March 2011.
Tiffanie Drayton, Michele Howard, and Wendy Buenger, the "hyenas" in question were supposed to be civil rights investigators, and yet, they waged ongoing email gossip and discrimination campaigns against their colleagues and their employer, and pretty much anyone they thought it was super cool to point fingers and lulz at.
These lovely ladies sat on their lousy shallow-minded butts all day, pounding out stupid nana-nana-boo-boo, neener neener neener emails and forwarding stupid chain letters making fun of people who shopped at Walmart, were too fat, too hairy, not the right skin tone, didn't manage things in exactly the right way and supposedly had laughable social skills according to them.
But when it comes to social skills, certainly social development, these three darlings are woefully stunted.
These three gossipy, cackling hyenas, Tiffanie, Michele, and Wendy, had even come up with oh so witty, clever and cute little nicknames for their employer and colleagues, such as "Teen Wolf" and "Night Ranger"
Now, here is the article in full. It can also be found at this link and is called,
Iowa fires 3 investigators for emails
APNewsBreak: Iowa fires 3 investigators for emails
RYAN J. FOLEY, Associated Press
Published 12:50 p.m., Monday, August 22, 2011
News
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Three Iowa civil rights investigators have been fired after sending hundreds of gossipy emails calling co-workers derogatory nicknames like "Psycho," ''Monster," and "Roid Rage," and forwarding pictures that made fun of fat people, Wal-Mart customers and others, according to public records and interviews.
Tiffanie Drayton, Michele Howard and Wendy Buenger repeatedly used mocking nicknames for many of their colleagues at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission in e-mails they sent throughout the workday, according to copies obtained by The Associated Press under the public records law.
They called their supervisor, Don Grove, "Teen Wolf" and the commission's executive director Beth Townsend, "Night Ranger," as they gossiped about their management styles. They criticized colleagues' looks, social skills and mannerisms, quoted vulgar rap lyrics and received and sent offensive pictures — all while they were supposed to be investigating complaints of housing and employment discrimination.
"Dude Where's My Car and Psycho are talking about food — a match made in stoner/fatty heaven!" Drayton wrote to the other two on March 4 in one of many such examples.
The emails were submitted as evidence in recent legal proceedings in which Drayton, Howard and Buenger have sought unemployment benefits after their firings on June 16. The AP obtained them from Iowa Workforce Development, along with audio recordings of hearings for Drayton and Howard and decisions denying them benefits.
Townsend, also called "Sarg" in some messages, discovered the trove of emails during an unrelated investigation into the alleged release of confidential information. She told AP she fired them after an internal investigation, which found Drayton alone sent an average of 75 personal emails per day from March 1 until June 3.
Meanwhile, Drayton finished only one civil rights investigation during the same timeframe — a pace of work seen as slower than usual but satisfactory, according to Grove's testimony. Howard sent 1,600 emails during the same timeframe, almost none of them work-related.
"I discovered that she had been sending these profane, obscene, vulgar, inappropriate emails as well as emails between her and two other staff members that were harassing to their peers and their management," Townsend testified Aug. 5 at Drayton's hearing. "They had assigned nicknames for everybody in the agency that included 'Monster,' 'Psycho,' stoned intern, 'Roid Rage,' 'Rainman," 'Extreme Makeover,' 'Homeless McGree,' 'albino.' They referred to myself as 'Night Ranger.' They referred to their supervisor as 'Teen Wolf.'"
She said the emails were so frequent, they likely took up a majority of Drayton's workday.
Drayton acknowledged during the hearing that the emails were inappropriate and unprofessional but said they weren't harassing because other employees didn't know they were being talked about. She dismissed warnings from her supervisors they could end up in the local newspaper because they were public records.
"Were any of the emails published or received by the Des Moines Register at any point?" she asked Townsend in a cross-examination. "They have not to date," Townsend responded.
Drayton expressed shock after learning Friday that the AP had obtained the emails. Then she downplayed them. She noted that she was appealing her firing by filing a union grievance, which is still pending.
"The majority of those emails were office banter between us. It was just talk, water cooler chat between the three of us," she said. She said she didn't want to comment further because, while she might disagree with the commission's leaders, "I ultimately agree with the mission of the agency and don't want to do anything that's going to hurt the agency."
Howard testified Aug. 4 that everyone at the agency used email for non-work purposes and downplayed the emails as "just the girls being silly." She explained the three nicknamed Grove after seeing a movie called "Teen Wolf."
"He had a beard and he kind of reminded us of a younger version of Mr. Grove," she said.
Listed phone numbers for Buenger and Howard couldn't be found, and their union steward declined to comment. Buenger's unemployment case will be heard next month.
All three earned $41,800 per year at the commission, which enforces Iowa's anti-discrimination law by investigating and trying to resolve discrimination complaints and providing public education. Townsend said the agency has 17 other civil rights investigators and is trying to minimize the impact of the firings.
An email policy adopted March 1 after Gov. Terry Branstad appointed Townsend to lead the commission advises employees to limit use to business "to the greatest extent possible" and not to send messages that are offensive, pornographic, political, chain letters or harassing. The policy also gave Townsend greater ability to fire employees for misconduct.
Judges have denied Drayton and Howard unemployment, saying they committed misconduct and therefore aren't eligible for benefits.
"While employed by an agency whose purpose is to confront, remedy and eliminate discrimination, Ms. Howard engaged in a remarkably broad, persistent campaign of discrimination and otherwise offensive conduct through her abuse of the employer's electronic communication system," Administrative Law Judge James Timberland wrote Aug. 15. "What is even more remarkable is Ms. Howard's effort to minimize, or excuse away, the discrimination and offensive conduct she directed at various individuals and groups."
Timberland said Howard traded and received emails "that made fun of and/or ridiculed obese people, gay, transgendered and/or transvestite people, elderly people, Walmart customers, African-American men, white high school students, white men, and white people generally."
Drayton, who had worked at the commission since 2007, reveled in emails she thought were funny. She told two friends outside the agency on March 30 that the messages "were the highlight of my work week."
On May 27, she added: "I get some pretty hilarious e-mails and have strange conversations that I believe would make an excellent coffee table book."
Now, you know what's coming, right?
👹Tiffanie Drayton, March 4, 2011: Dude Where's My Car and Psycho are talking about food — a match made in stoner/fatty heaven!
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: So Tiff, what's your idea of heaven, perhaps 4chan? You'd fit right in there, babe, and I do not mean that as a compliment. And to think you sent 70 of these garbage, shallow, stinking cat-calls per day when you did nearly sweet nothing on the job, and your buddy Michele sent 1600 stupid emails during the same three month period. And cut the lame excuses, Tiff. Just because you did all this snickering and gossiping behind others backs doesn't make you any less guilty of ill will and doesn't make the emails any less harassing or any more acceptable. It just means you're catty, stuck-up and too much of a coward to own up to responsibility. Yeah, you deserved to get kicked out on your sorry can, along with your two cackling gossiping bf's…
👹Tiffanie: The majority of those emails were office banter between us. It was just talk, water cooler chat between the three of us,
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Just nothing. Your 'water cooler banter' was bigoted and cliquy and malicious. You still got your jollies at the expense of others because you thought it was way cool to laugh at the way they looked or their style or certain other things that makes an individual an individual, and that is not acceptable banter, it's schoolyard bully girl stuff. You had your exclusive little stuck-up snob club where you lulzed at people you and your buds looked down on, because you obviously never grew up.
Compounding this problem is the fact that you were snickering at the very people you were supposed to be helping.
That's as bad as some guy who's supposed to be working in the special victims unit turning out to be way into kiddy or other violent porn and then trying to excuse it as a harmless, private joke..
👹Tiffanie: I ultimately agree with the mission of the agency and don't want to do anything that's going to hurt the agency."
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: BULL! You expect me to believe *that*!? You simply don't give a flying hot dart. Oh, maybe you do now after getting sacked, and you three nasty cats had the audacity to sue for compensation, sheesh! You were fired fair and square!
As for you, Michele, and your stupid excuses, save it, sister… Others may have sent non-work-related emails, but it's clear to me those outside your brain-dead little clique's non-work emails weren't profane, bigoted, gossiping crap! You three little girls weren't just being 'silly' you were foul.
😈Michele: He had a beard and he kind of reminded us of a younger version of Mr. Grove,
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: So that's how you came to the particularly uninspired, grade-school level idea of calling Mr. Groves "Teen Wolf" Yeah, stupid, Michele, stupid.
👹Tiffanie on these disgusting email exchanges: were the highlight of my work week.
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Oh, swell, you liked laughing at other people and promoting derogatory ideas about them better than fighting for their rights, how charming… What an upstanding, humanitarian, wonderfully qualified person for this job you were…! NOT!
👹Tiffanie: I get some pretty hilarious e-mails and have strange conversations that I believe would make an excellent coffee table book.
🧝♀️Ocean Elf: Oh, sure, excellent book material, if some dirty little gossip rag is your idea of a good book. "Stoner/fatty heaven" is your idea of hilarious, and calling people around you by ridiculously childish nicknames, quoting foul rap tunes, making fun of people because of age, skin color, what school they go to, how they look, where they shop etc. that's not 'strange' and 'hilarious, it's puerile and stupid, and would make a lousy book, fit to burn on the rubbish heap.
Since you're so fond of assigning people dumb derogatory nicknames 'for the lulz' you should be happy with the one I assigned you three, you need a taste of your own medicine. The difference being, you brought it on yourselves and actually deserve it. People can't help how they look, and where they shop is their own personal preference, etc. They didn't deserve your email disdain club, but you, my dears, deserve to get canned, and get a ton of heat for your immature, narrow-minded choices to waste work time and resources at other people's expense.
Obviously Tiffanie, Michele and Wendy utterly failed learning how to play nice in pre-school, and never got past about 8 or 9 years of age mentally
I certainly wouldn't hire them either, except maybe as community pooper-scoopers.
Over and out!
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