Let me start this posting by stating that I am very happy here at THD. However, a recent event affected the spirit and lower the morale of several residents including myself. It was the unexpected and sudden departure of Teresa Nudo- Activity Coordinator. Rumor has circulated that she was fired and did not leave voluntarily. If this is true, something is rotten in Denmark! (THD Management).
I know it is none of my business of what is going on between THD-Management and its employees. But unexpected events of employees disappearing without explanation deserves a comment from me as a blogger. Other residents probably can not care less, but after a while some of us residents developed a bond (friendship) with the THD employees that help promote the enhancement of our well-being as well as a sense of belonging in our aging years at THD.
I believe Teresa was doing an excellent job as Activity Coordinator and was well like by majority of residents because of her empathy for senior citizen issues. Personally, I believe Teresa was doing an excellent job in the Activity Department. Her most recent hosting job was to chaperon us to the lunch excursions at the Rooftop Park in the SalesForce Tower in San Francisco.
Previously she worked as Resident Liaison and assisted Jenny Shively in the Marketing/Leasing Department. We will miss you Teresa, Your empathy and kindness to the senior residents here at THD we will always remember. Good Luck in your future endeavor.
Here's an excerpt from my previous posting about THD.
" Note that THD has been rated as a 5 Star Active Senior Living Community in the SFO East Bay. However, Criticisms has touched on areas like parking availability and the handling of emergency situations ( no generator during power outage), suggesting a need for better communication and preemptive measures. In addition, the rapid turnover of employees in the Activity Department also generated some negatives comments from a number of Residents".
Another recent THD employee turnover was the sudden disappearance of our recent Sous Chef, Alberto Alvarez in the Newton's Kitchen. I have talked to him when he joined the Kitchen staff just recently. His several years of experience as Cook for a French Restaurant in San Francisco impressed me. During his few weeks of employment here, I noticed there were some creative changes in the Dinner and Dessert Menu, that a lot of residents like. I have heard Alberto was also fired because of personality conflicts with the Boss. I also heard Alberto quit on his own volition after some major disagreements with his fellow coworkers. I do not know what is true since employee turnover is never communicated to the us the Renters. If this second reason is true, I would not be surprised for as the saying goes:
TOO MANY COOKS IN THE KITCHEN SPOILS THE BROTH
I hope our Dinner Menu and Lunches be more creative and varied. Variety is the Spice of Life. I am looking forward for another Filipino Dinner this month to celebrate Filipino-American History Month. Thank You, Agustin and the Kitchen Crew!
Prediction for Future THD Employee Turnovers: My guess is there will be one or two more employee turn over before the end of the year by either voluntary retirement or change for a better positions both financially and a working environment. My Lessons Learned from THD Employees Turnover: It is sad to state that after experiencing several employees turnover here at THD, that I am cautioning myself not to get too friendly to employees here since you will never know when they will disappears like a ghost in the wind without notice! Have a Great Day Every One!
4 comments:
Both Teresa and Alberto will be missed!
Thanks, David, for the window into the dynamics among workers here. Most of us simply experience generous and thoughtful help.
Hello David,
Thanks so much for sharing this post! Carol and I are also shocked and saddened to learn of Teresa Nudo's departure from THD! We both agree with your sentiments regarding Teresa's care and empathy for the residents here. I appreciate how you always have "an ear to the ground", so to speak.
Carol and I were also aware of the departure of our sous chef. We met and talked with him briefly when he first arrived.
David, I want to add a personal and cautionary note: I have noticed in serveral postings that you express your thoughts as to the reasons for such staff departures (Postings about Galen and this current one concerning Teresa come to mind). You write such words as "Rumor has it"...", going on to suggest that the employee was fired.
I think such expressions of opinion on your part are unwise at best and, at worst, counterproductive. Your desire to understand why someone from our staff here at THD suddenly leaves is real and makes sense. At the same time, employer--management relations are not, I believe, within our purview as residents. That subject matter is meant to be decided between the staff member and management-- and, frankly, not for us to speculate about.
A major reason I feel so strongly about this is that any suggestion on your part or on the part of any of our fellow residents that someone on staff was fired or otherwise lost his or her position arbitrarily or otherwise unfairly is quite likely to lead to feelings of resentment or bitterness on the part of residents toward management, and lead to discontentment.
Truthfully, when a staff member leaves and there is concern as to how and why it transpired, the only way any of us residents will know the answer is if we are provided full disclosure by both the employee and management. That is highly unlikely to happen.
My own experience as an employee of Social Security's Regional Office illustrates the point I'm making here. In my job I would frequently receive letters or phone calls from aggrieved benefit applicants or beneficiaries complaining about what they genuinely believed was arbitrary and unfair treatment from the personnel of a local Social Security field office. Their acounts would sound entirely factual and I could and did empathize with them. Before responding, however, or making any determination as to the merit of their allegations, I would always speak with local office management first to get their side of the story. Often, management would paint an entirely different picure of the situation at hand. My role was to sift through the oft-conflicting accounts to facilitate a resolution of the situation. Generally, I was quite successful in such efforts. I hope you find these comments .helpful. John Larimore
Thank you John for your cautionary and wise advice. But let me reiterate why I wrote this article in my blogs. I know it is none of my business of what is going on between THD-Management and its employees. But unexpected events of employees disappearing without explanation deserves a comment from me as a blogger. Other residents probably can not care less, but after a while some of us residents developed a bond (friendship) with the THD employees that help promote the enhancement of our well-being as well as a sense of belonging in our aging years at THD. This is my 16-month residency here at THD. I believe there were four or five THD employees that just unexpectedly disappeared and no explanation why they left. If there is no explanation of the employees departure, it is just normal for residents to speculate of their sudden and unexpected disappearance. A few of us develop some form of bonding to The THD employee who empathize with our well being during our stay here. Their sudden and unexpected disappearance lowers our spirit of the Goodness of the Human Spirit because we do not know the other side of the story. A short explanation why the employee left - is the least thing THD management can do to alleviate this feeling of abandonment and surprise ( unless the employee left not voluntarily). Again, I appreciate your wise advice and comment. David
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