Thomas Darden Personnel File, Memos re: Complaints

		TO: Mr. Nils Landor, Acting Head of Customer Service FROM: David Torriello DATE: Monday, February 24, 1997 CONFIDENTIAL Nils: I am writing to report an issue with one of my employees, Tom Darden. In the past month, I have received five complaints from users calling the help desk seeking resolutions from him. Apparently Tom has been verbally abusive to these internal customers when they call in requesting assistance. I've spoken to each of these individuals and they all seem to agree that Tom gets very defensive when problems arise, as though he takes it personally. I have noticed a certain degree of irritability in him of late, but I had assumed it was due to the managerial transition two months ago. I fear it may be something more. Yesterday when I sat down and went over this issue with him, he immediately began to make excuses and defend his actions instead of simply acknowledging his error. I've also noticed that he's shown a disinterest in participating during our bi-weekly team meetings. Most of his teammates are more than happy to offer their insights during these group discussions, but Tom rarely speaks up, though I know he has some very good ideas to share. I want to make it clear that Tom is an extremely hardworking employee and I do not want to lose him. My report shows that he closes almost twice the amount of Quasar issues as the two other people in my VAX section. He is very knowledgeable about our in-house applications, but his customer service skills have certainly degraded since his change in behavior. I feel that there may be more to this than what appears on the surface. I would like to recommend he be referred to Dr. Charles Balis for a consultation. I'd like to have this done discreetly--I definitely don't want to alarm Tom or give him the implication that his job is in jeopardy. Please call me if you have any questions. Regards,

		TO: Mr. David Torriello, Internal Information Technology Manager FROM: Nils Landor DATE: February 25, 1997 CONFIDENTIAL Dear Dave: Take Tom aside and see if you can't get him to open up to you. Definitely refer him to Dr. Balis--we need to plant the seed here. If he takes your suggestion, fine; if not, we really have no choice but to view Tom as a liability. We cannot afford to have issues like this undermining our recent efforts to aggressively sell the Help Desk to other departments. Acting Head of Customer Service Department cc: Personnel

Doctor Balis' Notes on this File
Thomas Darden's Personnel File