The Bear Facts...

Yes, this is another long one! I tried to keep it as short as possible. Unfortunately, I felt I needed to explain everything in detail so it could be better understood. If bad luck has followed anyone around like a lost puppy, it would have to be me. So, bear with me while I tell my latest saga and unfortunate true tale;

I am sure most of us are familiar with tow quotes; “Honesty is the best policy” and “No good deed goes unpunished”. Well, I have tried to practice the honesty thing as much as possible as it is the way I was raised and have always been taught; “in the end, honesty will always be rewarded”. Yes, honesty is rewarded; unfortunately it’s the liars that always come out ahead.

 

In November 2007, I was employed by Admiral Security Services, Inc. I was assigned to East Point Condominium on North Sheridan Road shortly after an Admiral employee resigned with no notice. At the time, I could not understand why an employee would resign with no notice, but after my experience with Neil Shaughnessy, Morgan Brown and Admiral Security, I now fully understand his state of mind. I was given a crash training course and was introduced to Neil Shaughnessy, East Point Condominium Manager. When I started, I was informed Neil is the type of manager who believes status quo is just fine. Neil is the type of person who firmly believes; “If it’s broken and it still works, why bother fixing it”? Neil will only spend time and money if it is absolutely necessary and he was faced with no other recourse of action.

 

On several occasions, I submitted incident reports regarding security violations, safety violations and disregard to personal property by East Point parking garage staff. Being a former private investigator, I was more observant than any of the other door staff employed by Admiral and posted at East Point Condominium. I was also one of the only employees who went out of his way to accommodate the residents. Shortly after I was assigned at East Point, I was retrieving a package for a resident from the package room when I not only smelled something burring but also found a plastic bag which was placed in front of an electric space heater in the package room. Not knowing I would be accused of placing the bag in front of the heater “for attention”, I moved the bag away from the heater and avoided a major fire as there were not only packages in the room but several gallons of enamel paint. I submitted an incident report and was immediately reprimanded by Neil Shaugnessy the following day. I was also informed Admiral would be notified of the incident. As proof could not be obtained I placed the bag in front of the heater, the matter was dropped and I only received a verbal warning regarding placing flammable objects in front of a heat source.

 

My shift consisted of four afternoon shifts and one midnight shift. Only one door person is assigned to each shift and no relief is given for the 8 hour shift. The door person must eat meals at the main desk and is allowed limited time for use of the facilities. At no time does building maintenance or garage staff relieve door staff as it is not a part of their assigned duties. Being we are not afforded any breaks, we must bring food with us. In the package room, is a refrigerator/freezer for door staff to use. Because the package room was a controlled room, the only employees who held keys for the package room were the building manager, door staff and maintenance. Usually on payday,  I would purchase frozen dinners and store them in the freezer for use when I needed them. On a regular basis, I would spend approximately $30 for two weeks worth of food. Approximately a month after I was first assigned to East Point, I started to notice my food was disappearing. As the engineers/maintenance have their own refrigerator in their break room, and Pedro Hernandez, the head engineer, lived in a unit within the building, I didn’t suspect any of the maintenance staff stealing the food. The supervisor who worked the morning shift always brought his own food, was highly diabetic and must maintain a special diet because of the diabetes. The only other person who could take the food was the door person assigned normally to the midnight shift. As soon as I noted food was missing, I submitted an incident report stating food was being taken without my permission. At first Neil Shaughnessy did not take any action regarding the petty theft and even went as far as to accuse me of consuming it myself and not remembering. Morgan Brown, Operations Manager for Admiral reprimanded me for misuse of incident reports and unfounded accusations of theft that could not be proven. Every time I purchased food, I would photograph the food in the freezer with the camera in my phone and update the photograph when I would remove an item. Again, food started to disappear and again I submitted an incident report. Eventually a notice was issued regarding removal of food items from the freezer, however, neither Admiral nor Neil Shaugnessy took the claim seriously or looked into the theft of my food. At this point, considering I was upsetting Neil’s status quo, both Admiral and Neil began to search for reasons to terminate my employment.

 

On February 22, 2008, I was preparing to leave after I had completed my shift. When I entered the parking garage, I noted the parking attendant was not in the office and was no where to be found. After I had placed my items inside my vehicle, I started the car and was preparing to pull out of the parking space when I noted the interior lights on inside the vehicle parked next to my vehicle. I shut off my vehicle and attempted to find the parking attendant so he could enter the resident’s vehicle and turn off the interior lights so she would not have a dead battery in the morning. After 10 minutes of waiting on the first floor, the garage attendant finally returned. I informed him of the vehicle, he opened the driver’s door, sat inside the vehicle and did not know how to shut off the interior lights. When I was a private investigator, two vehicles I used for surveillance were a Pontiac Montana EXT minivan and a Chevrolet Venture EXT minivan. Most GM vehicles use the same parts to save money. It was a coincidence the resident’s vehicle was an Oldsmobile with the same headlamp and dimmer control switch as one of the minivans I used. I pointed to the dimmer switch and instructed the attendant to rotate the wheel all the way down then rotate it back up until it stopped, but did not click. The garage attendant did as I instructed, he got out of the Oldsmobile, closed the door and within 5 minutes the interior lights dimmed off. Tow days later, Gene Weiskopff, an Admiral supervisor,  came to east Point and accused me of illegally entering a resident’s vehicle. When the supervisor Mr. Weiskopff entered the lobby, I observed him holding an envelope with my name and address on the face. At this point with all the false accusations being made toward me, I was a little upset. I emphatically explained the actual events and was informed there is video of me entering the resident’s vehicle. I stressed I did not enter the vehicle and even suggested a polygraph to prove I was not lying. Mr. Weiskopff stated he will talk with Morgan Brown and Neil Shaugnessy and review the tape again. Before Mr. Weiskopff left, he tucked the envelope inside his jacket. On February 28, 2008, the same envelope I observed Gene Weiskopff holding I received in the mail. The letter, titled as “FINAL WARNING”, not only was I accused of illegally entering a resident’s vehicle, I was also accused of being away from the main desk and in the garage “3 to 5 times” during my shift. I attempted to contact Morgan Brown who stated he viewed the video tape and clearly observed me entering the resident’s vehicle as well as video showing me entering the garage at “unauthorized” times during my shift. I insisted on allowing me to view the video to verify the claims, however, I was informed the video was property of East Point management and not available for me to view, but, was assured I was identified as the subject entering the vehicle.

 

I contacted Local 1 Service Worker’s Union and spoke with Terry Townes. I explained to Mr. Townes what occurred and was assured he would speak with Morgan Brown. Mr. Townes telephoned me several days later and informed me I was identified as the subject entering the vehicle, however, he was able to have the “final warning” reduced to a “verbal warning” and the “FINAL WARNING" would be removed from my employee file. I also enquired on the “3 to 5 times” I was observed in the garage area. Mr. Townes informed me, one time was when I arrived at work and dropped the vehicle off, the second time was when I picked my vehicle up after work, another time was when I brought the key to a resident’s vehicle ,(which was parked on the main drive), to the garage because the garage attendants would not answer the radio or the telephone and two other times could not be fully verified, however, Rick Smith the garage manager observed me in the garage. Again I insisted on viewing the video that showed me entering the vehicle and again my request was denied. Taking Terry Townes word the ‘Final Warning” would be removed from my employee file, I let the matter drop for the time being.

 

East Point Condominium is a controlled entry building which means, all the residents have key fobs that open the entrance doors. When a visitor or guest wishes to visit a resident, part of the door person’s responsibility is to verify the guest before they are allowed upstairs. The door person has a directory with all the residents and phone numbers so visitors can be announced as well as verify access into the building. The door person also opens the door for residents for courtesy or in the event a resident forgets his/her keys. When the door person is away using the facilities or retrieving items from the package room, a sign is placed upon the desk that states; “door person will return momentarily”. Considering there is only one door person per shift and no relief, persons entering the building must wait until the door person returns.

 

East Point residents very from very young to elderly residents living on their own. One such elderly resident is 94 years old, very stubborn and has severe Alzheimer’s disease. Most of the staff are polite to her, but never go out of their way to assist her or befriend her. Neil Shaugnessy views her as a nascence and bother. Considering both of my grandparents developed Alzheimer’s and my mother is now beginning to develop the condition, I have learned how to respond to subjects with the condition and how to correspond with them. A lot of times I would have the same conversation with Bess we just had 5 minutes previously. I actually enjoyed giving her the attention considering the two caregivers who brought her food and attended to her did not come over very often, as far as I know, she did not have any family and her power of attorney was in Memphis Tennessee. Bess also learned she could trust me and knew she could always talk to me. Given she has Alzheimer’s, in some odd way, she was able to remember me.

 

On April 10, 2008 at approximately 6:30pm, Bess came down to the main desk and informed me her telephone was broken. I attempted to contact Pedro Hernandez, the engineer who lives in the building and is on-call for any situations. Pedro informed me the telephone could wait and he did not feel it was enough of an emergency where he should have to take his free time and fix her telephone. Pedro also made the comment; “She should have more than one phone in her unit”. I attempted to contact one of the caregivers, however, she stated her daughter has her minivan and she has no way to get to East Point. I did not contact Admiral, because with previous dealing with supervisors, I would be told; “It’s not our responsibility, let someone else handle it”. The only problem is, no one else would much less go out of their way to assist Bess on a regular basis. Considering no one was willing to assist Bess, I decided to take the initiative and attempt to repair the telephone myself. I did go up to her unit because, if I asked Bess to bring the telephone down to me, she would forget what she went up to her unit for and she would return to the desk stating her phone was broken and we would go through the same request over again. My intentions were to retrieve the phone, bring it down to the desk and work on it at the desk. As I returned from Bess’ unit with the telephone, Pedro Hernandez was standing behind the desk and asked me where I was. I was fairly angry at him so I told him, “I went up to Bess’ unit to retrieve the phone that YOU refused to repair”. Before Pedro left, he instructed me to call Neil Shaugnessy at home. I did as I was instructed and immediately Neil enquired where I was. I explained about the telephone, how Bess would not be able to telephone the desk, fire department or police in the event of an emergency, or, could door staff call upstairs to verify visitors or to verify if Bess was OK. Neil’s response was; “You have a job to do and we can not cater to every need of all the residents. Someone else can fix her telephone”. He also stated he was not sure what he wanted to do with me as I have been a nuisance since I started at East Point.  I have made allegations about missing food and fires in the package room when in fact I was creating these incidents for attention. Considering the telephone could not be repaired, I called another resident whom I was friends with and asked if she could go to Walgreen’s and purchase a cheap telephone for Bess to use until her caregiver could replace the phone with a better one. I gave the resident all the money I had which was $5 and asked she buy what she could with the $5. The resident returned with a cheap touch tone and I instructed her on how to hook it up which she did without any problems.

 

The next day, my supervisor was already aware of the situation and made the suggestion I should have appeased her and told her I would call the phone company to fix the phone for her. In the mean time, she would be waiting for a repair person and be without a telephone. For the next three days a new door person was being trained, but no notice was given on why. On April 15, 2008, I received a phone call from Morgan Brown stating I violated a rule and was therefore terminated from employment with Admiral Security. I accepted the termination as the last time I filed a grievance with the union, nothing was accomplished and the union took the side of the employer despite lack of solid evidence to substantiate Admiral and Neil Shaughnessy’s claims.

 

One month after I was terminated I was not successful in regaining employment and I had outstanding bills to pay, I elected to apply for unemployment until I could gain new employment. A week after filing I was notified by the Illinois Department of Employment Security, Admiral was protesting the filing and a telephone hearing would be conducted. When the representative from the Illinois Department of employment Security contacted me on the given date, I explained everything that led up to my termination. The representative found in my favor and I was able to receive unemployment benefits beginning the last week in June and had been receiving benefits since. On August 16, I received notification from the Illinois Department of employment Security Admiral Security Services was appealing the decision and another telephone hearing would be held on August 25, 2008. I was also informed if the decision goes against me, all benefits I received would have to be paid back to IDES. Admiral was being represented by a firm by the name of “Personnel Planners Incorporated”. After researching the company, I found out they are a law firm that represents employers in unemployment hearings. I could apply for free legal help, however, no one could see my reason for leaving the desk as a “valid” excuse despite this 94 year old woman being alone and not having any way to contact anyone or anyone being able to contact her.

 

I received a letter from Personnel Planners, Inc. on August 22 and inside was the “final Warning” Terry Townes stated would be removed from my employee file and supposedly reduced to a “warning”. Hallie V Kurth, the attorney representing Admiral Security Services intended on entering this false accusation as an exhibit that led to my termination. Never once was the allegation of me illegally entering a resident’s vehicle verified by anyone including Ms. Kurth who was representing Admiral Security. On August 25, I went into the hearing alone with no legal representation and attempted to defend myself and my actions, however, my actions were not viewed as “justifiable” and a decision was made in favor of Admiral and Personnel Planners. I now have to repay the Department of Employment Security all the benefits I received in the time I was unemployed. Who knows, Admiral and Personnel Planners may try to get one last punch in and sue me for attorney fees as well. Why not kick a person while they’re down, make sure they won’t get back up. Be the big tough bully and try to take what little possessions I have left and take what is left of my pride and self respect.

 

So, in the end, I was punished for not lying, for attempting to assist an elderly woman with Alzheimer’s who nobody wanted to help and for trying to do the right thing. Yes, it is very true, “No good deed does go unpunished”.