Follie a deux

 

Client B

With kind permission

 

This is the story about Destructive Narcissism, Vicious neighbours and Colleague!

 

A charity was floundering financially, and constantly threatened with closure because it was in debt. The charity offered clinical services to a client population that were, in theory, fee paying. The fees were on a sliding scale according to self-disclosed income, and weren’t means tested. Some of the staff were paid employees but many were voluntary employees from prestigious backgrounds such as law, teaching, business and finance, and the media.

The closure of the centre would have meant that the client group would have had nowhere local to go for support, and that the dozens of staff would have been out of work.

Client B applied for a Senior Clinical post in the charity. He attended an interview and was surprised to be offered the post by phone less than an hour later, even though he found the interview quite tough and described the process as ‘castrating’! Interestingly, the Director of the charity was not on the interview panel and his absence went unexplained. At the interview Client B said that if were offered the post that he would want to meet all the clinical and admirative staff before he commenced clinical duties. The interview panel said that whomever the successful applicant was they would be given a two-week induction period were they would meet as many of the staff as possible. But that it might not be possible to meet everyone because the centre was staffed in shifts from 9am to 9pm seven days per week. The interview panel did not disclose the financial difficulties facing the charity, nor did Client B ask and assumed that the finances were in good health!

 

During these introductory meetings he came to understand that the staff felt very insecure as the charity was in debt, that it was faced with closure, and they were worried about the client group as there were no other services in the local area that could meet their needs.

The staffs’ greatest complaints were about the non-clinical director. They claimed that he was unprofessional, indolent, and when he hadn’t called in sick, he was frequently late to work, and was often seen slumped over his office desk sleeping, and that he just didn’t do the work that he was paid to do.  That his appearance was unkempt, had crud in his beard, and his breath always smelled of alcohol no matter how many mints he ate, and would go to the pub during his lunch breaks! But worst of all he just didn’t seem to care about the organisation, its clients and staff. He didn’t attend Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings. The director’s efforts to increase revenue and fundraise were non-existent. 

 

Client B, the new senior clinical staff member, also met with administrative staff and the senior management team, of which he was a member. And soon discovered that the appointments system had not been modernised in decades, and that the fee-paying system was wholly inadequate. That booked appointments had a DNA rate (did not attend) in the 60+% range, and the clients did not incur any charge for non-attendance as they had not paid for the appointments in the first place, hence the organisation being in debt. The DNA rate also meant that individuals, couples and families who genuinely wanted an appointment couldn’t get one because the systems was clogged with a high percentage of clients who would break their appointment by not attending! There was no shortage of clients, it was the booking and payments systems that were the problem! And the non-clinical Director had done absolutely nothing to address the issues despite the many possible solutions offered to him from admirative and clinica

l staff. He rejected all ideas out of hand, probably because the ideas didn’t come from him!

 

After Client B had met with as many clinical and administrative staff as possible, he came up with some recommendations to secure the future of the organisation and to bring the appointments system into the twenty first century. Being careful not to tread on the Director’s toes he ran these recommendations past the director first. And sure enough, the director rejected them without giving any reasonable justification. One recommendation was to bring in a new system of payments that included a Card Payment scheme were clients paid for their appointment over the phone, and that clients could pop into the organisation and pay by card, cheque or cash before being offered a secured appointment date. And that before another appointment could be booked all clinets paid for their next session a week in advance. The director rejected these proposals outright. His only argument was that the fees for the card payment were too high at 2.5%, which Client B had already provisionally negotiated down from 4%!!! So, Client B went back to the Debit/Credit Card company and renegotiated a new ‘introductory fee’ for three months of 1.5%. The director still rejected this! Client B was also a Member of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and was due to attend a meeting with the Board of Directors at the end of his induction period. As per usual the director did not attend! Client B had no option but to present his findings to the Board of Directors and his recommendations for upgrading the appointments and payment systems. The Board of Directors asked if Client B if he had discussed his recommendations and proposals with the director, he said of course! They asked what the director’s repone was and Client B said “you will have to ask him that question”! The Board of Directors fully endorsed Client Bs recommendations and proposals. 

 

Within a few months of implementing the new appointment and payment systems the DNA rate of client appointments had dropped from the 60+% to the mid-twenties and the charity was no longer facing financial ruin, and the director had gone!

Client B had never been officially informed but at the time of his appointment the non-clinical director was already on three months redundancy notice! But he soon realised that the director’s absence from the interview panel and Senior Management Team with the Board of Directors, and his obstructiveness with recommendations to upgrade the appointments and payment systems all meant that the director was on his way out!

 

Client B bumped into the director at the local train station on his way to work one morning. So, Client B asked him where he lived. The director was completely evasive and didn’t tell him. It wasn’t until two decades later that Client B discovered not only where they neighbours but the director and his wife had a direct view into his living room! The director had deliberately avoided using the main entrance/exit to his home so the Client B didn’t know the exact location of his home! How strange is that, and why? So, the director and his wife could clearly see when Client B was at home, when he had guests, dinner parties and parties! But in twenty years Client B had no idea they were neighbours! Client B was rarely at home because of work pattern and social life. Then during a covid lockdown Client B spotted the director slopping out of his home and go round the back of the building to evade detection. At that moment a lot of strange occurrences that had taken place over the last twenty years started to make sense. Client B had visits from the police for reports of Domestic Violence and Criminal Damage. The police came into Client B’s home interviewed him and left without arresting him or cautioning. Individuals and couples would turn up at his home from Dating Apps expecting a ‘DATE’ which he never entertained and sent them packing! Client B had never used a dating app in his life! He would receive parcels that he had never ordered, which he did not open and threw in the bin. He even received Credit Cards with his address but in someone else’s name or fake name, which he just shredded! Someone had written letters to all the neighbours slandering Client B’s name.

Then one morning while Client B was in the kitchen during covid lockdown, the director’s wife came into the garden with flipchart paper, which she laid out on the lawn saying “You are a F***ing B***ard!

Client B then realised that the director had completely lied to his wife about being made redundant from his directors’ post and used Client B as a scapegoat, a fall guy, and a patsy for losing his job! The director was obviously embarrassed and ashamed of losing his job but most of all frightened of telling his wife the truth! And from what Client B has experienced of the director’s wife he could see why he wouldn’t want to tell her the truth! She is obviously a nasty, vicious harridan, a fishwife, without grace or composure, ethics or morals! A Destructive Narcissist! And she is a parent! God help them!

 

She had been reporting him to the police, contacting the media and his employers, and confecting lies and slandering and harassing the Client B from the anonymity of her home opposite him for two decades! And God knows what else this abomination has done to Client B! According to another neighbour, who informed Client B that the director and his wife have alcohol fuelled violent fights frequently! A real Follie a deux!

 

And with absolutely NO thanks to the ex-director and his wife, the charity is still flourishing and supporting many thousands of individuals, couples and families!

 

Client B has helped many charities to become financially viable over the last two decades!

 

john@johnoreilly.co.uk

07784 233 878

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