so as to not get -16 hours worked. "Ok Sharon, I was tired!"
[One afternoon I went out after dark and took an impromptu walk around the neighborhood. The next time I went to work, Reid asked me if anything exciting happened last night, and watched me for a minute. At my Jujitsu class, there was loud conversation between others that I overheard. Drake was telling someone else a story. Someone had an emotional outburst, and they were threatened that if they left the house, they were going to be committed. -2/14/20]
Monday, February 12th. …Reid popped in to say good morning... Reid asked how my weekend was, if there was anything exciting. No, not really. Ace told me he didn't want to pick a fight with me on this, but he heard on the radio some lady taking his side with the whole "Me Too" thing. The woman argued that the newer generation were more sensitive to normal human interaction, and were taking away the human experience, equating serious with trivial. This was due to the fact that they are raised by helicopter parents and are scared of everything, and as they are 'getting their fix' through technology, AKA porn. Rather than face the rejection and complications of real human interaction, the younger generation are less promiscuous, have less sex, fewer marriages, relationships, or children, and therefore are more freaked out when they see these things. He mentioned Japan. Japan, Russia, really actually the US and the developed world are not procreating at the same rate they are dying off in their native populations.
…
[I wrote this part in my journal, but did not say it to anyone.] But anyway, here goes Ace trying to get a rise out of me, and telling me he doesn't even want me to respond. He did of course admit that not all cases of women objecting to sexual harassment were over reactions. I think it makes total sense to say that populations who are less exposed to sex will be more sensitive to it. Of course. Does that mean that sensitivity is a bad thing? After all, people can be acclimated to pretty much anything. The Spartans used to leave their weak infants outside the city gates to starve to death. The Indians used to burn widows alive with the corps of their husbands. Cannibalism has from time to time and place to place been totally normal. So the ability to 'get used' to an action isn't proof that it is okay. What could be wrong with getting used to sexual behavior? I have seen a lot of unwanted sexual advances in the form of jokes wrapped up in the sexual revolution. I do not believe for a moment that Abu Graib would have been received the same way in America of the 1950s. The public had maintained such a level of respect for each other that such a thing would have been beyond unthinkable, exactly where it should be. How have people allowed themselves to let that standard slide? What normalized that? It is entirely possible that you are more okay with some spontaneous displays of affection than other people. That is why choice has to be involved. You may be out of touch with someone else's "sensitivities," but that doesn't make them wrong. How should I say this? When in doubt, don't rape people. Also, don't rape people. Having said all this, I will grant that there are degrees of crime. Making a joke is not the same thing as a sexual assault. But what about this: if Al Franken had made a joke about lynching black people, of course that would not be on the same level as lynching black people, but it would nevertheless make him a piece of trash unworthy of our esteem or tax dollars. People who relish the idea of rape suck. On the other hand, society as it is is a sick and scary place with its hysterics and venom spewed in all directions of confusion and discomfort. It is an unfortunate thing that mature topics are in the hands of these children. I would also imagine that innocent or at least well meaning men and women are at risk of being badgered and harassed by it. Anyway, back to the day's agenda. I received another slew of emails from Reid. ...
Tuesday, February 13th. ...Reid did a beautiful job of giving me requested updates in anticipation of the daytime closures for airtable, and a detailed report of his progress on the posts last night. He was not coming in today. Unlike everyone else, he gets to sleep some regular hours.
…
I got a response back from Paige about Javier's pay stub. She had mailed it. I notified him, and he starts getting into all kinds of flirtation. He sends me two pictures that never load. I ask what they are and he starts sending me kissy emojis, telling me I'm beautiful. I explain I am only interested in a professional relationship. I do not want any romantic attention. I have already told him this before. He asks me how I would like him to be professional. Is he stupid? I wondered how that isn't just him toying with me, trying to look like he is complying while getting some terms to wriggle out of just professional. He laughs. "Tratemos... kieres?" Do you want to try? Is what he asked. "Let's try a professional relationship please." I respond. He tells me he is professional. I say thank you, and then he sends me another kissy emoji. He obviously thinks I'm a joke he can toy with how ever he likes. At this point I can't interpret his actions as in good faith. I'm done with him. And his conduct is inappropriate in the workplace. I tell Ace that Javier is being obnoxious, giving me sexual advances after I made it very clear for him to stop. Ace tells me to keep records of the conversation.
...
If he keeps going like this, we may have to do something unfortunate. He says Javier probably is doing this because he doesn't expect to come back. I said I wanted to just tell him that he is a jerk and he can talk to someone else, because I don't want to deal with him anymore. Ace thinks he has taken me out from under a rock and has shown me what the world is really like. Not everyone reads their Bibles and treats people with respect. It's okay, we take new admissions.
...
Liev stopped by to tell me that the printer wasn't working. Now I feel horrible for him. It has been days on this volley of complaints since it has worked. But Liev would not say a cross word about it. I texted Rob, who amazingly responded telling me his part was bad and he ordered another one. It would be a while. ...
Wednesday, February 14th. ... However for a first, nothing from Reid. Reid did ask me to print out some work orders he had prepared for today's lane closure.
…
Reid called me to tell me he would be late. He was driving back from …………. dropping his wife and kid off at the train station. He asked me to give the work orders to …………. and he would call him and tell him what to do. I went about distractedly, telling Alex what was going on. People were coming in to clock in and prepping to go. …………. wished me a happy Valentine's day, apologizing for not bringing chocolate. I hadn't even realized what day it was. I never really think about this holiday.
…
Reid had come in by this time. He looked like he had been run over by a train. He asked for the credit card and said he needed to go buy a wrench because they broke one.
Thursday, February 15th. ...… A delivery man from YRC came. It was a teeny tiny little pallet of rubber bumpers ………….. I got to ride the forklift for the first time in forever since I was the only one there. He backed his truck so far back he covered a lot of the area I could have put the skid. I set the forks up, and he mostly pushed it on. I put it in its place, and as I was backing up to put the forklift in its spot, some guy wearing no safety vest walked in a straight line right where I was backing up. He didn't even look at me. I had to stop for maybe a good 30 seconds waiting for this guy to get out of my way. He disappeared into the prota-jon, and I looked all around to make sure the area was clear before parking in my spot. The truck driver was just standing there watching. [He had this demeanor like he was watching an execution. And I’m pretty sure I typed that in the first time.]
...
Reid had not done a work order or submitted a daily report.
…
Reid called in the guy early since he was just sitting out there. … But during the interview, he basically just explained what the work would be like. He seemed very uninterested in Jake.
…
He wanted an answer, but Reid told him we would do a lot of interviews and decide in a couple of weeks. Reid didn't really have any other questions and dismissed him. I was waiting to hear Reid's impression, but it was not terribly robust. He didn't seem either excited or put off by Jake. ... I logged back in to my computer, and Reid made a comment that that was the longest password he had ever seen. He joked that I would say it was my shortest one, and the others were like a paragraph. I suggested Reid look through the rest of the applicants. We talked through them. He said one person had said he was great with interpersonal relationships but broke the golden rule, which is where he referred to a general group of people as male, rather than saying he or she. "Because we are all equal. #Me too."
…
I don't know why Reid thought that was a point of controversy. [He seemed enraged.] He didn't like one of the guys, because he had been in the military in 1980. So he would be in his 60s. It is probably less likely that he is going to be able to handle the physical aspects of this job, which are the primary aspects, but that isn't a given. I've worked with a few that would do better than most. But this was something that Reid fixated on. When I would talk about someone, he would ask me, "how old is he." He pushed the topic. It is illegal to ask applicants about that, and I don't think we are supposed to discriminate for that reason. Reid also asked questions about the pay rates, and then asked me what …………. made. I told him in general, and I don't think I should have. We are deciding on the pay of people we are hiring, but at the same time, people who are already in the company tend to keep that hush hush. I thought better of it and made a note to myself. "Oh, this one's going in the pocket." He said of me. [As if where I put notes is a matter of significance.] "And this one is going behind the monitor." I mocked. He said that …………. knew what someone else in the company made, and that he was mad about it and might just quit because of it. That made no sense with what I know about these people. It sounded like he is just making stuff up. He was pushing for information he shouldn't have. He was pushing to discriminate against people. In general, he is acting with flagrant disregard for me and the other workers. He reviewed the resumes, and picked things out of them I might have overlooked because I was distracted by the presentation. He said he would pick two from the "white kid" pile, and fill the rest of the positions with ………….’s friends. He asked me what I thought about that. I said if it were me, I would want to talk to ………….’s friends too and see if they were any good. I love …………., but it would be good to know their qualifications. I left not too long after that. There is something grisly about Reid. Snide. Underhanded. Like he enjoys watching people fall. I don't think I want to work with him. I don't think he is pulling quite in the same direction. I told him his daily reports were good, but lagging behind the past two days. He said I needed to tell him things like that because he didn't know there was a time requirement. But from when he first came, he seems to not have the same work ethic. He seems eager to let shifts be canceled or report less or less frequently. He is different than he was.
[It wasn’t too long after Reid was obviously trying to get me to break the law and I was acting coldly towards him, as I recall it was a Friday morning. I sat up during the night and acted like I was terrified, or in a lot of pain. When I went upstairs not long after that, the youngest boy who lived in the house, …………., acted terrified of me. It may have appeared that I had become aware that I was under surveillance, and was acting upset by that. ………….’s reaction to me makes sense as many informants, especially those families I stayed with, could feel especially frightened of retribution. -2/14/20]