White Lightning and Grand Theft

Crack wasn’t the only drug being abused at my site...

When the parking lot emptied, I noticed the ground would be scattered with a collection of 6-8 bone-dry pints of vodka. When I first saw the bottles, I didn't think much of them. We had a liquor store within sight, and I assumed that we were on the path of an alcoholic making their daily pilgrimage. I didn't realize the journey was originating and ending at my site.

What added to the mystery of the bottles was the realization that the parking lot was cleaned weekly as part of regular building maintenance. We are not talking evening cocktails here. This was hard-core alcoholism.

Back to the vault ...

HR accessed her “vault” and told me of least 2 people that were alcoholic's, or rather suspected alcoholics. I brought my sups together to discuss the situation. No one claimed to have seen anyone drinking, but they had the same suspect in mind that HR identified.

White Lightning...

Let’s call her "Thirsty". Thirsty was a very petite, well dressed, woman who was in her late 50’s to early 60’s. She was 5’5”, and seemed very grandmother like. Grandmother or not, “Thirsty” had a problem with the “white lighting”. My sups claimed to have smelled alcohol on her, so I felt that with their first hand knowledge, I could address the situation and try to head off an issue at the pass.

We brought "Thirsty" in, discussed the facts, and asked if she had ever been drinking on the job, or before work. She denied it but sincerely thanked us for our concern. The meeting didn't go anywhere, but it did provide us a forum to outline the consequences he we ever confirmed she was drinking, or intoxicated while on the job.

Thirsty goes down...

Within two weeks, the client notified us that this agent had deliberately encouraged the customer to lie while confirming a sale. Needless to say, she was gone, and the sea of bottles left with her.


Band of brothers...

To give you some more inside drama on "Thirsty", her son had grown up with one of my other reps and his brother. Apparently when Brother 1, and brother 2 were young, their mother was a crack-head and “Thirsty” adopted them into her family since they were friends with her son. She gave them shelter, food, and protection when things were to tough to go home...

Brother # 1 was working at my site, and HR knew" knew both #1 & #2. As I mentioned, HR was “connected”. Late one night, brother #2 called HR, and said he was intoxicated and couldn't drive home. HR went and picked him up, and on the way to his house, brother # 2 admitted that he had burglarized "Thirty’s" house. HR was shocked. She was aware of the break in because it devastated "Thirsty" and she openly talked about it at work.

Now here was HR alone with brother # 2 as he confessed his crimes, through alcohol induced tears... HR drops him off, and then notified the police the next day...

Will the drama ever end?

Crack- Tales

The more my tenure increased, the more my staff, and reps opened up to me. Apparently, the drug dealer used to come by the site at least once per week, unless the dealer was employed by CallCenterUsa. Before my time, apparently it was an obvious transaction. Back when the Hustler was in charge, the Police Department actually called the facility and let him know they suspected someone was dealing out of the site.

The Hustler then walks to the call floor made an announcement that if anyone was dealing, that it needed to stop immediately because the cops were watching...

One of the more alarming stories, which was confirmed my multiple people, was when one of my older crack-heads (he was in his fifties) daughter began working at the site. Let’s call him OC. It turns out that the "Ultimate Fighter" used to have another roommate that also worked at the site, used to deal coke on the side. Well the story goes that they had some surplus of rock to sell, and gave it to my agent to sell thinking he would have some connections.

I don't sell crack, but I don't need anyone to tell me that giving crack to a crack-head to sell is not the best move. Now if I had a lot of crack that needed to be smoked, I would know exactly who to take it to.

So my agent takes the crack, and smokes the crack... I'm sure you are surprised about this as I am. When it was time to pay up, he had no cash. Again, another surprise! In an attempt to get their cash, they began to harass his daughter. They told her that if she didn't find the cash, or pay up, they would hurt her father. She somehow comes up with the cash, and pays them off and then quits.

Now let's advance the story and bring me into the picture...

I had one rep that was working for me that we will call the “Kid” because he looked 12. All I knew about him was that he had three babies under a year old, he was young, and rode to work every day with HR.

One day I was talking to him about his absenteeism, and he broke down crying. He said that cops had been harassing him, and that they suspected that he was dealing (crack). I asked him if it was true, he said no. He then began to tell that it was two current employee’s that actually turned him into the cops.

Ever since that conversation, I was cautious around this guy watching for signs of anything illegal. I was sitting at the receptionist’s desk as the “kid” was signing out for the day. Out of no-where the (Older Crack-head) OC walks up and tells the “kid” that he will swing by his place that night to play some basketball. The kid says, uhhh, ok... These guys never associated at work and there was probably a 30+ gap in age, and they were not family. I immediately knew what was going down, drug deal.

The next day, OC (older crack-head) says he needs to talk to me. He looked awkward, and nervous. I told him I could talk in an hour, and he agreed to wait. When I came out of my meeting, my sups said he had left, but was asking everyone if he could borrow $50.

That incident passes and A few weeks later, the "kid" shows up with a broken hand. He said that someone cursed in front of his child, he asked them to stop, and they didn't, so he punched the guy out.

The same week I get a call from OC, who said he fell off his bike (which he rides to work) and broke his jaw on the curb. He was out for 8-9 days, before he finally came in. I didn't believe he was hurt until he came in and "wiggled" his broken jaw for me. It was one of the nastiest things I've seen.

Now let me take you forward to December. The site is closed now, and I'm having drinks with my trainer. While talking "the kid" came up in conversation, and my trainer said that HR told him that the kid broke his hand hitting OC. All of a sudden, it made sense...

One crack-head, one suspected dealer, a fake ball game, $50, one broken hand, and one broken jaw...

It looks so obvious writing it down, but it was vague at the time.
All I could say was, "un-believable"