Russ Brandon - Leaving Role as President of Bills & Sabres due to workplace behavior and allegations of personal misconduct

[Hapless Bills Fan]

2 minutes ago, Rob's House said:

I don't think it's always that black and white. As a general rule I agree, but sometimes things happen naturally. I've been involved with a direct superior before and did not feel exploited or taken advantage of in the slightest.

 

I'm glad, but your superior was skating (herself, making an assumption here) onto very thin ice with management (for all the reasons previously mentioned), and possibly violating her terms of employment/risking termination.  That's the part that's really pretty cut-and-dried.

[HappyDays]

24 minutes ago, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

 

Women in the office don't want to do their work in peace, they form cliques and get all catty with each other, and that usually revolves around who gets the attention from the male coworkers.  Their main concerns are what to wear and who will notice it.

 

Yikes. I'm going to guess you're in high school. You clearly have never worked in an office. Every work place has its share of !@#$s, men and women alike. But most people keep their heads down and do their work, and unless you're a prick everyone will mostly be friendly with you. And office relationships are fine. It isn't hard to see where the line is and not cross it. Russ obviously crossed the line many times and it finally caught up with him.

[DrDawkinstein]

2 minutes ago, akm0404 said:

Perhaps you are misunderstanding what people are saying here. 

 

Nobody really cares about Bob from Marketing dating Sally from Accounting. 

 

Bob and Sally can have loads of fun like two consenting adults are want to do. This is not at all what we are talking about here. 

 

We are talking about someone at the top of the food chain propositioning subordinates. This is bad. This gets you forced to resign in disgrace. How this is even a conversation is eye-opening. 

 

2 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I missed that this was a thread about immorality.  I'm not worried about "immorality" and maybe I missed it, but I didn't see much other worry.

 

I thought it was a thread about Russ Brandon getting fired, allegedly for sexual relationships with his direct reports, with collateral discussion about whether/why sexual relationships with coworkers (especially direct reports) is appropriate.

 

To me, they aren't, because of the practical complications I mentioned.

 

Some trolls upthread sidetracked the argument to "Chicks dig sex too! We should be able to hit on them!" Unfortunately @Rob's House got caught up in that wash. I think we're all in agreement when it gets down to brass tacks

[Kirby Jackson]

2 minutes ago, MAJBobby said:

 

So lets see for You this is what the answer is. 

 

Well we just fired or forced out our President. Instead of stopping the bleeding, lets just already hire someone to be President within 15 min???  And you talk about your experience leading.

Apparently you missed the post before when I said, “it makes total sense. The Pegula’s got burned by Russ so they pulled the reigns back in.” 

[HappyDays]

27 minutes ago, N.Y. Orangeman said:

 

You will never get laid again...ever.

 

Again?

[aristocrat]

Wonder what Russell’s wife thinks of all this?

[Lurker]

Just now, HappyDays said:

 

Again?

 

Good thing you got a big right hand...

[Rob's House]

1 minute ago, akm0404 said:

Perhaps you are misunderstanding what people are saying here. 

 

Nobody really cares about Bob from Marketing dating Sally from Accounting. 

 

Bob and Sally can have loads of fun like two consenting adults are want to do. This is not at all what we are talking about here. 

 

We are talking about someone at the top of the food chain propositioning subordinates. This is bad. This gets you forced to resign in disgrace. How this is even a conversation is eye-opening. 

I hear you, but even it that instance I think it makes a difference whether the person in power is leveraging their relative positions or whether it's genuinely consensual. I get that sometimes those waters get murky and agree that the person in power should exercise caution and avoid initiating when in doubt.

[HappyDays]

26 minutes ago, Rosen-not-Chosen said:

 

Thanks, observations from a couple decades of co-ed office experience.

 

If you listen closely you'll realize your male coworkers are laughing at you too.

[GETTOTHE50]

I think we’re arguing about the wrong thing.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Russ was embezzling assets, or even stealing from the bills and sabres. 

 

Theres going to be a thorough internal investigation. He could go to jail if he embezzled a significant amount of cash. 

 

This dude was slime to the highest degree.

 

we all knew he was a snake oil salesman.

 

he took advantage of Ralph for crying out loud. 

[Rob's House]

4 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

I'm glad, but your superior was skating (herself, making an assumption here) onto very thin ice with management (for all the reasons previously mentioned), and possibly violating her terms of employment/risking termination.  That's the part that's really pretty cut-and-dried.

I'm just taken aback by the fact that you assumed both my gender and sexuality. I thought I knew you better than that.

[Lurker]

Just now, GETTOTHE50 said:

I think we’re arguing about the wrong thing.

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if Russ was embezzling assets, or even stealing from the bills and sabres. 

 

Theres going to be a thorough internal investigation. He could go to jail if he embezzled a significant amount of cash. 

 

This dude was slime to the highest degree.

 

we all knew he was a snake oil salesman.

 

he took advantage of Ralph for crying out loud. 

 

Pretty slanderous stuff there.   Better add, "a lot of people say..." to be safe.

[ExiledInIllinois]

Holy Moly... Between Josh's, AJ's mom, AJ's wife... Russ would have run wild!

 

You go Kim!

 

 

[DrDawkinstein]

Just now, ExiledInIllinois said:

Holy Moly... Between Josh's, AJ's mom, AJ's wife... Russ would have run wild!

 

You go Kim!

 

 

 

That's a great point. Knowing Russ even marginally, it was probably best to get him out of there with that amount of hot ass around. Add in Poyer marrying Rachel Bush...

 

Bye, Russ!

[bdutton]

[ExiledInIllinois]

2 minutes ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

That's a great point. Knowing Russ even marginally, it was probably best to get him out of there with that amount of hot ass around. Add in Poyer marrying Rachel Bush...

 

Bye, Russ!

Anybody know what Rasmus' mother looks like? 

[HappyDays]

24 minutes ago, BuffaloBill said:

The guy really had a dream job.  

 

Turns out it was the dream where you're naked at work

[Skins Malone]

There was always something about the guy imo that just seemed strange idk.  He just never came off as a likable guy.  Kinda of like Vince McMahon imo.  

[Hapless Bills Fan]

10 minutes ago, HappyDays said:

 

Yikes. I'm going to guess you're in high school. You clearly have never worked in an office. Every work place has its share of !@#$s, men and women alike. But most people keep their heads down and do their work, and unless you're a prick everyone will mostly be friendly with you. And office relationships are fine. It isn't hard to see where the line is and not cross it. Russ obviously crossed the line many times and it finally caught up with him.

 

If you're a supervisor dating someone who reports to you, there's the line, and you walked across.  It may be consensual; your report may be happy.  But because the imbalance of power between a supervisor and a report always leaves some question as to how free the consent really was and whether it will affect the supervisor's behavior, AFAIK most companies say "no" very explicitly.  As in make you read and sign that you've read all kinds of legal stuff saying "I've been told don't do that and I acknowledge I've been told" explicitly

 

If you're in different reporting structures or on the same level and you keep it civil and non-disruptive, no one will care.

[leh-nerd skin-erd]

17 minutes ago, Rob's House said:

I don't think it's always that black and white. As a general rule I agree, but sometimes things happen naturally. I've been involved with a direct superior before and did not feel exploited or taken advantage of in the slightest.

I'm no expert on intra-office relationships, but I am an expert on other stuff.  

 

Legalities aside, many times, with issues involve office interactions, things are not a problem until someone makes an issue of it.  That seems to be a pretty consistent trend from place to place.  When you dance of the forbidden dance floor, you take your chances.