What kind of work environment could possibly lead to this situation?

A Buffalo man told police two men, including his manager, forced him from his home Friday evening and drove him to the restaurant where he works and told him to clean grease off a Dumpster.

The man… said the pair forced their way into his bedroom by kicking open the door.

He also told police when he was done the manager gave him his paycheck and instructed him not to go to the police or “he would end up dead somewhere.”

I’ve heard people joke about this sort of thing as a solution to truancy in the public schools, but it just doesn’t work in restaurants. The reality is that this is a terrible way to motivate people. Even in tough economic times, when forcing your employees back to work may seem charitable — after all, who couldn’t use the overtime? — it’s just not effective.  And Friday evening was awfully darn cold in Buffalo. While I am sure there is a bit more to this news story, whatever’s missing can’t possibly justify this managerial response. He was probably going way against company procedure.

Still, as wrong as the manager’s actions may seem, I’d like to thank him and his accomplice for what they’ve done. It’s stories like these that help the rest of America to keep a positive view of our own jobs. Even on the worst day, I will always be able to say that my boss just isn’t the breaking-and-entering-and-stealing-my-phone-and-dragging-me-to-work-and-threatening-my-life-and-then-paying-me type of guy.  He really, really isn’t.  That’s probably worth a “thank you.”

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