You know what happens when you don't make quota...

Dear Congressman,

We all have our pet peeves about our bosses or our co-workers, but this case I found from 2007 really ranks up there as a "hostile" work environment.

Prosper, Inc. is a company that provides, and I quote, “executive-level coaching for individuals, the education and hands-on experiences they need to achieve their personal and professional goals.” Sounds to me like this is one of those companies that sends out someone to individual corporate seminars that involve the famous falling backward exercise while your co-workers catch you. Yawn....

But these guys managed to spice things up. Meet J. Christopherson, a supervisor at Prosper. JC was named in a lawsuit by a worker who sued them. Mr. Christopherson had unusual motivational techniques to get workers to hit their sales goals. For example, Mr. Christopherson has been accused of the following:

If you did not make your sales goal, it is alleged that JC would draw a mustache on your face with a permanent marker. Or as an alternative punishment, you would come back to your desk to find you no longer had the privilege of the use of a chair. Also, the use of a wooden paddle to bash on the desk of unsuspecting slackers was another popular method of drawing attention to deficiencies in selling abilities.

But it appears Mr. Christopherson went into overdrive in the great ideas department of his frat house mind to come up with the motivational exercise that got him and Prosper, Inc. sued by an ex-employee.

Yes, Mr. Christopher is alleged to have gone "Dick Chaney" on an employee. I will allow the court filing to tell the story:

On May 29, 2007, Mr. Christopherson asked for volunteers for a new motivational exercise. He offered no explanation to his team members regarding the nature of the exercise. In his search for volunteers, Mr. Christopherson challenged the loyalty and determination of his team members. Mr. Hudgens volunteered to be a part of the exercise to prove his loyalty and determination. Mr. Christopherson then led his team members to the top of a hill near Prosper’s office. Once on the hill, Mr. Christopherson ordered Mr. Hudgens to lie down, facing up, with his head pointed downhill. Mr. Christopherson ordered other team members to hold Mr. Hudgens down by his arms and legs. Mr. Christopherson then slowly poured water from a gallon jug over Mr. Hudgens’s mouth and nose so that he could not breathe. Mr. Hudgens struggled and tried to escape but, at Mr. Christopherson’s direction, the other team members held him down. After concluding the exercise, Mr. Christopherson instructed his team members that they should work as hard at making sales as Mr. Hudgens had worked at trying to breathe.


Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

So next time you are upset at your boss for some petty reason or other, remember, you could be working for Mr. Christopherson...