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A young man where I worked was in a six person work cell. All around one large table. He told the other workers his girlfriend’s dad had taken away his girlfriend because he didn’t like how he treated her. He planned on going that night to kill the father. If it didn’t work, he’d pour gasoline over himself and light it as he thought that would be a “good way to go.” The attempt to kill the dad failed. He got a bucket, filled it with gas at a station and went door to door asking for matches. Someone gave him matches and he went to the ditch by road, poured the gas and lit it. It took him three days to die. (BTW, not a person in the work cell said a word to anyone!)

There were so many things wrong here I just stood staring at the floor supervisor when he told us the story. The company hired a counselor for the “poor workers.” I’d have lectured them on responsibility.

In my working career there were three absolutely lunatic people I thought were capable of anything from self-harm to murder. They’re not common, but they are around. It’s a lesson in keeping alert all the time and listening to what people say. As my mother said, “They’ll tell you how they’re going to treat you or what they’re going to do. It’s up to you to believe them and take appropriate action.”