Mr. Goodhair

[sms001]

The most damning things have been things he's said, so I don't have them in writing.

These two things ARE NOT mutually exclusive. While not admissible in courts, most statements are given much more credence if one of the parties has written documentation. Keep a little notepad on your person and write these things he says down, with context if possible, but definitely with the who, what, where, when, why and how.

Be as accurate as possible in keeping with discretion. Believe me, if this gets confrontational and he says "I never told Ghel to do that." and YOU whip out your pad and reply with "Yes, you did, on December 15th at 10:45 at my desk, by saying 'Get all those T's crossed and I's dotted by Friday' at which point you placed them on my desk and went to lunch." YOU are going to look like you know what went on, not the guy scrambling for his job.

The thing about documentation is (on your part) it is honest, so it has an internal consistency that is difficult to replicate. If you bring it with you, and it is annotated and well maintained it will be far more believable than whatever GH is saying to defend himself.

My sincere apologies, Ghel. I thought at the start of all this when everyone was saying "document, document, document" that an ongoing log would be your first thought. If you haven't started one, please do.

[Silent-Hunter]

This may be a stupid question, but would it be against the rules for you to keep a microcasette recoder in your pocket and just record him? I'm guessing it would be?

[KatherineB]

My sincere apologies, Ghel. I thought at the start of all this when everyone was saying "document, document, document" that an ongoing log would be your first thought. If you haven't started one, please do.

Ghel has started one. You're reading it.

[sms001]

would it be against the rules for you to keep a microcasette recoder in your pocket and just record him?

Probably, especially at a financial institution, but more importantly, against the law in a LOT of places.

Ghel has started one. You're reading it.

lol, true. But written as soon as possible after the fact, and including details that can't be said here is much better. And I love us here, but "I noted it in my business log." seems a little more professional than "check my thread on Customers Suck!"

[KatherineB]

lol, true. But written as soon as possible after the fact, and including details that can't be said here is much better. And I love us here, but "I noted it in my business log." seems a little more professional than "check my thread on Customers Suck!"

That made me laugh waaaaay more than it should have done! And at least this can act as a reminder when Ghel goes to write things out. A lot of theposts start with 'Yesterday' or 'This morning' which gives dates etc.

[Ghel]

I can rebuild a lot of what he said from what I've posted here. Still, I'm going to start a notebook, since I can update that sooner and add a lot more details that I can't include here due to privacy. Thanks!

[Kanalah]

I can just see the judge calling Raps to the stand.

"Well on X date at Y time, Ghel posted..."

[PandaHat]

Also if something is written in retrospect, note it as such. Then it a) won't matter that dates get out of order in the notes and b) shows that you are being honest with your documentation which makes you look better.

I work in a medical environment and it's our policy to make it clear if you're writing about a retrospective event!

[Ghel]

I don't know if Goodhair realizes it, but he referred to his daughter-in-law as a pig just now. In a conversation regarding the recent Target debacle, in which many of our customers are having to get debit cards reissued, he mentioned that his son had been wondering how his wife went to Target 5 times in a weekend. Goodhair's advice to his son was "don't try to figure it out. It's like trying to put a dress on a pig. You'll only annoy the pig."

Here's one that went in my notebook: Goodhair came up to my desk and told me to prepare a loan for a buddy of his for $3000, unsecured. This buddy is also the tribal chairman for the tribe that we just did a construction loan for the expansion to their gas station/convenience store. Goodhair says, "I just did a $3.8 million loan for him, I think I can trust him with $3000." I told him that was his decision. Luckily for me, he laughed. The thing is, yes, the buddy signed the loan for the tribe, but not as an individual - as tribal chairman. This $3000 personal loan should be evaluated separately from anything we've done for the tribe.

[ADeMartino]

Goodhair's advice to his son was "don't try to figure it out. It's like trying to put a dress on a pig. You'll only annoy the pig."

As much as I hate to defend Goodhair, that wasn't a slur. It's a bit of old 'wisdom' with regard to futility. He was telling his son in law not to waste time trying to figure out how/why she went to Target five times in a weekend, because even if he did figure it out, the information would be useless. If that line about the pig was quoted verbatim, there is no direct comparison to his daughter- in-law.

[Ghel]

If it was a one-off comment, I would agree with you. But it's part of a pattern of "jokes" and comments that Goodhair makes on an ongoing basis that tend to be just a little bit sexist. Not quite enough to call him out on it, but enough to show that he's a sexist asshat.

Today, Goodhair dumped a stack of documents for a new loan on my desk (all the while breathing cigarette smoke in my face). It's a commercial revolving line of credit secured by "general intangibles," which basically means it's unsecured. It's guaranteed by a sister company and the president of both companies. Which means everything is signed by one person. Goodhair instructed me to book the loan, advance the first $1000 (out of $100,000), and start organizing the documents. He gave me no documentation on the guarantors. He didn't charge them any fees, not even for filing the UCC. The borrowing resolutions aren't fully completed. And for the loan purpose, he wrote "revolving line of credit." Then he left for a business lunch with the guy whose loan documents I prepared yesterday.

I don't want my name associated with this loan in any fashion.

[ADeMartino]

He's smoking IN THE OFFICE? Since when has smoking in the workplace been legal?

[sms001]

I can rebuild .... Thanks!

Good idea, and you're welcome.

I can just see the judge calling Raps to the stand.

(Although a notarized summary of the logs would probably be acceptable, it's a fun mental image.)

Also if something is written in retrospect, note it as such.

Very good point.

It's like trying to put a dress on a pig. You'll only annoy the pig."

Robert Heinlein — 'Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and besides it annoys the pig.'

[eltf177]

I don't want my name associated with this loan in any fashion.

And I don't blame you one bit! I can't believe the higher-up's aren't looking at these 'loans' and wondering "where's the profit"? Or worse, "what's our liability!"

[Ghel]

He's smoking IN THE OFFICE? Since when has smoking in the workplace been legal?

No, no. He had just come in from one of his ever-half-hour smoke breaks less than a minute before and still had lungs full of smoke. Blech.

And I don't blame you one bit! I can't believe the higher-up's aren't looking at these 'loans' and wondering "where's the profit"? Or worse, "what's our liability!"

I hope they are. On that loan I booked for him today, where I advanced the first $1000, I asked Goodhair if he had CIP information on the guarantor. (CIP - Customer Information Policy - is information we're supposed to have on all new customers. It's 2 forms of ID, name, address, social security number, date of birth, and phone number. We're missing at least half of that on the guarantor.) He said we didn't need it because they were an existing customer. I looked and saw that we didn't collect it on the previous loan they were guarantor on. I asked again. He said we didn't need it because we purchased the previous loan from a different bank.

I really hope somebody's looking at this before the FDIC does. Because both Goodhair and the bank could be hit with huge fines for not following CIP.