Text from the court documents of the heated e-mail exchange between Eligio Gaudio and Christina Carscallen
Below are is the text of the e-mail exchanges between Eligio Gaudio and Christina Carscallen. For more information about this case, see Suspending white-collar employees.
To: Eligio Gaudio
From: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/06/2003 05:56PM.
cc: Dino Gaudio
Subject: Booth Situation
Lee,
Let me start by indicating that I am no happier than you are that the booth has not arrived, and that we are making every effort possible to get it moved along.
Heather has indicated that you would like a chronology of the actions, which Melissa and I have taken from shipping of the booth until now. I would actually like to back up a bit from that as it gives an indication of my desire to see the booth arrive in Barcelona on time.
April 15th Ask Melissa to get FedEx quote to ship booth to Barcelona
April 16th Ask Melissa to shop around for quote to ship booth to Barcelona
Send a note to Dino regarding the cost of shipping the booth to Barcelona.
April 17th Dino suggests Emilio take it. I suggest that Emilio won't be thrilled.
April 21st You ask if we are shipping the booth or if Emilio is taking it. I respond that Dino was going to ask ES.
April 22nd Realize it is not practical for Emilio to take the booth -- too big and too heavy -- and inform Dino of same.
Dino sends you an e-mail suggesting that either he ferry the booth or we ship FedEx.
April 29th Remind Dino via e-mail, and in person, that we don't have a booth resolution and time is getting tight.
April 30th Ask you directly about shipping the booth. We discuss costs and timing. I lie and tell you that the booth has to go Thursday to arrive on time (theoretically it could have gone Friday for Tuesday). You indicate that you will decide by next morning.
May 1st Voice mail from you that the booth is to go.
Booth goes out of here mid-afternoon.
May 2nd Melissa and I have a bit of fun tracking the package and are thrilled to discover that it has arrived in Europe (Paris) so quickly.
May 6th Arrive to messages from you. Melissa and I go berserk trying to figure out what went wrong, bend over backwards etc. Mel calls FedEx every 10 minutes. Eventually I call the customs broker directly. He indicates that (a) they didn't get our package from FedEx until today and (b) he has had a call around midday from an RMA representative in Barcelona indicating that if it can't arrive get to Barcelona this afternoon, then it isn't to be shipped on but should be returned to sender. This is extremely unfortunate since it sounds like it could have made it for tomorrow morning.
Now where would the RMA get the idea that they should stop our booth? Now customs is closed and it can't be cleared until tomorrow morning and it would take a monumental effort, and undoubtedly a great deal of expense to get the booth to Barcelona in a useful timeframe for tomorrow. In fact the broker is saying Thursday, FedEx is saying same day but who knows?
So -- two things need to be figured. 1) Why did it take FedEx 2 days to get our package to the customs broker? and 2) Who would have instructed the broker to send the booth back?
Melissa and I will happily jump all over FedEx at this end. Perhaps you can figure out what went wrong at your end.
C.
From: Eligio Gaudio
To: Christina Carscallen 05/07/2003 05:12
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Christina,
FRI is spending considerable dollars to be at this show. We as a minimum are trying to promote a professional organisation and robust product offering to our prospects and clients.
Currently we are faced with no booth and no marketing or product material and the show and exhibition has started. In reviewing the situation, there seems to be no reasonable explanation for the current fiasco we are in. By your own admission we should have had the booth arrive on Monday.
Further to your attached update, there are several other points that need to be raised.
1. I discovered that the booth had not arrived neither on Sunday evening nor Monday by 2:30 p.m. Barcelona time and, made people at FRI Toronto aware of the situation on Monday morning at approx 9:30am EST by way of voice mail (as neither you, nor Heather, nor others were available at that time). My questions (sic) is why did no one in Toronto follow up on Monday May 5th to my message, or at the very least separately to ensure that the booth would indeed arrive? Why is it that the CEO had to get involved? Why is it action was taken by you or Mel on the May 6th and not the 5th?
2. Why was the show material sent along with the booth and not separate? We are left with a situation where we have no booth and no material!
3. FedEx is being paid to clear the booth. Seems the information you are receiving is different than the information that the local FedEx rep is providing. Regardless the booth will not arrive until at least noon Thursday May 8th (tomorrow) One week after it was shipped out. Why?
4. The RMA has made its own decision to reject the delivery of its shipment. Seems they will not need the material tomorrow by noon as the show will end at approx. 2:30 pm. on Thursday. I recommend that you do the same and reject accepting the shipment. Emilio or I have not given FedEx any instructions to do so. Let me know when the booth has arrived safely back in our Toronto office.
5. We have printed out 30 copies of the PDF files in black and white for show use.
I suggest that you and Mel get on the booth return situation ASAP. We will not be paying FedEx for this fiasco and expect compensation.
Eligio Gaudio
President & CEO
FRI Corporation
To: Eligio Gaudio
From: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/07/2003 02:04PM
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Lee,
While the responsibility to see that the booth arrived in Barcelona was mine (and only mine -- not, for example, Melissa's), there are a few issues surrounding this whole fiasco that I feel are worth revisiting.
1. While still not entirely forgiveable, the knowledge that our package was in Paris on Friday in the hands (sic) one of the world's premier courier companies quite obviously lulled us into a false sense of security.
2. If you knew that the package had not arrived on Monday why didn't you leave me, or Melissa (or Heather, although she was not involved) a message letting us know so that we could take action. This sporadic tendency of yours to not leave voice mail regarding critical issues is extremely puzzling to me. And whoever you did leave the message with quite obviously failed to relay it to me or anybody else.
3. Whoever told the Customs Broker to turn the booth back at midday on Tuesday made the situation insurmountable. If that wasn't done on your instruction then I strongly suggest that whoever was responsible for that delay be subjected to some form of chastisement greater than or equal to that to which Mel and I have been subjected. (I would in fact gladly take on that task.) If it was done on your instruction then it seems to me that you missed the one opportunity to mitigate the situation.
4. While I agree that "FRI is spending considerable dollars to be at this show. (sic) We as a minimum are trying to promote a professional organization and robust product offering to our prospects and clients." I have never been entirely clear why. I have in fact often reflected that our marketing and sales dollars could be better deployed elsewhere.
5. As indicated before the first error here lies with Federal Express, and you can be assured that we will be all over them on this issue.
For now...
C.
From: Eligio Gaudio
To: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/07/2003 09:35 AM
cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Christina,
Your arrogance in the attached e-mail is truly astounding!
Firstly, let me clearly state that I left you a message on Monday regarding the booth! I am very offended by your inaccurate statement regarding "sporadic tendency".
In fact I left you several messages over Monday and Tuesday regarding the booth! Neither you nor Heather were in by 9:30am on Monday morning when I called! A fact that I am sure Dino and others will attest to when I called looking for you! Let me reiterate that it is not the job of the CEO to ensure that the booth arrives at the trade show...that was your responsibility... something you continually fail to understand or take full responsibility for. In any event and regardless of whether I or anyone else called, it was your responsibility to follow up and ensure that the booth arrived. This is called ownership. The booth has not arrived.
As to sales, travel or marketing dollars and spending of such we can discuss that at a later date. It strikes me that your comment is meant to pull focus away from the issue at hand...that the booth and show material has not arrived! You also failed to answer why the material was not sent separately from the booth. We are at the show with neither, and left to scramble at the last minute to print some black and white PDFs.
As pointed out to you in my earlier e-mail, neither Emilio nor I gave any instructions to our customs broker to return the booth yesterday at noon! Not verbally nor written, nor through any other party! Again, quit trying to pull focus. I asked you to find out what happened and provided you with my understanding of what the RMA was doing in my earlier e-mail. I also asked you to ensure that the booth gets returned to the FRI Toronto office in my earlier e-mail this Wednesday morning as it was obvious that the booth would not arrive today.
The booth was sent out last Thursday...six days ago. You have not done your job!
Eligio Gaudio
President & CEO
FRI Corporation
From: Christina Carscallen
To: Eligio Gaudio
Date: 05/07/2003 10:03 AM
cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Lee,
Why is that I am arrogant and you are offended when I respond to the accusations you are hurling at me, but because you are CEO it's okay for you to be arrogant and I'm not supposed to be offended?
If you re-read my earlier e-mail you will discover that I took full responsibility for this situation in the first sentence.
To whom at the RMA would you suggest I direct my fury?
C.
Related articles
Suspending white-collar employees
To: Eligio Gaudio
From: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/06/2003 05:56PM.
cc: Dino Gaudio
Subject: Booth Situation
Lee,
Let me start by indicating that I am no happier than you are that the booth has not arrived, and that we are making every effort possible to get it moved along.
Heather has indicated that you would like a chronology of the actions, which Melissa and I have taken from shipping of the booth until now. I would actually like to back up a bit from that as it gives an indication of my desire to see the booth arrive in Barcelona on time.
April 15th Ask Melissa to get FedEx quote to ship booth to Barcelona
April 16th Ask Melissa to shop around for quote to ship booth to Barcelona
Send a note to Dino regarding the cost of shipping the booth to Barcelona.
April 17th Dino suggests Emilio take it. I suggest that Emilio won't be thrilled.
April 21st You ask if we are shipping the booth or if Emilio is taking it. I respond that Dino was going to ask ES.
April 22nd Realize it is not practical for Emilio to take the booth -- too big and too heavy -- and inform Dino of same.
Dino sends you an e-mail suggesting that either he ferry the booth or we ship FedEx.
April 29th Remind Dino via e-mail, and in person, that we don't have a booth resolution and time is getting tight.
April 30th Ask you directly about shipping the booth. We discuss costs and timing. I lie and tell you that the booth has to go Thursday to arrive on time (theoretically it could have gone Friday for Tuesday). You indicate that you will decide by next morning.
May 1st Voice mail from you that the booth is to go.
Booth goes out of here mid-afternoon.
May 2nd Melissa and I have a bit of fun tracking the package and are thrilled to discover that it has arrived in Europe (Paris) so quickly.
May 6th Arrive to messages from you. Melissa and I go berserk trying to figure out what went wrong, bend over backwards etc. Mel calls FedEx every 10 minutes. Eventually I call the customs broker directly. He indicates that (a) they didn't get our package from FedEx until today and (b) he has had a call around midday from an RMA representative in Barcelona indicating that if it can't arrive get to Barcelona this afternoon, then it isn't to be shipped on but should be returned to sender. This is extremely unfortunate since it sounds like it could have made it for tomorrow morning.
Now where would the RMA get the idea that they should stop our booth? Now customs is closed and it can't be cleared until tomorrow morning and it would take a monumental effort, and undoubtedly a great deal of expense to get the booth to Barcelona in a useful timeframe for tomorrow. In fact the broker is saying Thursday, FedEx is saying same day but who knows?
So -- two things need to be figured. 1) Why did it take FedEx 2 days to get our package to the customs broker? and 2) Who would have instructed the broker to send the booth back?
Melissa and I will happily jump all over FedEx at this end. Perhaps you can figure out what went wrong at your end.
C.
From: Eligio Gaudio
To: Christina Carscallen 05/07/2003 05:12
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Christina,
FRI is spending considerable dollars to be at this show. We as a minimum are trying to promote a professional organisation and robust product offering to our prospects and clients.
Currently we are faced with no booth and no marketing or product material and the show and exhibition has started. In reviewing the situation, there seems to be no reasonable explanation for the current fiasco we are in. By your own admission we should have had the booth arrive on Monday.
Further to your attached update, there are several other points that need to be raised.
1. I discovered that the booth had not arrived neither on Sunday evening nor Monday by 2:30 p.m. Barcelona time and, made people at FRI Toronto aware of the situation on Monday morning at approx 9:30am EST by way of voice mail (as neither you, nor Heather, nor others were available at that time). My questions (sic) is why did no one in Toronto follow up on Monday May 5th to my message, or at the very least separately to ensure that the booth would indeed arrive? Why is it that the CEO had to get involved? Why is it action was taken by you or Mel on the May 6th and not the 5th?
2. Why was the show material sent along with the booth and not separate? We are left with a situation where we have no booth and no material!
3. FedEx is being paid to clear the booth. Seems the information you are receiving is different than the information that the local FedEx rep is providing. Regardless the booth will not arrive until at least noon Thursday May 8th (tomorrow) One week after it was shipped out. Why?
4. The RMA has made its own decision to reject the delivery of its shipment. Seems they will not need the material tomorrow by noon as the show will end at approx. 2:30 pm. on Thursday. I recommend that you do the same and reject accepting the shipment. Emilio or I have not given FedEx any instructions to do so. Let me know when the booth has arrived safely back in our Toronto office.
5. We have printed out 30 copies of the PDF files in black and white for show use.
I suggest that you and Mel get on the booth return situation ASAP. We will not be paying FedEx for this fiasco and expect compensation.
Eligio Gaudio
President & CEO
FRI Corporation
To: Eligio Gaudio
From: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/07/2003 02:04PM
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Lee,
While the responsibility to see that the booth arrived in Barcelona was mine (and only mine -- not, for example, Melissa's), there are a few issues surrounding this whole fiasco that I feel are worth revisiting.
1. While still not entirely forgiveable, the knowledge that our package was in Paris on Friday in the hands (sic) one of the world's premier courier companies quite obviously lulled us into a false sense of security.
2. If you knew that the package had not arrived on Monday why didn't you leave me, or Melissa (or Heather, although she was not involved) a message letting us know so that we could take action. This sporadic tendency of yours to not leave voice mail regarding critical issues is extremely puzzling to me. And whoever you did leave the message with quite obviously failed to relay it to me or anybody else.
3. Whoever told the Customs Broker to turn the booth back at midday on Tuesday made the situation insurmountable. If that wasn't done on your instruction then I strongly suggest that whoever was responsible for that delay be subjected to some form of chastisement greater than or equal to that to which Mel and I have been subjected. (I would in fact gladly take on that task.) If it was done on your instruction then it seems to me that you missed the one opportunity to mitigate the situation.
4. While I agree that "FRI is spending considerable dollars to be at this show. (sic) We as a minimum are trying to promote a professional organization and robust product offering to our prospects and clients." I have never been entirely clear why. I have in fact often reflected that our marketing and sales dollars could be better deployed elsewhere.
5. As indicated before the first error here lies with Federal Express, and you can be assured that we will be all over them on this issue.
For now...
C.
From: Eligio Gaudio
To: Christina Carscallen
Date: 05/07/2003 09:35 AM
cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Christina,
Your arrogance in the attached e-mail is truly astounding!
Firstly, let me clearly state that I left you a message on Monday regarding the booth! I am very offended by your inaccurate statement regarding "sporadic tendency".
In fact I left you several messages over Monday and Tuesday regarding the booth! Neither you nor Heather were in by 9:30am on Monday morning when I called! A fact that I am sure Dino and others will attest to when I called looking for you! Let me reiterate that it is not the job of the CEO to ensure that the booth arrives at the trade show...that was your responsibility... something you continually fail to understand or take full responsibility for. In any event and regardless of whether I or anyone else called, it was your responsibility to follow up and ensure that the booth arrived. This is called ownership. The booth has not arrived.
As to sales, travel or marketing dollars and spending of such we can discuss that at a later date. It strikes me that your comment is meant to pull focus away from the issue at hand...that the booth and show material has not arrived! You also failed to answer why the material was not sent separately from the booth. We are at the show with neither, and left to scramble at the last minute to print some black and white PDFs.
As pointed out to you in my earlier e-mail, neither Emilio nor I gave any instructions to our customs broker to return the booth yesterday at noon! Not verbally nor written, nor through any other party! Again, quit trying to pull focus. I asked you to find out what happened and provided you with my understanding of what the RMA was doing in my earlier e-mail. I also asked you to ensure that the booth gets returned to the FRI Toronto office in my earlier e-mail this Wednesday morning as it was obvious that the booth would not arrive today.
The booth was sent out last Thursday...six days ago. You have not done your job!
Eligio Gaudio
President & CEO
FRI Corporation
From: Christina Carscallen
To: Eligio Gaudio
Date: 05/07/2003 10:03 AM
cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Booth Situation
Lee,
Why is that I am arrogant and you are offended when I respond to the accusations you are hurling at me, but because you are CEO it's okay for you to be arrogant and I'm not supposed to be offended?
If you re-read my earlier e-mail you will discover that I took full responsibility for this situation in the first sentence.
To whom at the RMA would you suggest I direct my fury?
C.
Related articles
Suspending white-collar employees
