Minn. Man Kills Self In His Car After Losing Job

[stevedeshazer]

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2011/10/01/minn-man-kills-self-in-his-car-after-losing-job/

BURNSVILLE, Minn. (AP) — Burnsville police say a Northfield man who had just lost his job committed suicide in front of former colleagues by locking himself in his car and shooting himself in the head.

Fifty-one-year-old Patrick Joseph Graves was still alive Thursday morning when officers arrived. He died about an hour later at a hospital.

Graves had just been let go from Goodrich Corp., where his girlfriend said he worked for three years. Jill Murphy says Graves received an unexpectedly poor performance review Monday and was fired Thursday.

A company official declined to say whether Graves was fired, citing employee confidentiality.

more @ link

There's a lot of this going on in Amerika these days.

[formercia]

1. "A company official declined to say whether Graves was fired, citing employee confidentiality."

The poor sot is dead, you heartless assholes.

[malaise]

2. They don' t give a shit that he's dead

They're worried about the backlash re firing the man.
Fuck them

[formercia]

4. "At the advice of my Attorney..."

...and the Plant Manager....

[Blue_Tires]

5. Translation: "We needed to cut payroll so we manufactured the flimsiest of reasons...

...that we never cared about before (i.e., he came in at 8:01 five days in a row) and threw the company handbook at him. If it gets out we pulled this shit and it lead to his suicide, we will be sued to oblivion."

[Donnachaidh]

21. their lawyer's need time to cover the corporate asses

it's not confidentiality they are concerned with. not really.

[peacetalksforall]

'unexpectedly poor performance' is the usual m o. Those performance appraisals can be

and are rigged to put a reason on record for the legalities of it all. To fightlawsuits/investigations.

[Warpy]

3. If he didn't have a lot stashed away in savings

he pretty much knew it was over. At 51, he just wasn't going to get hired anywhere.

I hope the HR guys who decided to "get rid of the old guy" are some of the witnesses. Most of them never see what their policy of cleaning 50+ workers out of the business really means until they hit 50 and it happens to them.

[stevedeshazer]

6. About seven years ago, I was like that guy.

Got fired at 50 right before Christmas, same 'poor performance' bullshit. I was a 99er. I just could not find a job, and I was in despair. Thank God my wife has a good job.

Just after my benefits ran out, I finally found a job. After five years working at my new job, I now make 1/2 what I used to.

Workers 50+ are just plain screwed. There's no incentive for us to put our experience to good use. We're just expected to grind it out at some crappy low wage job (provided you can find one) and hope you make it to Social Security and Medicare.

Oh, wait.

The Republicans, and a fair number of Democrats in Congress wanna raise the eligibility age to 67-70.

They literally want us to work until we die.

And think of the downward pressure this puts on young people, who also can't find good jobs, even with college degrees like my young adult kids.

Hell, we should reduce the retirement age to 60 in exchange for two years of community service. And open up the job market for younger people.

[Warpy]

7. That's an excellent idea, so listen to the conservatives in both parties scream

Some enlightened countries have a retirement age of 55, with or without the possibility of community service afterward. If you do a physically difficult job, your body is pretty well shot at 55. If you are a corporate office worker, your prospects are shot at 55 and you're discarded for someone who is younger and cheaper.

Office drones like Congresmen think because their own bodies are still in reasonable shape, the rest of us must be and they couldn't be farther from the truth. They think because their own bodies are in good shape and because they keep working as long as they can keep fooling people enough to vote for them, we can too.

Raising the retirement age has become almost as much of a dealbreaker as being an antiabortionist is. Both are utterly evil positions and I'll abstain or cast a protest vote if both pols hold them.

[earthboundmisfit]

16. They literally want us to work until we die.

And at what job, when we're getting laid off? Then I guess it's they literally just want us to DIE.

[treestar]

25. With baby boomers, there will be so many older people

We could start an over-50 economy. Sort of like the Christians who try to patronize each other. Everybody go into business doing something and patronize other over 50 people.

[earthboundmisfit]

17. I hope the ones who decided got to see it too.

And I hope it replays every time they look in the mirror and every time they close their eyes to sleep. Every time they hear a balloon pop or a car backfire I hope they get that visual to go with the sound. But it probably won't.

[uppityperson]

8. I wonder if he had a larger mental health issue, depression affecting his work performance also.

just a thought, don't know the guy but just wondering

[stevedeshazer]

9. I wondered the same thing.

When I was in that position, my dad was deteriorating quickly from Alzheimer's and there was an awful lot of pressure on me both at work and on the home front.

That's a reasonable question, for sure.

[uppityperson]

14. OP says "Murphy tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press Graves told the company he struggled with depressi"

Murphy tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press Graves told the company he struggled with depression.

[TBF]

10. I'll bet you were wondering the same thing. Anything to avoid looking at reality. nt

[AngkorWot]

11. Because suicide is a rational response to losing a job?

:eyes:

[uppityperson]

12. Wondering if depression was impacting his work is not looking at reality? huh

Not excusing the employer, just thinking of possible scenarios that might have happened is "avoid looking at reality". Oh kay.



Would you please fill us in with more information since you seem to know this guy?

We need more accessible affordable non-stigmatic mental health care. Especially these days. Unless you think someone committing suicide wasn't depressed. Of course losing a job is a huge stressor, but wondering why he killed himself, if he had larger issue.

[uppityperson]

13. "Murphy tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press Graves told the company he struggled with depression."

From OP link (just read it)
"Murphy tells the St. Paul Pioneer Press Graves told the company he struggled with depression."


Not sure what your snark was meant for.

[TBF]

22. We need to look deeper at why so many in society are depressed -

and what this capitalist system is doing to contribute to the problem.

Of course folks are going to be prone to depression if they are suffering at work, and dismissing it as "oh they just need a psychiatrist" is not enough. It is again focusing on the individual and deciding that person is not coping well enough - rather than looking at this society and what we are doing to people.

[uppityperson]

24. Overwork, underpaid, unvalued. I am in agreement with you.

[Major Nikon]

18. Everyone is subject to clinical depression

Getting fired is one of the worst things that can happen to anyone and ranks right up there with losing a relationship if not more so. At 51 yrs old it's particularly devastating because most feel they are too old to start over yet aren't old enough for SS and retirement.

It's certainly possible he could have had serious depression issues which led to his firing, but it's also very possible that he didn't. Depression lurks around the corner for every one of us, and we should all tell ourselves that but for the grace of dog go I.

It's just a very sad case. There's lots of treatments which are very effective. He could have gotten help.

[uppityperson]

20. OP says he did. I've been there, done that

Got laid off and was severely depressed. Was depressed due to job stressors, overwork, increasing workload, unsafe conditions, etc etc. Burnt out and got laid off at the same time. I managed to not kill myself, though thought of it. If I'd have done so, it wouldn't have been because I was laid off, but because the whole situation sucked.

We need more accessible affordable non-stigmatic mental health care.

[yardwork]

23. Mammon forbid that we should help people who are going through difficult times.

This is a not a civilization.

[workinclasszero]

15. I cant believe those jobs haven't been exported

to China yet. Workers over there kill themselves all the time but over horrific working conditions.

I'm sure the poor guy realized that no one would hire him at his age even if there were any places hiring.

I don't recognize this country anymore. It has been destroyed by wall street thieves and the republicans.

[aikoaiko]

19. I'm working in middle management at a university now and been involved in terminating employment

Its the worst part of the job by far. One worries about the impact it has on the workers including suicide.

My goal over the last year and a half is that there should be no surprises when someone's employment is terminated and I have been working with those who do performance evaluations to do their jobs.

At the university we have the luxury of giving people a decent amount of notice when their employment is ended (3 months to 15 months).