The two terms go hand-in-hand but apparently that does not apply in the case of my friend and colleague, David Spevack, when his superiors apparently made the decision to relieve him of his duties as prosecutor in the Municipal Court.
David is a great guy, pleasant, respectful and considerate to the public in general. Recently, for reasons that are unknown to me one day he arrived at work only to find that access to his office had been electronically retrieved without his knowledge. And so, Mr. Spevack found himself without an office which to any reasonable person meant he was not welcome anymore, although his superiors chose not to tell him.
“All was quiet,” as Don McLean described it in, “American Pie:” “Not a word was spoken/the church bells all were broken.” I guess no one had the decency, perhaps not the guts, to tell him straight: “Mr. Spevack, you are relieved of your duties.”
I don’t know who is responsible for such mediocrity. Perhaps the mayor; perhaps the court administrator. (Sorry ladies, must tell the truth in the face of injustice, no politics involved.) But in either case, common decency dictates that you are supposed to meet with your employees and let them know where they stand or else perhaps you should not be running the ship. In that case it should be you, the mayor, the administrator, or whoever is in charge of these things who should be shown the door.
I run a small office. Imagine if one day I decide to change the lock on my door thus preventing my faithful employees from gaining entrance as they report to perform their daily duties.
What a shock! I’m letting them know that they’re not welcome, but I don’t have the valor to face them and tell them in person. Perhaps the establishment felt that the release of Mr. Spevack from his duties deserved no explanation, or like Don McClean said in his sad finale of his classic song: “So bye, bye Miss American Pie, drove my Chevy to the levee, but the levee was dry.”
In other words, goodbye in silence. What a way to go.
Eralides Cabrera, Esq.
