Day 155 - 14 Jul 95 - Page 62


     
     1        room and saying "I am off, I am not coming back"?
     2
     3   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Have you ever had that?
     4        A.  Maybe a couple of times in 14 years, yes.
     5
     6   MR. MORRIS:  Does their work standard tend to deteriorate in the
     7        last period of their employment?
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is really hopelessly general. You have
    10        to give me just a little credit for having learnt something
    11        about human nature and I have no doubt -- some people are
    12        on longer fuses than others, are they not?  There will be
    13        half a dozen who blow up in a second or two, that may be
    14        entirely due to the job, or it may be they have had a row
    15        with their partner the night before, I do not know, and it
    16        all gets too much for them.  Someone else will be
    17        harbouring a grievance, justified or not, and the pressure
    18        sometimes blows up suddenly.  This is why I think we have
    19        to keep on specific instance because I am not sure that
    20        sort of thing is going to help me anyway about general
    21        conditions at McDonald's.
    22
    23   MR. MORRIS:  I am referring ----
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Because it is just the same on the building
    26        site.
    27
    28   MR. MORRIS:  In this case I am actually dealing with a specific
    29        point that Mr. Rampton felt like elevating from Mr. Magee's
    30        statement and it is in the context of him saying on that
    31        page after his dispute with the management about unions,
    32        and he said, "One of the reasons for leaving is I could not
    33        take McDonald's any more.  I could not take the hassle that
    34        management were giving me etc. etc. I was being given all
    35        the worst jobs" etc., I think that ----
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What I am urging you to do is get to it
    38        pretty directly.
    39
    40   MR. MORRIS:  Is there any reason why Mr. Magee, who is fed up
    41        with McDonald's and the way he has been treated, according
    42        to his statement, should feel like smiling at customers
    43        when told to do so?
    44        A.  I cannot answer how he is feeling.
    45
    46   Q.   I know, that is why I was asking generalities, especially
    47        as you did not know Mr. Magee.
    48
    49   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is the problem you see because for
    50        better or worse, you are faced with a witness who says he 
    51        does not remember Mr. Magee. 
    52 
    53   MR. MORRIS:  The problem was that Mr. Rampton in his
    54        evidence-in-chief was drawing all sorts of conclusions
    55        about what Mr. Magee's state of mind was, and I am doing
    56        the same thing but, obviously, from a different viewpoint.
    57
    58   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I suggest you let that pass unless you have
    59        some particular point you want to make.
    60

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