Image source: clan-sef.orgI was the Division President of a company in California that was wholly owned by a holding company headquartered in another state. There were several companies owned by the holding company and operated as separate entities, even though they were very similar, so that they could be sold separately if necessary. My boss was in South Carolina.
The holding company uncovered several serious financial irregularities with the company finances, which led to the departure of both my predecessor and the VP of Finance. The holding company sent a consultant to act as the VP of Finance on an interim basis that they had worked with before while we searched for a permanent replacement. I will call him Jim (not his real name). Although Jim was known to tell some tall tales, he was an excellent accountant and did a lot to get the books back in order. Because he was very knowledgeable, both in general accounting principles and the format that headquarters wanted their reports, the accounting staff liked working with him. Jim’s home was in the Midwest and he was living in a corporate apartment nearby during this assignment.
On this particular occasion, we were tasked with pulling together an enormous amount of financial information for some analysis that the holding company was performing. Jim worked nonstop for about three days to compile the information. He was working at least 18 hours a day during this stretch. When the information was complete, we sent it off late at night and went home feeling pretty pleased that what we thought was impossible when we started was actually sent on time and done very well.
When I got to the office the next morning I saw that my boss, who was also a very good accountant, had sent an email to me and copied Jim referencing the reports. Since he was on the east coast, he was able to review the reports that we had sent late the night before and respond to us before we got into the office. As was his nature, he was highly critical of a few minor clerical errors in the reports and completely ignored the herculean effort that Jim had put in to complete the reports on time. I was just about to get up to try to intercept Jim before he saw the reports when he appeared at my door with a red face. I could tell he had already seen the email and invited him in and shut the door.
“I know why you’re here” I said. He started to vent about the email and I just sat quietly because I agreed with him that my boss had been too harsh. Jim deserved a pat on the back and got a kick in the teeth. Jim said “And don’t think I wouldn’t say the same thing to Bill if he were here”. Then he upped the vitriol even further by saying “and if he didn’t like it, I might just have to deck him and don’t think I wouldn’t do it”. I realized that Jim was going too far, but he was just getting started. His voice was getting louder. I tried to calm him down and told him he couldn’t make threats like that and I wouldn’t tolerate them. Then he said “In fact, I just might go out to my car and get my gun and blow his F__ing head off!” At this point I got up and had to almost shout for him to hear me. “Jim, you are way out of line. You need to shut up before it’s too late.” This shocked him into silence. I told him the conversation was over and that he couldn’t say things like that and he needed to leave my office immediately.
Since Jim was a bit of a talker, I really didn’t think he was serious, but I knew I had to address the situation and I couldn’t have a person around that would make threats like that. The good news was that the person he had threatened was 2,000 miles away and in no danger. I had my HR Manager come to my office to get her take on how to handle Jim’s threat. To my surprise, she said “Oh yeah, I’ve seen the guns he has in the trunk of his car. He showed them to me the other day”. My feeling that Jim was a harmless talker evaporated and I became very concerned over what he might do. The fact that we had a potentially unstable character and guns in close proximity was weighing on my mind.
That’s where I’d like to end part I. Think about what you would do in this situation, then read again in three days to see how we handled it in real life. Yes, this really happened.
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