Hello, teammates. I work for Wells Fargo from early 2020 to late 2022. I have questions about Denise Prudhomme, because as we middle or back office WF employees know, we provide customer service to the internal customer, so we're highly social and a seriously networked group of people. I didn't know Denise, but I knew Tempe employees and I want some answers. Why? Because, my dears, our network has always supported each other when times are hard.
- What are the results of the police investigation into her death?
(I'd like to donate to a foundation that supports other people who suffer from, say, heart issues, if that's what took Denise away so unexpectedly.)
- What team was Denise part of?
(I don't know Denise, but I might know her teammates... dude, I keep in touch with many ex-WF people, some on a near-daily basis. I don't stop being a colleague when I move on, I keep in touch.)
- Why do they keep saying Denise was forgotten for 4 days?
(She was forgotten for 5 days. Five, let's count'em: Badge in Friday at 7 am, right? Day 1, 7-3:30 Friday. Day 2, 7-3:30 Saturday. Day 3, 7-3:30 Sunday. Day 4, 7-3:30 Monday. Day 5, 7-3:30 Tuesday. Found, around 4ish pm Tuesday, right? Just want to set the record straight, it bothers me that d-mb details like badging in vs. clocking in are misreported, sure... but not getting the duration Denise was left there right seems like, I dunno, an insulting playing down of what actually occurred...even if it isn't, it brings back bad vibes of being gaslighted at work.)
- How was the announcement handled internally?
(Externally, WF said, yep, she died, and all questions can be directed to the police not us, because we don't know anything. True, the police probably do know more about Denise than WF at this point, but you would think WF would know what team she was on, who her manager was, and where we should direct donations, flowers, letters, whatever. I asked Bing Copilot these questions, and it couldn't find anything online.)
- How do I square Denise Prudhomme's workplace story with the weird "join our alumni network... we've changed! We're a people company all the sudden" letter that arrived in my mailbox and LinkedIn feeds shortly before Denise died?
(It seemed to me that the wording of the alumni letter was designed to alert some alums--maybe the sales alums?--that they'd be welcomed back if they would apply for jobs right now--my team wasn't in sales... we were told AI and citizens of India would replace us and do a better job, and my teammates were all laid off by the end of 2023--I assume their jolly alum letter got to me by mistake.)
- How many people saw her and didn't want to get involved?
(Person who found her: this is ridiculous, why am I the only one who is calling for help??? Cleaning staff: maybe she's drunk, don't want to get her in trouble... In person employees: maybe she's dead, don't want them to focus on me, let someone else find her, I don't want to get in trouble... Security and facilities: Let's see how long it takes these id--ts to call us, let them get in trouble for this, not us... Manager and teammates: Where is that email/call/text chat/document/report??? Is she OK? Don't want to get her in trouble... I mean, fear of punishment is how bank executives think they get results, so it has to be something along those lines.)
As you can tell, I don't feel good about Denise Prudhomme being both elevated AND brushed off in national media like this. I'm a 54 yr old woman who worked for WF--that could have been me, easily, if I happened to live alone (I don't--and my roommate would definitely have sounded the alarm a lot faster than 5 days later). I want answers that will erase the bad impressions I clearly have. Not having answers, I find that my former colleagues share my anger and frustration that even now, after we all have jobs elsewhere, WF makes us unhappy about the time we spent there. Of course there were good things about our WF jobs--we obviously feel strongly about our value and worth, and respect the value and worth of each other and WF tried to diminish that, enforcing poorly applied 6-sigma rules, ineffective expectations, and impossible standards. We weren't prisoners. We rage-retired or joined the Great Resignation. But we're scarred by being undervalued during the stress of lockdown, and seeing WF refuse to acknowledge Denise Prudhomme by job title, team, and accomplishments really reinforces that feeling.
If you've read this, and you still want to indignantly defend WF and call me a hater, let me point out: being angry and frustrated is not the same as hate. And it is OK to show others that they are OK in their feelings. One last story for you, if you think I am dreaming up concerns about a stranger I know nothing about.
Around the end of 2021, a colleague in my department died of covid, leaving behind a wife who wasn't employed at the time. She was caring for their two young kids. She was left with grief, medical bills, and no income. She asked my colleague's manager if they would be willing to circulate her gofundme page with the announcement of his passing to all of us at work. Well, at the same time, word came down from above that sending an announcement of his death would run counter to internal messaging about RTO, which had taken on a darker and more threatening tone at that time. On the same day I got an enterprise-wide email about returning to the office (even if you were working remotely for years before lockdown, as my own manager had been) our managers were contacting us individually about our colleague, as a workaround. That's right, they were all good people who were getting the word out for support as his widow had requested, while trying not to get in trouble for talking about a real thing--a person dying of covid--a virus that could have ki-led us too if we had been infected by working with him in an office. And yeah, he was a stranger to me--our department was huge, I didn't know everyone--but of course I donated. I mean really, we do support each other, we make our own community. We are part of the WF community whether we want to be or not. I am feeling hurt about Denise, and I want to help--I'll find a way on my own, but I would rather have answers because this community matters and we are more isolated from each other without answers. Thank you.