The Park’s Personnel People

 by Charissa Nasrallah

Three days after I had been fired, I returned to the park to meet with the Superintendent.  When I arrived, he asked if I would mind if a man and a woman from the South Carolina State Park’s Personnel Department joined us during our meeting.  I said I would not, and we all entered into the conference room.

I had met the man before.  He often came around the park to check operations.  We had spoken a few times before through the years, and I had always thought he was an extremely kind hearted individual who sincerely cared about the park and all of its workers.  I did not know the woman, but she seemed very professional and accomplished. 

The meeting we all had was very diplomatic.  They all sat and listened while I informed them of everything I had done over the past two months in attempts to have the Animal Forest’s water tested.  I also mentioned to them, that despite the awkward timing of events, I did not report my concerns about the water to outside authorities because of any hard feelings I was harboring over not receiving the position as the Education Director.

They let me finish my explanations for my actions.  Then the woman politely informed me that because of me, upper management had a real mess on their hands.  Now the animals were highly at risk for catching germs, such as E. coli or salmonella, since we no longer permitted to use the disinfectant we had to clean the cages.  Then the Superintendent stated that the situation would have worked out better if we had all approached the investigators as a team.  The nice man from Headquarters just leafed though a stack of paper work and shook his head.

            The woman then thanked me for bringing my environmental concerns to everyone’s attention, but continued to state that I had unfortunately gone about it the wrong way.  I was only an A2 employee and I had no right to talk to anyone about the things that took place in the park without bringing to the attention of upper management.  I had indeed broken the chain of command, and consequently was terminated.

            “We’ve all learned something from this,” she stated in closing, and then escorted me out of the room.

When I left that meeting, I felt as if I had personally put all the Animal Forest animal’s health at risk by putting an end to the use of our disinfectant that was contaminating the water.  The Assistant Curator had warned me that sometimes these environmental investigators would say anything to have you help their cause.  I had sincerely believed I was doing the “right” thing by signing their statement, but now I wasn’t sure what to believe. 

I was depressed and angry about the outcome of events.  I knew I hadn’t lost a job that had given me any source of substantial income, but I did lose a job that I loved.  I also lost the ability to do the programs that I had designed and the opportunity to teach to all the students who came into the park.  Worst of all, I lost a job for doing the right thing in hopes to make things better for our animals.

            I drove back to my apartment and contemplated all the things that were said.  I had agreed with them to some extent, however there were still a few things that confused me.   For one, I didn’t understand how the animal’s were at such a greater risk for catching germs now that no disinfectant was being used to clean their cages, since nothing prevented the animals from catching these germs in the reserves, where no cleaner had ever been used at all.  Another thing I wonder about was why the Superintendent didn’t discuss anything with me earlier if he wanted to approach this dilemma as a team, since he had known I had spoken with the man from DHEC two weeks before I signed the investigator’s statement.  Yet the biggest source of my confusion was the reason I was fired, for I had gone to the Curator at least three times and before upper management once with my concerns before I reported them to any outside authorities.

            It didn’t seem fair that upper management could so callously dismiss me after all the time and dedication I had put into my job.  I knew that the people at the meeting me may not have known exactly what type of worker I was, but this time they tried to squash the wrong bug.

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