Best Day Ever!!

 I got to work not so bright, but not as early as usual — they have us coming in at 6:00 for the time being— went through the indignity of having the security guard check my cottage cheese then picked up my other bag, and proceeded on into the plant…

Where I was met by a fellow employee who said, “Did you hear your stalker got fired?”

“What?” I exclaimed standing there in a state of disbelief, not sure I heard her correctly. 

She called his name and said, “Isn’t he your stalker? He got fired yesterday.” He and three others, she said.  I'll get to them in a minute.

Giving a loud whoop of joy, I hurried to the sub brazing area, and called to another coworker, "Is it true??”

She laughed and assured me it was and this is the best day of my life!  Well, of my work life at the plant, I mean.

And now we are so happy, we do the dance of joy!!

via GIFER

I'm telling you, it was so nice to work without feeling like I had to keep looking over my shoulder, and knowing that now that he's no longer an employee, I'll actually be allowed to defend myself against him should the need arise.  That, to me, was the most frustrating part -- knowing that I could have put a stop to his harassment years ago, but it would have cost me my job, not him.  It wasn't just me, either.  Since he got hired, there has been a steady stream of women going up to HR to complain about him.  

Probably the worst thing I'd heard of him doing, and I heard this from multiple women, was that when he was the brazing trainer, he'd threaten to fail them unless they gave him a little something something first. Then there was how he'd stand right behind women and rub his front against their backs...and film black women's behinds...the way he'd stick his leg way up in the air and wave his junk at people (that one you'd have to see to believe)....I could go on, but you get the idea.

All of that is over now.  Still, there is a part of me that can't completely relax, knowing that he'd been fired once before and his ...um...special friend, yeah, let's call him that ...his special friend in the front office made them give him his job back -- then got rid of the HR director who dared fire his buddy.  Even though that special friend is no longer working there, I can somehow see him calling them up and demanding they give Stalker his job back.  But maybe not...I'll get to that in a minute. 

As I mentioned earlier, there were three others fired as well.  Junior is one of them, and quite frankly, that's a relief, too.  He was more interested in playing childish pranks than in running the plant.  Not only that, I was getting mighty tired of hearing about how they do things in Japan.  

 The third guy worked back in quality, and though he did have a shop floor nickname, I had taken to just calling him Nasty Man.  He got this nickname because every time there is food involved -- like the anniversary dinners, the veteran's dinner, or a leadership conference -- he shows up and eats.  Once he's done eating, he'll pull out his napkin and blow his nose...sitting there at the table, with people around him still eating.  That's just nasty. 

The fourth guy was a front office employee, and I never had any problem with him, but didn't really deal with him much.  

Now, the story on the shop floor is that they are trying to cut overhead, and had offered all four of them different positions which came with a significant reduction in pay, and all four refused, preferring to be dismissed rather than take a pay cut.  If that is the case, nobody can really demand that Stalker be given his job back, what with him choosing to leave.  

I'm not completely sold on that theory, though.  I think if they had given them that choice, at least one of them would have taken it.  I can't see all four refusing a pay cut.  One or two, maybe, but not all four.  I'm thinking they were looking for an excuse to get rid of them, so they just let them all go. 

I wonder if the new boss had something to do with it.  I know he's not there yet, but he'd still have access to plant information.  Maybe he sees what we've been saying for years, that the plant is top heavy with management.  

Seriously, it ran so much more smoothly out there when we had one production manager, not four, and one supervisor per shift, not seven or eight.  I can see them needing two supervisors per shift with the way they have it set up now, one for production and one for components, but we sure don't need as many as we have. 

Speaking of, some of us were talking this morning and someone who shall remain nameless mentioned that Inspector Gadget needs to follow those other four right out the door.  When they keep moving someone from job to job to job to job because he can't do any of them, it's time to either put him on a machine or put him out the door. 

And there you have it.  That was my exciting news for today.  I need to go start trying to calm myself down now, or I'll never get to sleep tonight.  I think I'll start with a hot shower, followed by the newest episode of Halloween Wars and some knitting.  That ought to do it.  

Laters...