Why Would You Even Do That?!

I had been working at this call center for seven years and had been a team leader for about six months of that. I was the weekend opening lead, so I was in charge of the whole account until such time as my relief came in mid-afternoon. For the most part, it was pretty relaxing; phone lines were off on the weekends, so it was only chats and emails, and most people were content to just plug away to maintain their metrics.

However, there was one group of people who always seemed to have a problem with one another, and as the only lead for much of their shift, I had to deal with it. It was childish things like, “They’re looking at me,” or, “They’re not working as hard as I am,” or my personal favorite, “So-and-so said this other person said something about me!”

I was typically able to defuse the situations either by separating people or just reminding them we were all adults and they needed to deal with their personal drama outside work. In situations that needed their manager involved, I took to them as soon as possible. However, one day, one of the members of the trouble clique came up to me at my desk. [Employee #1] didn’t really get along with [Employee #2].

Employee #1: “Um… I’m not really sure what to say here, but… uh… [Employee #2] brought a knife to work.”

Me: “A knife? Like… a pocketknife?”

This would still be technically against company policy, but a pocketknife can be easily overlooked in your jeans or hoodie or jacket and probably just let off with a stern talking-to by Human Resources.

Employee #1: “Not exactly. You should come see it.”

I went with her over to their little area of the office, and there, on the floor right under [Employee #2]’s chair, was very, very clearly NOT a pocketknife. This was a weapon, not made for cutting off a loose thread or for opening a box or what have you. It was curved and shiny and looked VERY sharp — think the velociraptor claw from the original “Jurassic Park” movie if it were a metal knife.

The employee in question wasn’t around; apparently, she had gone to lunch and the knife had slipped out of her jeans when she got up.

Other Employees: “So… yeah, [Employee #2] dropped that when she went to lunch.”

Me: “I’ll deal with it.”

I ended up taking the knife and putting it in my work drawer until I could turn it into HR on Monday. Normally, I might have just confronted the employee in question myself and not brought HR into it, as a courtesy. But this group of employees was known to be very chatty and incapable of keeping secrets, and I knew without a doubt HR was going to hear about this one way or the other.

Shortly after the start of the week, I saw [Employee #2] being walked out with her stuff in a box. All’s well that ends well, right? No one to blame but themselves? You’d think so. But a few days later, I got a message on Facebook.

Employee #2: “Of all the things you decide to report, [My Name]! OF ALL THE FREAKING THINGS! Thank you. Glad you saved your own a**, though.”

Me: “Okay, first of all, I reported every issue you brought to me. I have zero control over what your team leader does with the information. Second, YOU brought it to work and it was f****** [Employee #1] that saw it. We both know she would have ended up spilling the tea even if she didn’t mean to. So, yeah. I had to handle it like a team leader. And it sure sucks, but you put me in the position to have to do it in the first place.”

She never responded after that, but I would occasionally hear through mutual friends that she still blamed me for getting herself fired because she chose to bring a deadly weapon into the office.