The Superintendent

by Charissa Nasrallah

The Superintendent bought donuts for everyone to eat each week on Thursday morning during our staff meetings.  He also did some outstanding Historical programs for several groups who visited the parks.  Upper management had recently hired him and informed us all they believed he would do some very positive things for our park.  I had no reason not to believe them. 

I rarely had the chance to spend time with the Superintendent and see what he was really like, though there were a few times we might not have seen eye to eye on a few issues.  The Superintendent and I looked at things from different directions.  He usually approached things from a historical angle, and I stood strong on a Biological standpoint. 

During his duration as the operator of the park, the Superintendent did away with the park’s recycling program, a move that I personally felt was against the park’s mission statement of conserving the land.  He also put all the wildlife education programs under the direction of the Curator, and I thought this extra responsibility was too much for her to handle.  The Superintendent was a stickler for having all his employees follow the chain of command, but many times I noticed that he did not seem to want to listen to any of the lower links.

I’ve noticed when people are put in positions of authority, they run the risk of becoming condescending towards others.  I believe it is always crucial to keep in mind there is something to learn from everyone.  You can not reach other people when you put yourself above them.

I have never been one to take condescending people too well.  I found I had a very hard time communicating when people are under the assumption that I am insignificant.  I realize this is ultimately due to my own insecurities, and it has often made my relationships with a few of my supervisors less than ideal.

The Superintendent had only been at the park a few months when he received the letter I wrote stating how I had just reported a violation to the Department of Health and Environmental Control.  He had just returned from a trip to Disney World and I’m sure this was not his favorite piece of mail that day.  This all happened two weeks after the man from DHEC had alerted him to the problem with the disinfectant we were using, so the Superintendent honestly didn’t have much of a warning to what was about to happen. 

At several points in my life I have been overly eager instigator.  Instead of calmly awaiting the answers to life’s problems, in certain situations I have felt excessively compelled to cause a change.  Patience is something I am continuously striving to obtain, but after two weeks, I had grown tired of expecting upper management to take any actions to change the cleaning procedures.

The day the Superintendent read my letter stating what I had done, the two investigators from the pesticide regulation place came back out to the park to speak to him.  They informed him the park was in danger of receiving an environmental violation due to the disinfectant we were using to clean cages and then flushing in the marsh.   The investigators were currently in the process of examining the soil and waters of the Animal Forest to check for any contamination, and they informed the Superintendent that the park needed to change its cage cleaning procedures immediately. 

I’m not sure what I would have done in the Superintendent’s shoes dealing with this situation, and I was glad my job did not have to routinely deal with hassles like this.

Later that day, I contacted the investigators from the pesticide regulation place and they informed me the Superintendent told them I should be commended for bringing the situation to their attention.  Instead I got fired for breaking the chain of command.

I was aware that all South Carolina employers reserved the right to terminate employees without reason or cause, but did not feel it was fair that I lost my job for actions I had taken to monitor the park’s water quality.

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