Employee recalls: "I'm the big dog around here!"
By Eric Rosario
William Drilon remembers his first day at work at the seaport, when then-general manager Joanne Brown began his batch mates's orientation:
"I'm the big dog around here. You think you have connects? My connects are stronger. So never think you can surpass me."
Brown's bully tactics are not surprising to anyone who has had to work for her. At the time, Calvo administration officials at the Governor's Office were keen on pushing political hires into the seaport, much to the chagrin of Ms. Brown, who wanted to control hiring at her agency.
Mr. Drilon kept his head down, went to work, and stayed out of her way.
He told Kandit News that a few months into his employment, his insurance company billed him for a procedure he thought was covered. As it turned out, he said, the human resources division at work made a mistake on the entry of his documents, which caused his coverage to drop.
He went through the channels to get the matter rectified, he said, and ended up meeting with Ms. Brown.
"I started off by saying the problem is with HR, and that's when she blew up," Mr. Drilon said.
Her response to him still haunts him. The following is what he remembers her saying, in detail:
"You're a dime a dozen. There's a thousand people I can bring in to replace you in the snap of a finger. You're not even worth me remembering your name. You're just an expendable worker that no one will know. Tell Civil Service I said that. It'll take years before they even get to me and by that time I won't even remember this useless conversation."
Ms. Brown is a Republican candidate for senator, and a former senator. She is the subject of recent controversy from a performance audit showing she was illegally hired as seaport GM and received illegal pay raises made retroactively to her.
Mr. Drilon has agreed to an on-camera sit-down interview with Kandit for the full story on his encounters with Ms. Brown.
