In early February, Littman Manueverables of Des Moines was encountering unexpected difficulties with its newly installed Tricon-Plus system. The already complicated user instructions suddenly switched from English to Portugese, and nobody could figure out how to switch them back.
With so much riding on the new system, CEO Tom Willmore ordered Human Resources to hire a troubleshooter who could get to the bottom of things. The order was passed on to an overworked hiring specialist, and in her haste to complete the task she mistakenly hired a trouble maker.
Since arriving a week ago, the trouble maker – sources identify her as Marion Hilikson, with 15 years of experience at 982 companies – has enacted 120 trouble making incidents, including:
- Following an accountant around the office for two hours, quacking like a duck.
- Raising the prices on cafeteria sandwiches by $1.00 each.
- Commandeering the company PA system to sing “Mona Lisa.”
- Pushing an analyst into the bushes.
- Changing the name of the “Transitionals” report to the “Non-Transitionals” report.
- Hanging framed photos of crooner Bing Crosby in every office.
“Once you’ve hired a trouble maker it’s difficult to get rid of them,” says Leona Tomlinson, a business behaviorist with the Palmeri Group. “They don’t respond to normal directives like ‘Stop making trouble!’ or ‘You’re fired!’” She says the company can expect at least another six or seven weeks of trouble before Hilikson gets bored.
“Once trouble makers have made all the trouble there is to make,” says Tomiinson, “they tend to seek troublemaking opportunities elsewhere.”
