This may not be the most useful post you will read all week, but it is likely to be among the most amusing. If you haven't yet stumbled on the infamous "Tiger Mike" memos, you are in for a treat.
Edward 'Tiger Mike' Davis was the erstwhile CEO of the now defunct Houston-based Tiger Oil Company. You might expect an oil company to be a bit rough and tumble, but Tiger Mike took things to a new level. He didn't particularly like talking to his employees, he preferred typing memos. ("Do not speak to me when you see me. If I want to speak to you, I will do so. I want to save my throat. I don't want to ruin it by saying hello to all of you sons-of-b*tches.") And fortunately, thanks to the wonders of the Internet, his memos have been preserved for the ages. We link to them in all their glory: The Tiger Oil Memos. Please be advised, the memos do include a few cuss words
Now after marveling at his posts, you may be curious to learn more about the man and the company. E&P editor Rhonda Duey shared some readers reminiscing about Tiger Mike. And for those who want "the rest of the story," see this fascinating post on Grifters, Oil Men, Tabloids, The Scrappy Ingenue, The Titans and the Hardass: An American Story - a few links in the post are broken but despite that, it tells a fascinating story, with Tiger Mike as an integral character.
OK, what does all this have to do with workers compensation? We would refer you to #3 and #8 in attorney Alan Pierce's excellent Top Ten List as to Why Injured Workers Retain Attorneys (PDF). Actually, all ten points are worth thinking about. As a successful Massachusetts plaintiff attorney, Pierce should know. We would love to hear his cache of "bad boss" stories.
We have a category classification for posts on "best practices." We can see that there is a need for a "worst practices" category, too.
