Deaths at the Workplace (Plus Tribute)
My Tribute to the Fallen at my Workplace
Vince McMahon may claim that the number of professional wrestling deaths is not significantly higher than any other profession (it seems like a dozen or more wrestlers die young every year). I don’t have the stats, so I’ll just relate my own personal experience. I am rare in that I’ve been at the same office since late 1998. I’ve worked with 600 people (yeah, high turnover, huh?).
Anyway, I experienced the death of 2 workers during that time-span. That is the extreme opposite of WWE’s worker death-rate.
I’d like to take this time to give a feeble Internet tribute to those two workers. Maybe one day people will search for their names and come to this blog posting:
Keith Taylor died in 1999 during a DUI accident on the way to Orlando with his friends during the weekend. I don’t know who was responsible or what the situation was, as all the info was 3rd hand by the time I heard it.
My experiences with Keith were limited. He was a 2nd shift scanner operator, and seemed like an easy-going, yet somewhat competitive guy. He was a young stylish African-American. He liked to “diss” people in a joking way. He reminded me of some of my Jamaican classmates in school- he had a great sense of “cool”, and liked rap, hip-hop, football, basketball, and girls. I was not close to him at all, but I had no issues turning over to him at shift change.
I was shocked when I heard the news. Our boss sent a basket to the funeral. I vowed never to make unnecessary long trips on the highway, something to this day I have not violated, and to continue to avoid alcohol.
Around a year later, my friend at the time. who shall be called “R-”, and I saw some scanning logs with the initials “K.T”. “R-” had assumed I had no idea who he was, and that his death was forgotten. “R-” was a cynical bastard. He implied that it was because he was black (like “R-”). I quickly told him “Keith Taylor” and we shared some memories.
The second death was Victor Lefton. Vic was the epitome of having a”love-hate” relationship. Victor was once a very influential middle-manager at our office. He was a Jewish senior-citizen. On one hand, he was seen as tough, grouchy, confrontational, mean, rude, insulting, judgmental, aggressive, egocentric, and manipulative. He was responsible for many firings (some unjustly) and would push some workers to tears or to the brink of quitting or even hitting him, even though he was old and frail.
That being said- that being said- in my immaturity I took Vic’s verbal threats too personal. He came from a bygone era where people actually expressed what they felt, without fear of political correctness. Also, his take charge, take no prisoner attitude is sorely missed at my office. Vic actually was one of the first people to take me under his wing when I was in his area. We bonded a few times, and he probably was very antagonistic towards me since I was a youngster who was very quickly working my way up the ranks. That’s just natural.
He also was very influential to me in that he would give me books he finished reading. One of them happened to be The Onion, which greatly inspired the DailySkew’s satire angle, and set forth into motion so much, including this blog.
During Vic’s peak, he was a powerful middle-management force, and I suspect he would not approve of what is happening right now in his area. After Vic’s peak, his memory and skills began to decline severely, and his was replaced. He was actually tame when he was reassigned to a non-supervisory role. It was a shame to see him a shadow of his former self, but even still many people his age couldn’t work a computer. After he was “phased out” by upper management, his reign as kingpin of his department was forgotten, which was amazing to me, since his run on top was huge and memorable.
Ultimately, Vic got sick and was hospitalized. If my memory serves me well, Vic’s wife called, and an announcement was made, and our boss sent condolences to the funeral home. And that was it. Those that remembered him, remember when he was in charge, and that’s a good thing.
The bottom line is that when everything was said and done, history shows that Victor Lefton was a great asset to the company, with an old-school perfectionist work-ethic (He would say, “My father never believed in ‘good enough’. He believed in doing something the best it could be” and “Too many Indian chiefs, not enough Indians here”. He was also an interesting conversationalist- love him or hate him. The truth is the people he wound up firing made better lives for themselves anyway.
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Ive heard rumors that the ghost of Victor Lefton still haunts the office, although ive never seen him myself, others say that they have.
no disrespect to this man ive never met,
but ive got to say, when a guy dies and still shows up to work-
thats a pretty strong work-ethic if you ask me.
Tony and I had a tongue-in-cheek theory that our office is located at the Nexus of Reality, which explains the chaos, confusing history, and how it’s a magnet for the weird (us included) there. After all, the only thing that matters at the office is whatever the current project we are working on- the past truly isn’t recognized by the Powers that Be.
Over 600 workers in 10 years,with different personalities, ethics, and histories…all brought together…used and forgotten to get some jobcode out on time.
The last I checked, Vince McMahon doesn’t force any wrestlers to work for him. They know all the rules and benefits up front, yet they continue to indulge in their lifestyles.
See Benoit, Chris.
I hope you meant, “lack” of benefits, law-man.