Quote Of The Month

"There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women."
Madeleine Albright

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Hazards in the Workplace

Since Valentines Day of this year, Rochesterians have been consumed with a case of multiple murders committed as a result of violence in the workplace. Prior to the lovers' day, a man named Frank Garcia was employed as a nursing supervisor at a number of nursing homes in the area. He was fired from two facilities for what was later learned to be allegations of sexual harassment. Taking issue with the terminations, Mr. Garcia elected to punish the women by shooting one as she was on a cigarette break outside the nursing home; he also shot a passerby who tried to help the woman. Both were DOA. Garcia then drove to a nearby county where he located the residence of the other complainant, tortured her and her husband, then shot them in the head at point blank range. Their children, one of whom suffers from cerebral palsy, were forced to remain in another room but heard the gunshots which killed their parents.

The list for walking wounded does not end with 4 corpses:
An eye witness to the first shootings, the significant other of the Good Samaritan, will live with the vision of her lover dying before her eyes and being helpless to assist him.
Garcia's wife, according to the news reports, delivered their third child two days after his/her father's rampage. During the trial it was printed the couple had three children under the age of 3.
Though they will likely consider themselves above it all, heads of two separate HR departments own a piece of this cluster f&*k. Garcia had a documented history of violence. Plus, how many other women came forward but were "persuaded" their complaints amount to nothing more than "he said/she said"? Could his termination been handled in a different manner?
If two women came forward and lodged complaints, chances are there are 10 to 50 others who suffered in silence and now have to wonder if they did the right thing by maintaining a silence.
The social worker friend of Garcia who helped him break the law by purchasing a gun for him. A SOCIAL WORKER, people.

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