Company holiday party? Don't invite the guy who just got fired

[Tre]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081213/ap_on_re_ca/canada_office_shooting

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – A former employee recently let go from his job opened fire at an office Christmas party Friday, killing one person, police said.

"The suspect, a 61-year-old man, entered the business, which had at least a dozen people inside enjoying a Christmas party," police said in a statement.

Police Const. Tim Fanning said the gunman entered the party around 4 p.m. One man was shot and killed but the other partygoers managed to escape and no one else was injured.

"Police 'locked down' the neighborhood and negotiated with the suspect, who gave himself up to police just after 6:00 p.m.," Fanning said in the statement.

The business at the location of the shooting is listed as TallGrass Distribution Ltd., a natural health product supplier.

Luke Pigeon, who lives in an apartment building next door, said he didn't hear a gunshot but heard a commotion outside his window.

"It wasn't typical, crazy noise that sometimes happens. You got the feeling there was something definitely, definitely wrong," Pigeon told The Canadian Press.

He looked out his window and saw someone fleeing the building next door.

"All of a sudden in my front yard there were five totally decked out, geared up riot squad officers with guns out of the holster, aiming at the second floor of the building right beside us," Pigeon said.

He spent the next two hours in his apartment, with armed officers about 10 feet from his front window as police tried to negotiate with the suspect.

Finally, he heard activity as the gunman gave himself up.

"They cuffed him on the ground and they took him into a cruiser," he said. "He was giving them a bit of grief, he was saying that his cuffs hurt."

Police said the victim's name would not be released until next of kin had been notified.

They said the name of the suspect would be released after he is formally charged.

[JimmyJam1974]

Luke Pigeon = classic name.

Wonder if Luke squatted?

[QuakerOats]

a person works for these companies for decades and then one day when the company decides they don't want you around anymnore for whatever reason they give you a pink slip and escort you out the door with security guards right behind you like you're a criminal, people are getting sick of being treated like that and this is what happens, sad that it has to be that way but if tyhese companies would treat people with some respect and dignity you wouldn't see this shit happening.

[Wiggs]

a person works for these companies for decades and then one day when the company decides they don't want you around anymnore for whatever reason they give you a pink slip and escort you out the door with security guards right behind you like you're a criminal, people are getting sick of being treated like that and this is what happens, sad that it has to be that way but if tyhese companies would treat people with some respect and dignity you wouldn't see this shit happening.

Agree

[Man of Steel]

a person works for these companies for decades and then one day when the company decides they don't want you around anymnore for whatever reason they give you a pink slip and escort you out the door with security guards right behind you like you're a criminal, people are getting sick of being treated like that and this is what happens, sad that it has to be that way but if tyhese companies would treat people with some respect and dignity you wouldn't see this shit happening.

Exactly, the second a respected employee suddenly goes from regular headcount to a forced reduction they're instantly equated with and treated like a criminal......it's pathetic.

[funk51]

look up on google fred cowan to see what this man did when he got fired. hint he's the reason for the term in our lexicon going postal.

[QuakerOats]

Exactly, the second a respected employee suddenly goes from regular headcount to a forced reduction they're instantly equated with and treated like a criminal......it's pathetic.

that's why i never understand when a person gives undying loyalty to any compnay, you're just a number to these places and the second they feel you're no longer economically feasible they throw you out the door like yesterday's trash.

[Man of Steel]

that's why i never understand when a person gives undying loyalty to any compnay, you're just a number to these places and the second they feel you're no longer economically feasible they throw you out the door like yesterday's trash.

agreed, the whole "company man" thing I've never understood.   I work for a large company, but I find the motivation for focus in my job via my family and its needs.   If I do my job successfully and help improve the situation at work I keep gettin those checks every couple of weeks that sustain my family (and once in awhile they give me a little bonus or a promotion)...that's really my only motivation.   I'd give two wet dogshits about the end users of the company's products or the stockholders....I care only if my family benefits. 

[just_a_pilgrim]

that's why i never understand when a person gives undying loyalty to any compnay, you're just a number to these places and the second they feel you're no longer economically feasible they throw you out the door like yesterday's trash.

Totally agree.

I also think large companies outsourcing to India/Other cheap countries will have this come back and bite them because their level of service will drop. Assuming a competitor actually gives a good level of service in the meantime.

[Sarcastic Deity]

look up on google fred cowan to see what this man did when he got fired. hint he's the reason for the term in our lexicon going postal.

hhaa...good find...thanks for the reminder

[The Showstoppa]

Just hope the guy shot someone who was responsible for his being let go.  Not just some other working stiff who's family has no father now.

[io856]

If what QuakerOats says is  true about these employees serving many years in a company only to be escorted by security... then that is a fucking disgrace. These guys spend their life working at these companies biting their tongues year after after getting paid the absolute minimum only to get treated like shit. What a disgrace, you would think we are better than the east but the west is full of scumbags too.

You would hear much more of these stories around the world if guns were legal to own. This mainly only happens in the U.S.

This sort of thing sort of justifies doing what makes you happy because if you rely on other people and work for other people and thats all you have and eventually they fuck you over (probably will) then you are not left with much but bitterness.

[basurablanco]

Totally agree.

I also think large companies outsourcing to India/Other cheap countries will have this come back and bite them because their level of service will drop. Assuming a competitor actually gives a good level of service in the meantime.

Remember, as long their is a surplus of talented, educated people in the workforce ( baby boomers), companies will do as they please. As the baby boomers retire, who will take their place? Gen Xer's? They could care less about work. Millennials? Unmotivated and disinterested.
I look forward to the shortage of college educated people in America. My income will only go up 

[Tre]

There was a shift - perhaps in our lifetimes (the 1980s, maybe?) - when companies began to transform from 'families' to 'strictly business'. 

There's a lot of value in treating people like you would treat members of your own family, because people that are treated well will often go to bat for you more quickly than someone else who's just there for the paycheck.

BUT, when people have to compete for those paycheck-producing slots, companies also see increases in productivity. 

It goes both ways, I'm afraid, and more and more, we're seeing companies choose the latter path.

[Tapeworm]

Like MOS said, employees don't give a shit about the company they work for.  A 'company man' who loves his employer is as rare as a company that gives a damn about its employees.  Would you work somewhere for free just because you'd been there a long time and you 'owe them?'  A company doesn't owe a man jack shit because he worked there for 40 years.  He got paid for it.  If he got underpaid, he's the dumbass who accepted it for 40 years. 

Why do people always flip out when they discover that the world doesn't owe them something?  Make an honest assessment of things, not warped by wishful thinking or groundless optimism, and you won't have any nasty surprises.

Besides, no wonder he got fired.  A room full of people and he only managed to shoot one guy?    Talk about incompetent.

[funk51]

Just hope the guy shot someone who was responsible for his being let go.  Not just some other working stiff who's family has no father now.

                        no  the guy who left him go norman bing was hiding under a desk while all this was happening. he left a few people go who were friendly to him, telling one to relay a message to his mom not to come down to neptune.

[funk51]

a couple of pics

[nzmusclemonster]

A lot of disgruntled employees in this thread.

[The Showstoppa]

                        no  the guy who left him go norman bing was hiding under a desk while all this was happening. he left a few people go who were friendly to him, telling one to relay a message to his mom not to come down to neptune.

So the asshole just shot some other employee?  Pathetic. 

[Reign Down]

A lot of disgruntled employees in this thread.

At least they have a job and don't run out of credit on their phones! ahahahahaha


ta ta hobo!

[nzmusclemonster]

At least they have a job and don't run out of credit on their phones! ahahahahaha


ta ta hobo!

Oh boy, you're on a roll today 

[Reign Down]

Oh boy, you're on a roll today 

hahahaha as long as you are not enjoying yourself!


ta ta!

[240 is Back]

There was a shift - perhaps in our lifetimes (the 1980s, maybe?) - when companies began to transform from 'families' to 'strictly business'. 

True - but - at the same time, people change jobs a LOT more than they used to.  This whole headhunting, monster.com generation that is always looking for a resume-building job to move onto the next job... it means companies can't commit as much to employees, knowing they're using company time to surf other job offers.

Loyalty is gone on both sides.

[io856]

True - but - at the same time, people change jobs a LOT more than they used to.  This whole headhunting, monster.com generation that is always looking for a resume-building job to move onto the next job... it means companies can't commit as much to employees, knowing they're using company time to surf other job offers.

Loyalty is gone on both sides.

good point

At the end of the day does the monster.com generation of employees ever really find themselves comfortable in their job? I mean its sort of interesting that mentality of "the grass is always greener on the other side". Do many get to the point of taking three  steps forward then wanting to take two steps back? Very interesting subject indeed

[TechnoViking]

I wonder if Michael Moore will leave this out in the sequel to Bowling for Columbine?