The Elyria Police Chief has a heart, I had a different experience Opinion by Timothy W. Shirer

I have waited nearly seven years to write this editorial. People close to me know the story, my sister better then most.

I was watching the local news recently and I saw the story on a dispatcher from the Elyria Police Department that is on leave due to the fact she fell asleep on the job. From what the chief said he doesn’t think she did it on purpose, it happened to her more then once. But he’s giving her the benefit of the doubt. He wants to find why it is happening and get the problem solved.

This is what you would want from a boss. A boss that cares. A boss that understands that not everything is cut and dry. He wants to help her not just let her go. Being a police dispatcher is very important work, work that you have to get right. There is very little room for error or for people not to be at their best. But this is a boss who has a heart and realizes that people are human beings and not machines. Sometimes they have problems.

Now to the story I have been waiting to tell for seven years. From August 13, 2001 to Aprils 7, 2004 I worked as a processor at Progressive Insurance in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. I can honestly say I worked so hard at Progressive, the hardest I ever worked at any job I had. I gave everything I had to Progressive Insurance. But it wasn’t enough.

I was diagnosed in 2003 with mild Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and symptoms of Bi-Polar Disorder. During this time I was put on different kinds of medications. They seemed to be working for the disorders, but one of the side effects was drowsiness.

Well I suffered the side effects. But I thought I could deal with the side effects because the medicine was working, I was feeling better, my symptoms were gone.

At this point I would like to say in no way, shape or form do I think falling asleep at work is acceptable, because it is not. But what I would like to say is there are different was of dealing with it.

As I continued to take the medication and felt good, I also continued to experience the drowsiness. I fell asleep at my desk at work. I don’t believe I was out for more then a minute, a minute was to long, but It wasn’t like I pulled out a blanket and snuggled in my chair.

There was a second time, and I was called into my manager’s cubicle and yelled at, no concern for why it happened and I received a written warning. Then my manager’s boss came and basically told me she wanted my head, she was going get me fired it was only a matter of time. Her word went exactly like this, “I want you gone.” She just didn’t like me and she found her way to get rid of me.

This was at a company that likes people to think that they care about their employees. That’s a bunch of garbage. The only thing they care about is numbers. The fact that my manager was a family friend of the boss that threatened me probably didn’t hurt either. The lady with two first names, she was about numbers.

I’m sure that’s all she cared about was numbers. I have said many times since I was fired for falling asleep at my desk that the woman with two first names is STONE COLD.

They never once asked me how we could fix the problem. They never once said can we help, like the chief in Elyria is doing for his employee. They just hung me out to dry.

It’s really sad that woke up this morning and one of the first things I thought was, “why did they do that to me”. Seven years later I still wonder that. But I shouldn’t ask why did they, I should ask, “Why did the lady with two first names do that to me.”

I just thought maybe finally people should know that not everybody at Progressive is nice like Flo!
E-mail Tim at: tshirer@lakecounty-sentinel.com
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POSTED 03/14/2011     23:39