Psychoanalysis on tap

Just finished reading about the Walmart shooting. In reading the comments from employees concerning the perpetrator, he sounds like a pretty normal guy to me.

I have been a supervisor and have written a few folks up; most didn’t appreciate it. I have subtle behavioral changes at times, life-based issues that most everybody else has at times that may cause me to be less communicative some days, shorter-tempered than normal other days. Not every day is sunshine and roses, and not every day is rain and thorns. Life happens and we are all human! Yet the experts in the article say these are “yellow flag” behavioral changes that could indicate someone has the potential to kill and there should be anonymous hotlines so fellow employees can report said behavior, so these folks can get help before resorting to violence.

Subtle changes in behavior was one yellow flag cited; anger issues and increased absenteeism were a couple of others. My workplace has over 800 folks working 24/7—if every employee exhibiting these types of behavior were reported and action taken, we would close our doors tomorrow. Expecting lay people to be expert psychoanalyzers, able to tell normal, everyday “my kid is sick, I didn’t sleep” or “my marriage is in trouble” or “my mom or dad is dying” behavioral changes from “I’m upset enough to start shooting people” behavioral changes is just ludicrous.

I can also tell you that anonymous hotlines tend to work opposite of the way these experts think; the people they are intended to identify are the ones using it the most. My expertise comes from working 40-plus years on the front lines as an hourly employee and as a supervisor, from the oil fields to construction to manufacturing, not from some academic aerie. I don’t pretend to know what the solution is, but I can tell you what it ain’t.

GREG STANFORD

White Hall