07/08/2021
"DIRTY OLD MEN" IN HIGH PLACES.
This is not a good week to be the Governor of New York who, all at once, goes from Hero to Heel in the national spotlight. Not long ago he had center stage in the fight against the current black plague but now the years of playing hard and fast with the rules of managing a staff has him facing impeachment. So what changed?
Going way back, it was a man's world where there were brass spittoons sitting on a large rubber mat in every work space with precious few direct hits on the brass portion, much less the mat...chewin to***co juice lived in the water-filled bowl just under the brass cover...they were cleaned once a day...needed or not. There was lots of scratching and cussing but no one paid much attention until WWII ended and the lady riveters signed up for Ms. Dickey's school for Secretaries. These talented young ladies could type using all their fingers, not just two and they didn't like sittin near the spittoons...which slowly disappeared...the men folk had to start watchin their mouth and keepin their hands to themselves. Some folks didn't get the message...seems old habits die hard.
I grew up in that rough environment and watched the ladies wince when the expletives started flying...something you might expect in an inner city police station but certainly not in the offices of a New York Governor. Times have changed Andrew.
On the other side of the coin, what brought the wrath of God down on Mr. Cuomo did not occur in a vacuum. The bad behavior, no matter what level, didn't start last week or last year rather it had been an ongoing problem for years in offices across the land and something, or someone, tipped the scale in Albany.
We were not all shocked at earthy language and some of the worse came from the mouths of those those who would now get in line for a piece of the pie some insurance company will be slicing up to settle the civil lawsuits. I though I had made the transition as a manager of office workers until the day I stepped into the work station of a new member of the steno pool and asked if she could take a moment to type up a draft memo that had priority status...she told me I was standing in "her space"...silly me...I thought it was corporate "space."
Anyway, there will be three sides to this matter, his hers and what really happened, and when it all comes out in the depositions, I would doubt any of the ill behavior rises beyond the level of a class one misdemeanor. No question the "Gov" was all the things people say about the tough New Yorker where being rude is the order of the day and in my time, a place where business meetings would often be referred to as "chair throwing events" where your voice was better heard if you were standing since in that position, one can shout louder than when sitting. Bringing at least one tough lawyer and a court reporter with you to such meetings was considered being prepared...you were not in Willie Wanka's chocolate factory.
Got the picture?
