Going through the personnel file!

I've mentioned several problems I had with Program Director Crad, how he cut my hours and tried to make my life miserable at KZZO-FM in Clovis, NM in 1984 and 1985. It made me really paranoid that there was a conspiracy afoot that was aimed at making me quit so they could bring in some other stoner DJ to come in and sound like crap on the air.

I noticed something interesting in my employee handbook that was written by owner Jid. Everybody who worked at the station would have a personnel file. In this file would be inter-office communications, evaluations and any other information related to the employee's performance on the record. According to the handbook, we were allowed to view the personnel file.

However, there was a catch: The handbook said that in order for us to view our personnel file, we had to make an appointment for a later date and time to come in and view the file. We could not walk up to the receptionist, ask to see the file and then march immediately into the General Manager's office to look at it.

I'm pretty certain this stipulation was against the law. I mean, if there was something in the file that could be used in a discrimination or sexual harassment lawsuit, this would give the powers that be time to review the file and take out any incriminating evidence. Nope, I knew the only way I could see the file in its unfiltered and unfettered state was to get my hands on it while I was working an overnight shift.

I had been trying the door to General Manager JE's office for weeks, figuring that one of these days, he'd forget to lock it. I was right. I went in and, lucky again, he didn't lock the drawer that held the personnel files. I flipped through the files. I noticed that a lot of them were pretty thick as they had numerous memos put into each one. I found mine. It wasn't thick. When I opened it up, I only found two items in there: my original application and the handbook sheet that I had signed.

I was very disappointed. I actually wanted confirmation that my paranoia was justified. I was expecting memos that said stuff like, "Fayd makes us sound bad. I'm not giving him any good shifts," or "Jid keep getting on my case about Fayd," or "I'm going to make life miserable for Fayd so he'll quit!" But I don't know what I would have done with that knowledge. I couldn't dispute anything that Crad put in the file because I wasn't supposed to have seen it, and if I made an appointment to see the file and any document was missing, I couldn't discuss how I knew it was gone.

If looking up my personnel file flirted with being unethical, what I did next turned into a physical relationship: I looked at EVERYBODY's files. One of the things that came apparent when Jid took over was that he wanted everything communicated via memorandums. Staff members took to writing their frustrations in triplicate and it all got saved in the personnel files pretty much how people will troll and flame on the Internet now. I saw that there was an apparent memo war going on between Crad and the sales staff. I guess he went to one of the salespeople and insulted his ad copy to his face. This prompted a written response from the Sales Manager and it went back and forth. This was also how I found out that Snid got in trouble for talking on the phone during his shift.

I also saw notices of resignation by several employees, mostly the sales staff. None of them had anyhing nice to say about their experience in trying to make a living selling something that practically doesn't exist.

A year later, we moved the station to another location next to the KMCC-TV station. For some reason, JE didn't keep the personnel file in his office. (There probably wasn't room. He had a HUGE office at the old location.) The file was kept in the reception area and WAS NOT locked. One night, I pointed out the personnel file to Tod and Siz. Unbeknownst to me, Ked, who was the Program Director at the time, was there at the station while this was going on. He said, "Be, careful. You guys shouldn't be doing that." (I'll get to my issues with Ked in tomorrow's post.)

The next week, Ked held a meeting with the air staff. For the first time ever, JE sat in on the meeting. I knew why he was there. Ked continued with the meeting. When he finished, JE asked me, "Fayd, you haven't been going through the personnel file, have you?" The way he asked that question made it easy for me to lie. I said, "No, I haven't." Then Ked asked, "Are you sure?" I said, "Yes, I'm sure." JE said, "Okay," and then left. (I should point out that he did not question Tod and Siz, who had also gone through the file.)

I'm certain that if I had admitted to it, I would have been fired right on the spot. I think Ked and JE were counting on my honest nature to give them an excuse to get rid of me. It didn't work, but they likely knew I had just lied to their faces. I dodged a bullet.

A few years later, I was working as an Assistant Manager at the Mayan Theatre in Denver. One of the employees asked me what was in a cabinet we had in the office. I told him it was the personnel files. He asked if he could see his. I remembered all the hassles with KZZO and knew the right thing to do. I said, "Sure," reached in, grabbed his file and handed it right to him. The only stipulation was that he couldn't leave the office with it. He didn't have a problem with that.

And that's the way personnel file requests should be handled, period. I've never had any desire to see my personnel file for any other employer I've worked for. But that's because I never felt like any of them were conspiring to screw me over. At least one of them DID conspire, but they were a lot more clever about not making any indication that they were. That will be much later.