Another terrible bully in the workplace to expose to the light.
This one was a co-worker at Palama Settlement back in the summer of 2005!
This bully goes by the name of Jesse Newman.
Like George Zimmerman, he looks mostly Latin-American but doesn't have a Spanish name.
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Jesse Newman
Like me, Jesse Newman has Mexican ancestry.
Being that in I'm in Hawaii and rarely around "my people", when he first came in, I was like ..."cool, another Mexican dude here!
But as Martin Luther King said, we shall judge people by their character.
And Jesse Newman has one of the most negative characters of all the people I have worked with.
For one thing, being that Jesse Newman was in the military, his mindset was to bark orders at people who he had no business barking orders too.
Jesse Newman was the same rank as me at the Palama Settlement summer program --- meaning we were "group leaders".
Yet, Jesse Newman acted as if he was my boss, trying to tiny-manage what I was doing.
We had a 2-day camp at the Palama Settlement grounds. On the last day, there was some free time. Jesse Newman told me we're taking down the tents. But our supervisor (Francis Akana) said it was free time. Obviously, I (gasp..........omg..........no) listened to my supervisors instead of Jesse Newman (who wasn't my supervisor).
I was walking around, then Jesse Newman started yelling at me "help the kids take down the tents!" I told him "the kids said their parents were going to do it for them"
Then Jesse Newman yelled at me "TAKE SOME INITIATIVE INSTEAD OF DOING NOTHING! TELL THEM TO TAKE DOWN THE TENTS!"
I told Jesse Newman "I'm going to talk to Vince and Francis about your attitude". Jesse Newman yelled at me "YOU CAN TALK TO WHOEVER YOU WANT TO, BUT THEY'RE NOT HERE!"
Well, I found Francis at the game room and talked about what was going on with Jesse Newman! Francis told me "tell Jesse that I said that let the kid's parents take down the tents".
I relayed the message back to Jesse Newman who then yelled to me "YOU GET PAID FOR DOING NOTHING! I WISH I COULD DO THAT!"
That was nowhere near the end of it!
Later, Vince De Bina (the recreation director) returned to Palama Settlement.
Well, Jesse got to Vince first. Jesse wanted revenge against me for refusing to kiss his ass.
So me, Vince, and Jesse Newman had a meeting behind closed doors. Jesse Newman started pointing his big pointer finger at me and started making false accusations that were confirmed by nobody else after Vince had individual meetings with other staff members.
Jesse Newman wasn't satisfied with slandering me with false claims.
The next week, we were on a field trip at the beach park!
The kids saw a dead bird, and I told them to leave it alone! Jesse Newman started to yell and accuse me of bringing attention to the dead bird. The reality was, the kids noticed it first!
(Plus, Jesse Newman was holding a live rat in his hand earlier that day! Hypocrite!)
I told Jesse Newman "I'm going to talk to Vince and Francis about your attitude". Jesse Newman yelled at me "YOU CAN TALK TO WHOEVER YOU WANT TO, BUT THEY'RE NOT HERE!"
Well, I found Francis at the game room and talked about what was going on with Jesse Newman! Francis told me "tell Jesse that I said that let the kid's parents take down the tents".
I relayed the message back to Jesse Newman who then yelled to me "YOU GET PAID FOR DOING NOTHING! I WISH I COULD DO THAT!"
That was nowhere near the end of it!
Later, Vince De Bina (the recreation director) returned to Palama Settlement.
Well, Jesse got to Vince first. Jesse wanted revenge against me for refusing to kiss his ass.
So me, Vince, and Jesse Newman had a meeting behind closed doors. Jesse Newman started pointing his big pointer finger at me and started making false accusations that were confirmed by nobody else after Vince had individual meetings with other staff members.
Jesse Newman wasn't satisfied with slandering me with false claims.
The next week, we were on a field trip at the beach park!
The kids saw a dead bird, and I told them to leave it alone! Jesse Newman started to yell and accuse me of bringing attention to the dead bird. The reality was, the kids noticed it first!
(Plus, Jesse Newman was holding a live rat in his hand earlier that day! Hypocrite!)
Jesse Newman asked the students to pick up rubbish and yelled at me "YOU DIDN'T PICK UP THE RUBBISH" as if I was one of the students instead of his co-worker.
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Jesse Newman was also the type that would yell at people for (gasp.........omg..........noooooooo) for opening the door for him. I did that at the field trip at Jesse yelled "PABLO, JUST GO, STOP BLOCKING THE WAY!"
Another time, my group and Jesse's group arrived at the lunch line at the same time. I was going to let his group go first, then Jesse Newman yelled "PABLO, JUST GO, STOP HOLDING UP THE LINE!"
Also, I remember I started using a whistle to get kid's attention. That was an idea from the administrators so that I don't have to yell so much to get their attention. Well, Jesse Newman didn't like the whistle and started screaming "USE YOUR WORDS!" (imagine what popped into mind when Julez Santana and Too Short had their songs about blowing whistles ------ Jesse Newman screaming USE YOUR WORDS!) There's a reason referees and traffic cops use a whistle. It's to get the attention without yelling so much!
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All this yelling was done right in front of the kids. So how did the kids react? Well, anytime I told them to stop doing negative things, the kids replied "I'm going to Jesse Newman so he can yell at you again" and they started laughing.
So Jesse Newman was basically undermining my authority with the students. He doesn't care if it causes more chaos. In fact, Jesse Newman wants more chaos, because he wanted another excuse to push me around.
I have talked to the program's administrators. They knew Jesse Newman was a jerk but there were only a few weeks left in the program, and it's not like they can find a replacement in such a short time. So they just told me to say tell him "thanks for your concern, but I'll handle my group!"
So, then when we were on a bus to another field trip, I was going to find a seat. There was no empty seat, so I sat by one of the students. Then that student wanted to change seat. The problem was, the bus started to move! So I just told the student "just sit down for now". Jesse Newman started ranting again, and I just told him "this is my group, dont worry about it". Then Jesse Newman just went "Aaahhhhh!" I also reminded him what one of the supervisors told me - "just worry about your group".
Well, after the summer program was over, Jesse Newman was banned from Palama Settlement!
And it wasn't just his problems with me.
Jesse Newman was also sexually harassing the female staff members!
Jesse Newman put ice under the shirts of female staff members. Jesse Newman would also run into them on purpose, and wrestle one of them to the ground, and moved like he was humping her! Jesse Newman would also grab their shirts and pull them.
In other words, Jesse Newman is a sexual predator too!
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Jesse Newman was in the program because he was recruited by another employee who was his mistress. Her name was Harmony Silva.
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Harmony Silva
While Harmony Silva wasn't as aggressively belligerent as Jesse Newman, she was also another bully that likes to undermine co-workers in front of the students.
Instead of talking with co-workers in private and in a civilized tone of voice, Harmony Silva would scream at them in front of the students. That also encourages more chaos in front of the students.
For example, during the camp. Harmony Silva freaked out because (oh, oh...........omg) I didn't bring marshmallows, since nobody told me about bringing marshmallows.
She started yelling at me "YOU DIDN'T BRING MARSHMALLOWS, YOU THINK IT COMES OUT OF NOWHERE?"
I reminded her that I just filled the water jug, which is more important than a bunch of marshmallows. Harmony Silva started screaming "WATER DOESN'T COST ANYTHING", nevermind that the lack of water can cost lives.
I walked away on purpose into the office, then I peeked outside. Harmony Silva was screaming to the other co-workers "HE DIDN'T BRING MARSHMALLOWS!" The other co-workers were like "so what, who cares?" Harmony Silva just walked away in anger!
(thanks to Harmony Silva, marshmallows are no longer innocent things in my mind)
(thanks to Harmony Silva, marshmallows are no longer innocent things in my mind)
Then Jesse Newman told me the next morning "Pablo, you lost your manhood last night when you didn't bring marshmallows".
Jesse Newman likes to talk about manhood. But Mr. Manhood (aka Jesse Newman) didn't even attempt to yell at the huge Samoan guys who would hang out at Palama Settlement! I guess, even Jesse Newman's "manhood" had its limits!
Back to Harmony Silva, she would also undermine other staff members too, even to the point where one went quit. Harmony Silva even alienated her very friend who recruited her to work at Palama Settlement.
But Harmony Silva could only boss around so much. Harmony Silva was scolded by one of the Polynesian women who worked there who could no longer take Harmony Silva's attitude! The Polynesian woman told Harmony Silva "you have the frickin nerve to complain about everyone is being lazy when you're the one who always gotta leave early!" Being that the Polynesian woman was the loudest staff member there, Harmony Silva didn't even try to scream back!
But yeah, like Jesse Newman, Harmony Silva wasn't invited to work at Palama Settlement the following summer.
The following summer (2006), I was there again. While the new summer staff wasn't perfect (neither am I), they were much more co-operative than Jesse Newman and Harmony Silva. Good riddance to both of them.
Since then, I had stopped working at the Palama Settlement program since I was working as a preschool sub during the summers of 2007-2010. Eventually, nearly all the other staff members have faded away from there.
