Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Something Rotten In The State of Denmark

In August 1989, while I worked at the DC law firm of Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a coworker, Stacey Schaar, said to me: "We're all afraid of you. We're all afraid you're going to buy a gun, bring it in, and shoot everybody." Personally, I think she was motivated by jealousy. Stacey and I were both temporary employees. In August 1989 the firm granted me a full-time position with benefits; Stacey remained a temp. She was oddly desperate to get a job with the firm. During the summer of 1989, Stacey had flown down to the firm's main office in Dallas, Texas to interview for a paralegal position in the Dallas office. Yes, let me repeat -- she flew from Washington, DC to Dallas to interview for a paralegal position in the firm's Dallas office! A tad askew, to say the least! At the time, I remember saying to a coworker, "it's Pee Wee's big adventure."

Be that as it may.

In September 1989 I made an appointment to see a counselor at the firm's Employee Assistance Provider, Sheppard Pratt in DC. The counselor was a social worker named Kathleen Kelley, a graduate of Catholic University. I told Kathleen Kelley that I was having problems with my coworkers. I reported the statement made by Stacey Schaar that coworkers feared that I might be a homicidal maniac.

In July 1993, after I had been fired from my job at Akin Gump, I went back to Shepperd Pratt to find out what was in my file. Oddly enough, Kathleen Kelley, the social worker I had met with in September 1989, had written up my factual report about Stacey Schaar as if it were a paranoid delusion on my part. According to Sheppard Pratt, I was a delusional employee who imagined that coworkers were afraid I might be a homicidal maniac. That's a tad askew, don't you think? Do you think Sheppard Pratt was in cahoots with Akin Gump to thwart me from filing a harassment lawsuit against the firm? Who knows?

Sheppard Pratt Employee Asistance Programs
P.O. Box 6815, Baltimore, MD 21285-6815

PERSONAL INFORMATION FOR

CASE NO: 470009890064

Date: 9/13/89

Counselor Notes:

Client described what appear to be paranoid delusions. Co-workers make comments to trivialize his sense of importance, to insinuate he is insane and to suggest he is potentially violent & may appear at work with a gun & shoot them. He reports he does not have this intention & does not have a gun.

Wants a referral for therapy.

Schizoid features -- no relationships

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