Hi everyone. I haven't posted in a while, largely because all the weirdness is fading into the background noise of everyday cab driving -- and also because nothing really out of the ordinary has happened for a while... until the past few weeks.
In the very recent past -- at some point during the week leading up to Halloween, most likely -- Big Green Cab Company got robbed. And I don't mean some guy in a mask holding a gun to a cashier and demanding the contents of her drawer, I mean robbed to the tune of 6 figures.
That's pretty bad, since that money was earmarked for paying drivers (we had issues getting paid for about a week, give or take) but it gets worse.
It looks like one of our mid-level managers (let's call him "Bob") did it. And that's the point that makes me want to cry. (Seriously. I'm fighting them again right now.)
I just found out today the how and at least some of the why. It turns out that the money was taken from multiple safes at some after-hours time. This immediately cuts the suspects down to 4 people. Bob has a few felony convictions from the late 80's and earlier, so of course he was the first one that was investigated.
Now, Bob is a great guy. Friendly, funny, hard worker, he helped me personally out of a number of serious jams, and I'm sure that every driver we have could say the same. Those felonies don't really matter to any of us -- hell, I doubt 1% of the drivers even know about them.
So, what kind of evidence indicates Bob did the dirty deed? In an effort to find out if any truth was coming out of the rumor mill, I spoke with another manager roughly on the same level as Bob (and, not coincidentally, a close friend of his) -- we'll call him "George". George saw the security camera footage after the robbery. According to him, the 2 people involved were very careful to disguise themselves -- he didn't go into detail (and even if he had I wouldn't post such info) but it was clear that simple picture identification wouldn't work.
However, without making a continual conscious effort, nobody can hide the way they walk, the way they move, those million little mannerisms that are unique to an individual. (Well... to some extent. There are people who recognize me as my father's son just by the way I walk. But I digress.)
Apparently, one of the people in the security footage moved and acted a lot like Bob. Enough so that it's probably going to be part of the evidence when this goes to court.
There are other things that point at Bob being the culprit, but the 2 most damning ones are 1) a large sum of cash (about 1/3 of the total amount taken) was found buried in his yard, and 2) Bob started making a number of financial transactions that were out of character involving non-trivial amounts of cash.
I'm pretty upset with this. It's so out of character for the Bob that I know. I won't use the word "impossible", but I find it so unlikely... I don't know what to say. I keep thinking that somebody has somehow framed Bob for some reason. (Yes, I know, naive.)
Bob's office has been empty for more than 2 weeks now. Every time I see that closed door it makes me sad. All of my driver friends and everyone at the company hopes that it's not Bob. We all hope that if it was him, that he was somehow forced to cooperate by someone else. We're all worried that it was indeed him, acting on his own motivation. :-(
Bob's superior in the company has tapped George to replace Bob, but corporate has put a hold on that (for reasons that have nothing to do with Bob or George) so things are remaining status quo for the moment, with Bob's work being split between George, another manager, and Bob's equivalent at another location -- and while George is a pleasant enough fellow, he'll have a hard time filling Bob's shoes.
(And before anyone asks, I have no idea who the other person involved in the robbery is. The subject didn't come up, and I didn't ask.)
In the very recent past -- at some point during the week leading up to Halloween, most likely -- Big Green Cab Company got robbed. And I don't mean some guy in a mask holding a gun to a cashier and demanding the contents of her drawer, I mean robbed to the tune of 6 figures.
That's pretty bad, since that money was earmarked for paying drivers (we had issues getting paid for about a week, give or take) but it gets worse.
It looks like one of our mid-level managers (let's call him "Bob") did it. And that's the point that makes me want to cry. (Seriously. I'm fighting them again right now.)
I just found out today the how and at least some of the why. It turns out that the money was taken from multiple safes at some after-hours time. This immediately cuts the suspects down to 4 people. Bob has a few felony convictions from the late 80's and earlier, so of course he was the first one that was investigated.
Now, Bob is a great guy. Friendly, funny, hard worker, he helped me personally out of a number of serious jams, and I'm sure that every driver we have could say the same. Those felonies don't really matter to any of us -- hell, I doubt 1% of the drivers even know about them.
So, what kind of evidence indicates Bob did the dirty deed? In an effort to find out if any truth was coming out of the rumor mill, I spoke with another manager roughly on the same level as Bob (and, not coincidentally, a close friend of his) -- we'll call him "George". George saw the security camera footage after the robbery. According to him, the 2 people involved were very careful to disguise themselves -- he didn't go into detail (and even if he had I wouldn't post such info) but it was clear that simple picture identification wouldn't work.
However, without making a continual conscious effort, nobody can hide the way they walk, the way they move, those million little mannerisms that are unique to an individual. (Well... to some extent. There are people who recognize me as my father's son just by the way I walk. But I digress.)
Apparently, one of the people in the security footage moved and acted a lot like Bob. Enough so that it's probably going to be part of the evidence when this goes to court.
There are other things that point at Bob being the culprit, but the 2 most damning ones are 1) a large sum of cash (about 1/3 of the total amount taken) was found buried in his yard, and 2) Bob started making a number of financial transactions that were out of character involving non-trivial amounts of cash.
I'm pretty upset with this. It's so out of character for the Bob that I know. I won't use the word "impossible", but I find it so unlikely... I don't know what to say. I keep thinking that somebody has somehow framed Bob for some reason. (Yes, I know, naive.)
Bob's office has been empty for more than 2 weeks now. Every time I see that closed door it makes me sad. All of my driver friends and everyone at the company hopes that it's not Bob. We all hope that if it was him, that he was somehow forced to cooperate by someone else. We're all worried that it was indeed him, acting on his own motivation. :-(
Bob's superior in the company has tapped George to replace Bob, but corporate has put a hold on that (for reasons that have nothing to do with Bob or George) so things are remaining status quo for the moment, with Bob's work being split between George, another manager, and Bob's equivalent at another location -- and while George is a pleasant enough fellow, he'll have a hard time filling Bob's shoes.
(And before anyone asks, I have no idea who the other person involved in the robbery is. The subject didn't come up, and I didn't ask.)
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