A Bad Case of the Payroll Hiccups

Most of LaGarde "employees" (and I use that term loosely) have by now had their paycheck from last Friday returned, and their checking accounts are bouncing the last 6 days of checks.

Just like last time, there was no warning about this, and in fact most people were warmly assured by the Management "Team" (and we use that term loosely as well) that the checks will have no trouble and will clear fine.

But, the Management Team HAS come through and demonstrated fine leadership skills this week. Amongst the tactics that were practiced:
- Disappear from the office all day or all week
- Write an email autoreply that says, "I'm very busy today and not responding to emails"
- Reply to questions about the bounced checks with "I'll look into that right away" and then never followup.
- Reply to questions about the bounced checks with "I'll forward your question to Jene" (the CFO that was fired last week.) Hmmm, you better not be holding your breath for that reply!

But the fearless leaders (well, leaders in SALARY, anyway) must have sensed that the employees were becoming restless. The below email went out to nearly all employees of LaGarde last night. The best part about it is that the email was sent out from Bob LaGarde to each person individually, with their first name in the greeting, so as to appear very personal.

I'm sure everyone felt very touched!
____________________

-Employee First Name-
I need to let you know that our paycheck to you last Friday did not clear the bank and has been returned. I am truly sorry and embarrassed at this hiccup on our part and am working diligently to correct the situation. I plan to have some sort of company meeting tomorrow to update everyone on the financial status of the company and will have more detail for you at that point. If you can watch and let us know if your bank is re-submitting or not that would be helpful. We hope to have everything fully covered by Friday and if necessary we will wire the funds, plus any costs assessed to you at that time or before.

Please feel free to talk to me directly about any questions, concerns or input you may have. I sincerely appreciate your patience as we work through this stressful situation.

Bob