Ex-MBNA worker goes on weekend shooting spree in US

[MaineDem]

PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 10 - An ex-employee of MBNA America Bank killed his former supervisor, a company vice president, and wounded another former co-worker at their homes before killing himself with a shotgun on the 13th hole of a golf course, police said Sunday.

Kenneth Tripp, 42, of Pike Creek, Delaware, went to the home of his former boss in Hockessin, Delaware, Saturday at about 10:20 p.m., waited for the man to come to the door and shot him in the chest, police said.

The victim, MBNA Vice President Timothy Love, 45, died later at a hospital, police said

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/reuters08-10-205104.asp?t=renew&vts=81120030743

[AWD]

1. My wife used to work there (in Ohio)

...and this does not surprise me a bit.

Ever see "Office Space"??? That movie had to have been molded around MBNA's work environment. It was EXACT.

[AP]

2. Guess who's head of security there?

Robert Muehler (or is it Louis B. Freeh -- I get the names confused).

The guy who was head of the FBI during the Clinton administration when the FBI refused to investigate or cooperate with investigations of terrorism (arguably, he wanted to preserve this as a presidency-defining issue for the next Republican president). Looks like he's living down to his low standards.

He got this job (with Bush's second largest campaign donor) after Bush became president.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

5. who appointed Robert Muehler?

your theory on sabatoging Clinton seems to hold some water.

[salin]

10. Freeh

Moeller was appointed as the successor - seems to be trying to live up to the "high" standards set for partisanship set by Freeh.

[BansheeBarbie]

3. The Word "Spree" Seems Inappropriate

Rampage seems more apt.

"Weekend Shooting Spree" sounds like he went to the nearest outlet mall and maxed out his credit cards.

But then, in a culture awash in violence, I guess we subconsciously think of killing as fun. After all, why limit
ourselves to watching carnage on a movie screen or engaging in it on a computer screen's virtual reality.

We need to pacify our environment. Our Personal, Political and Cultural Environments.

[catzies]

4. BansheeBarbie, welcome to DU!

:hi:

[ze_dscherman]

6. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

And well said.

[Aristus]

7. I couldn't agree more, BansheeBarbie.

Welcome! :hi:

[slackmaster]

9. Right on

Well said. I've never liked that use of the word spree either. Rampage or massacre, or some version of running amok would fit better.

[rocktivity]

11. It wasn't a spree--it was a mission

He killed specific people because he wanted to, not because they were there or could incriminate them. He had a debt to settle, than killed himself rather than be held accountable.

rocknation

[oneighty]

12. Well put

Ms. BansheeBarbie. (Or Mr.?)

Welcome to DU.

180

[newyawker99]

25. Hi BansheeBarbie!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[bluedem]

8. Here's a link to the local paper.

http://www.delawareonline.com/newsjournal/local/2003/08/112mbnasupervisor.html

[jiacinto]

13. What a shame

All my credit cards are with MBNA America. I feel very bad for those who died here. My heart is with their families.

[FuseONE]

15. Good lord

I just found out about this like 5 minutes ago....I can practically see the back 9 of that golf course from my house. And yeah, people that work at MBNA tend to be a little...strange.

[jiacinto]

16. I never noticed that

nt

[bluedem]

31. Welcome FuseONE, another Delawarian here.

As for "strange", I don't want to paint with such a broad brush, but there does seem to be something odd about a lot of those folks. Maybe because MBNA does seem to take pretty good care of its employees they show a lot of well . . . dedication to the company. I just thought my cousin (an employee) was a little off the mark when he wore his MBNA lapel pin at his father's funeral.

[diamond14]

14. it's the bush* legacy: use violence to solve all problems....

that's the example that bush* has set for all Americans...just KILL anyone that you don't like...go it alone and KILL everyone...

(napalm, firebombs, just KILL...)


expect more violence in America, with bush* leading the way...

[SkipNewarkDE]

17. MBNA is a sick, cult-like company

I used to work for them, for nearly five years. Scary company, to say the least. How the place is continually in the list of best companies to work for is beyond me. This is one of those "it's all or nothing for the Firm" type organizations. Here in Delaware, where they are based, we call them "The Firm", or worse, the "The Borg." This company burns its employees out at an alarming rate.

The corporate culture here is very 1984-ish (the book, not the year). Above every doorway is the mantra "Think of Yourself as a Customer", and walls in every major thoroughfare of the buildings contains these giant new-speak phrases espousing their corporate ideal. Not in itself a bad thing, but the entire atmosphere becomes very cultish in execution. The whole induction process, education process, etc., was very very cult-like.

When I worked there, they did some things which I found to be quite unpalatable. For example, their charity work was despicable. The head of the company one year apparently had a disagreement with the group which sponsors Wilmington's largest social event, the Winterthur Point To Point Races. In retaliation, MBNA whipped up an event, the "MBNA Walk for Education", a charity affair in which all MBNA staff officer level and above were required to attend, I'm sorry, "STRONGLY ENCOURAGED" to attend. It was on the same day as the event at Winterthur, and the walk route happened to be such that it snarled traffic on the main thoroughfare out to the estate in which the Point To Point event was usually held. This little petty vindictiveness is characteristic of this company. Quite often, they would fight there little skirmishes with local government and business through full page ads in the local paper. It was just despicable. They also would "strongly encourage" full department participation in United Way donations, with a quota and that kind of thing. I very much resented this pressure to dontate to United Way, as opposed to directly to the organizations of our choice.

The company would often burn people out, as I mentioned before. My five day a week support job suddenly changed, and I was informed that I would be needed to be on call 24 hours a day, every other weekend. Hours increased, salary did not, except at review times.

In my department, I worked for an incredibly bull-headed, arrogant, monster of a manager. This guy was racist, mysognist, and homophobic. I cannot say that this was the overwhelming attitude in the company, but it was essentially run predominantly by a bunch of middle aged white men.

The company expected its employees to eat, drink, and sleep MBNA, 24-7. Indeed, local merchants in Wilmington were looking for the moving of MBNA's corporate headquarters to Wilmington to spur the local economy. MBNA built a beautiful complex there, with EVERYTHING one would ever need right under the same roof. Dry Cleaner, gym, tailor, restaurants, bank branch, photo processing, gift shop, all were such that one never had to leave the building. And because the work ethic, at least in my department, discouraged long lunches, a trip to a local restaurant for lunch was a rare event.

There was another time this company wanted all of its employees, I'm sorry, STRONGLY encouraged its employees to go to the gym for a health screening, and cholesterol screening. They were taking blood samples in the cafe, and the departments that had full participation got some kind of recognition. I balked at the idea of my company doing this type of blood screening on me, and refused it.

I have talked to some mental health professionals in the area who mentioned that MBNA has a high number of emotional breakdowns driving people into their offices.

The company has shown a rampant arrogance in its dealings with the local governments, media, of the places where their major sites are located.

What the news story did NOT mention is that just last month, another MBNA employee went ballistic, and bashed his wife's head in with a hammer while she was on the phone. I used to work with the guy on a project or two, and was rather surprised to see that he had snapped like this.

So this news story is not surprising to me in the least.

[Frederic Bastiat]

18. Thanks for taking the time to post this eom

[Riptide]

20. Hey, Skip - my husband is a consultant at the land of the green awnings..

....MBNA that is.

I see you are from Newark. Both my huband and I went to University of Delaware (though it was back in the 80's). We now live just over the border in PA.

MBNA definitely has a cult mentatlity. I feel heartbroken for the man who was killed. Apparently, he had 4 children, and his 15 year old daughter answered the door when the murdered came to the house.

[SkipNewarkDE]

23. Hey neighbor

Hey there, good to see a fellow DUer from my area, and fellow UofD-er. MBNA may have changed since I was there, but I seriously doubt it. One either has the mentality for it, or doesn't. I put up with it for about four years, and then bailed, my brain frazzled, and just incredibly disillusioned.

Let's not even get into their politics. I remember seeing Al d'Amato being paraded through its halls at one point... don't get me started on that.

[mainer]

21. It's a HUGE Republican donor

They were the single largest corporate donor to George W. Bush, I believe. And they got the payoff for their donation almost immediately, in the form of stricter bankruptcy laws.


In the town here, there's an MBNA facility, and employees felt pressured to donate the maximum to Bush and the GOP. This is how MBNA bypasses campaign finance laws. It makes its employees donate to the causes it espouses. Apparently, if you want to stay in good with management, you will donate to whichever candidate they tell you to. (And since donor lists are public information, management knows when you've complied.)

[jiacinto]

26. Sheesh

MBNA has always been good to me on the phone. I had some problems with my bill a few months ago, couldn't make payments; but they were willing to extend me a payment holiday and I got everything back on track.

That story is kind of freaky. How did MBNA get to be the largest credit card company in the world? I know of a heavily indebted woman who works at the front desk of my building. She keeps on telling me that every week it seems like one of her credit cards is suddenly now owned by MBNA. And it is a pain for her because when people enter hardship programs with a credit card company, they make the person stop using all of the cards. And that means she increasingly has no credit cards to use at all, which means that life is tough for her.

That's one thing I hate about the credit card industry is how accounts change hands all the time. Or more specifically student loans. I have just consolidated my loans with one company. A few weeks ago I get a letter from a company I've never heard of telling me that they have my loans. Anyway it turns out that the first company subcontracted their payment processing and administrative tasks to another organization.

I just wish that there was a law stating that when companies sell loans, or subcontract administrative duties, that they send a letter in plain English to accountholders/debtors explaining that "Company X has sold account in question to Company Y; Your account with Company X has been bought by Company Y; Company Y has been hired by Company X to handle the administrative processing of your loan". That way it stops the confusion.

Lastly, what is it about Delaware? Is everyone from Delaware filthy rich? I never could understand that state. Between Baltimore and Philly lies Wilmington. I never could figure out Delaware. It just seems out of place on the Northeast Corridor, a town that you pass on your way to either Baltimore or Philadelphia. Delaware just seems to be very aristocratic.

[tom_paine]

27. You are correct, carlos, Delaware is the Fiefdom of Dupont

VERY aristocratic. It surprises me that they send Democrats to the Senate and the Gov. offices.

You can't hardly walk down the street without tripping over some inbred, brain-dead Dupont.

That family hasn't made a contribution since the Civil War. And, yes, many of them are inbred morons.

(but inbred morons with money, which in the Amerikan Empire makes them far more worthwhile human beings than Doctors trying to cure cancer)

[SkipNewarkDE]

29. Delaware is an interesting state...

I'm a native, so I will offer a wee bit of illumination. Delaware is an interesting state, and fairly wealthy for a state so small. The northern county is indeed rather blue-blood, thanks to the DuPonts. There are some absolutely beautiful estates in the rolling hills of New Castle county. Laws favorable to corporations and banking make this a leading state for credit companies, including MBNA, First USA, et al. When you get "below the canal" (locals will know what I mean), the standard of living is decidedly lower. It's like going to a different state. The industry in the south of the state is predominantly agriculture, and there are some very wealthy poultry companies based in lower Delaware.

[jiacinto]

30. I have taken the train through Wilmington

And as soon I as cross the border in DE I see a great big sign that says "MBNA Welcomes you to Delaware". It's as if MBNA owns the whole state.

[Riptide]

32. Or as some call it instead of lower Delaware, "Slower Delaware".

nt

[MaraJade]

34. Lots of high level figure skating clubs there. . .

The University
of Delaware, for example, has many skaters on the US Team for
World competition. Delaware also fields one of the finest Synchronized Skating Teams in the country (this new sport to be
included in the Olympics soon).

I guess it's because of all the money that's there. Figure Skating
is one of the more expensive sports.

[electricmonk]

28. MBNAsucks.org

Not sure when this site was last updated, looks the same as the last time I was there a year or so ago but anyway it backs up what you said pretty good. It mostly deals with what they did in Maine.

http://www.mbnasucks.org/

[TahitiNut]

19. So, was the 13th a Par 5? If so, he shot under par.

{rimshot}

If it was a Par 3, he shot a bogey (pun intended, of course).

I'm here all week.

[Unknown Known]

22. Freeh heading their security

Louis Freeh is scum and should be tried for treason. His Clinton crotch-sniffing allowed 9/11 to happen.

"Freeh" and "security" in the same sentence is oxymoronic.

[FuseONE]

24. Yup....

Skip is right on the money describing them (it's cool seeing someone else from newark on here, by the way;) ). I worked there as a temp for like 4 months. I was rather disturbed by the indoctrination, to say the least. I worked in the HR's resume department for the first several months, which admittedly, wasn't that bad. Fridays in that department, like many companies, was a casual day. After a few months, I got switched to the quality control department. The first friday there, I walked in wearing a golf shirt. You'd have thought I strolled in there naked or something, by the looks they gave me. Apparently, the quality control department didn't have "casual days." After about two weeks there, I had enough of their nonsense and just stopped showing up. I'm pretty sure I wasn't missed.

[Riptide]

33. I lived in Newark for 15 years. I am a graduate of U of D.....

We moved to PA (just over the line) about 2 years ago. My husband is a consultant at MBNA. He understands the mentality, and plays along.

They are very serious about their dress code. It was only about 5 years ago that women started wearing pants there.