Old Faces, New Hustle, and Substance Abuse

Old faces…

I want to step back for a moment and revisit a former player in call-center Grit. The original Site Director for Call Center USA who was my leader, and my mentor. If you’re a follower of Grit, you can feel my sarcasm. If your not, let me recommend that you go back to the first and second blog starting with "Felonies and Follow Up's". Since this player is still with us, let’s give him some identify. It needs to be something fitting, something descriptive… let's call him Einstein.

So with the departure of the fearless leader (Einstein) I finally assumed full control of the site. Since he was still with the former owners of the site, they were going to relocate him to another facility in Dallas. About 2-3 weeks after he left, he showed up at the site to pick up his last paycheck prior to the move. With check in hand, he spent a few minutes visiting old friends and colleagues.

He had just returned from Dallas on a discover trip, and was trying to set up living arrangements. Little did he realize, he wouldn’t be going back to Dallas. Actually, he wouldn’t be going anywhere.

In the envelope that housed his check, was a note. The note was from his company stating that his services were no longer needed. He probably wouldn’t have spent so much time visiting, if he new what was in his hand.

Einstein again leaves the building…

I saw him arrive, I saw him get his check, and I saw him leave... The only way that I knew he was fired was that his company used my receptionist to place his notice of termination in with his check. She (My receptionist) told me what had happened after he had already left the building.

Man, What a company. No call, no thanks for your services, No Nothing! This guy was in over his head, but no one should be let down like that.

Einstein’s story doesn't end here.


A Little History on Einstein...

Some of my staff began getting calls from a prior director (The Hustler) that brought in and trained Einstein. Once Einstein was "ready", the "Hustler" turned over control of the site and left for a corporate position. He allowed Einstein take over his apartment lease, utilities, and rental furniture payments. The plan was for Einstein to formerly change the lease and various agreements into his name. That was the plan. What actually happened was that Einstein didn't change anything, and decided to stop paying the Hustlers bills resulting in over $5,000 in over-due payments.

This doesn't sound like Einstein at all!

The Hustler was going nuts, because Einstein destroyed his credit, placed him in debt, was that he was still in the Hustlers apartment!!!

The Hustler had maintained relations with some of my staff and began calling them asking if they had seen Einstein. We had no idea this guy was still in town. He asked some of my staff (unknown to me at the time) to drive past Einstein’s apartment and see if he was in there. Einstein was there; or rather his car was in the parking lot.

I was talking to HR about the craziness of the whole situation and asked her what she thought. She then explained that she believed Einstein had a little substance abuse problem.

Imagine that… Einstein on crack!