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Co-worker - Sample Stressor Letter |
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Jose ask me to write this letter on his behalf. I’m willing to do because dude has issues. He needs psychological help badly. Jose joined our financial team nine months ago. I know he just got out of the Army, and was looking for work. A mutual friend ask us to interview him for a job as a mortgage loan processor. I was on the panel that interviewed Jose. During the interview Jose was sharp. He presented himself as confident, level-headed, and eager to make money. He was practically hired on the spot. All three of us on the panel were very impressed with Jose, and he had the nod over the other candidates because he was a veteran. After Jose was hired I was assigned to be his mentor. When Jose first started with us, he worked very hard. He made all the necessary telephone calls, he was nice to the customers, he was easy to get along with, and he was hungry to make money. I admired him too for wanting to take care of his family. Jose lived at home with his parents and wanted to help them out financially. |
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Over time, I started seeing cracks his armor. After two months on the job, Jose started showing up for work later and later. It was almost everyday at one point. Being his mentor I didn’t want to pry into his personal life, but I also demanded that he show up to work on time. Jose had every excuse in the book for being late. Car trouble, taking his parents to the hospital, electricity being out at his house, traffic jams, and the weather were common excuses. I later found out dude was going off on people on the freeways. Jose had multiple road rage incidences that involved the law being notified. |
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On another occasion I witnessed Jose getting angry with a customer. He was in the interviewing room getting paperwork from a customer when I noticed him aggressively pointing his finger at a customer. I asked Jose about the incident after work and he told me that the customer threatened to attack him.
I asked Jose to lunch one day so that we could sit down and talk about what was bothering him. As his mentor I needed to know what we could do to help him. During lunch, Jose was very candid with me. Jose told me that he was having flashbacks about the war in Iraq. For example, Jose said in Iraq he had to drive a Humvee all around the country. He said that Iraq did not have the same kind of highway system we have in the |
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states, so he got used to driving very aggressively. Jose said that people in the states intentionally try to hinder him from getting to work on time. In Jose’s story, it felt like he was misinterpreting the actions of others. Every little thing on the road set him off. Jose told me also, that when he drove near buildings he got used to driving real slow, because in Iraq that’s were the enemy would place IED’s. The more I reminded Jose that he was not in Iraq, the more irritated he became.
Jose also told me that some of our customers remind him of the people he had to yell and scream at in Iraq. He said that some of our customers caused him to have panic attacks. His heart would start beating real hard, he couldn’t breathe, he would sweat, and he told me he was fearful for his life. |
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I asked Jose is that why he is so jumpy. Everybody in the office notices that he jumps from every little loud noise in the office. A few think it is funny, and they drop things on purpose just to see Jose jump. I told Jose that the office manager and one of the loan officers believe they saw him crying in the hallway. Jose denied it, but I don’t believe him. I saw him myself a few times and he looked like he had just finished crying. He did admit that he sometimes gets depressed. Jose said that he wanted to be honest with me, and that some days it was very hard for him to get out of bed. He said that he didn’t have any energy on those days. He couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to bath, and all he thought about was Iraq. He said he couldn’t stop thinking about the friends he lost, the people he killed, the people he saw killed, the hungry children, the old people, and the pets that were sacrificed for pleasure. Jose said he felt guilty, angry, disappointed, ashamed, and fearful that all the bad things he did in Iraq would come back to haunt him. Look, Jose is a good dude, I don’t want to see him fired, but we cannot tolerate losing business because of his mental state of mind. I told Jose to get some help, but he said he didn’t have the time and that he would get over it. I don’t know exactly what happened to Jose in Iraq, but dude needs help. |
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