On Sunday, December 17th, at approximately 11:30pm My family and I lost our house to a fire. I was working for Lougee and Frederick's Florist at the time and had been with them for about a year and three months. The night of the fire my ex-boss Bill S. Came out to our house for support and to let us know that his doors were open if we needed a place to stay. I lost everything I'd ever had in that fire, and ended up fleeing the house in a t-shirt and underwear.
Monday, 12/18/06, along with the guidance of my friend Traci, (because I was in such a state of shock) I contacted the American Red Cross for crisis relief assistance and to get vouchers for clothing, groceries, shelter, etc.
After we met with the Red Cross associate we headed to Bangor for clothes. My friend, Traci, and I stopped into the florist to let them know the status of our situation.
Cammie S. The boss' daughter showed deep concern for my family's situation, and she had already started to put a relief effort together. Making it sound like they were going to use some of their business clout, (being Bangor's busiest florist), to contact some of their connections and help us out. Later did I realize it was all an attempt to gain some sense of glory on their part.
The next day we went to Bangor again to get some essentials and things. We stopped into the florist again to keep them updated. They asked me what we were given for vouchers I told them we were given 130.00 per family member for clothing, 10.00 per person for toiletries, 30.00 per person for groceries. After telling them this they got this attitude about them that seemed as though they thought we were "all set" and were ready to resume our regular routine again.
I thought I was ready to go back to work the next day, but I just didn't feel ready to take on work in the mental state that I was in. I called at 8:00am Wednesday morning to let them know I wasn't ready to come back to work.
Later that day I received a phone call from my friend Traci telling me that Cammie left a message on her answering machine that said if I wasn't there by noon then I was and I quote "F*ing done." So, for fear of losing my job I headed straight to work. My father was given a week off from work to deal with the loss and my boss was complaining after two days. Where is the compassion today?!?
The donation jar they had placed on their store counter was taken down when I got to work. I was not really offended by this until a fellow co-worker pointed it out to me. The attitude I was presented with when I got to work was like they were completely put out.
If Cammie hadn't spent the entire morning wasting time on the phone looking for me they probably would have been fine and been able to manage the store minus one employee.
Later I was informed that some discussion behind my back and chastising occurred regarding my family accepting the charities and comments about us "milking the situation."
Thursday there was a verbal confrontation regarding the threat to be fired, the removal of the donation jar, and the overall attitude they gave me.
I had a fire marshal coming to interview me at the store that day about the fire. I was in the middle of the interview when Bill comes barging in a complete rage and was very rude to me and the fire marshal.
I was later called into the office to discuss what happened. I asked Bill if I could speak freely and when I was given permission I told him that "it is really clear to me that you don't care about your employees, their families, or their well-being and that all he cared about was his business."
He then stood up and approached me shouting, "THAT'S IT, YOU'RE DONE, YOU'RE FIRED, GET OUT!" coming closer to my face as he's doing this. I reacted negatively and shoved him back three times and stormed out.
Under normal circumstances and without the amount of mental and emotional stress I was under I would have never reacted like that.
Later when I tried to claim unemployment he lied to the unemployment officials telling them that I punched him and clawed at his face and assaulted him before he fired me. When I found out the crap that he had filled them with I was overwhelmed by that and started to become upset on the phone.
It was just four days after the fire and four days before Christmas. Let me ask this one question, where is the compassion for fellow man? I ended up losing the unemployment and am still recovering from the incident.
Not to mention that Bill S. And Clara S. The co-owners of Lougee and Frederick's pay their daughter Cammie who is an hourly worker for a full forty hours a week even though she only works about twenty. They've also got a cash only register that none of the money is legally accounted for. It'd be nice to see the IRS take down this business and ruin their lives as they have mine.
Tyler
Bucksport, Maine
U.S.A.
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