Thursday, October 18, 2007

Where's Harvey?

Like the character Elwood P. Dowd, a likable drunk who introduces an invisible rabbit to his family and friends, John Jazwiec, RedPrairie CEO, recently presented his own stage production remake of the classic "Harvey," starring his bff -- let's go ahead and call him Harvey -- whom he introduced to all of us just a few short weeks ago. But unlike Dowd, Jazwiec is not an alcoholic, rather he is drunk with his own self-importance.

And now, it is being reported today that the short run of the remake of that delightful classic is coming to a close.

A few weeks back, in Act One, Jazwiec told us of his meeting with Harvey, a 6 foot five inch shotgun-wielding invisible black (of course he was black) rabbit burglar. Jazwiec claims Harvey walked into their home through the unlocked front door in search of loot. Instead, Harvey scored a couple beers from the affable CEO and some free electronic equipment. Other than family members, no one else saw Jazwiec's invisible friend. Well, an unnamed local resident said he thought he saw someone enter the Jazwiec's home. But in hindsight, he was probably Jazweic's psychiatrist.

Harvey left the family unharmed, thankfully. And as soon as the door was locked behind the departing rabbit burglar, Jazwiec called the police and told them a burglary had occurred and waited for them to arrive.

Well, no. As Act Two began, Jazwiec, I'm sure in an effort to boost sagging ticket sales, decided instead to wait until the next morning to call ... the office of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett to air his complaints. He also had an assistant contact a reporter to schedule an interview. No police call.

And he didn't stop there. Act two continued with Jazwiec and his wife organizing a neighborhood meeting to discuss crime. According to the JournalSentinel:

"We believe that the city should be doing more than they are," a flier announcing the gathering said. "We certainly pay enough in taxes, and I doubt that there will be any deduction given because we were victimized in our own home!"

The meeting, at the Jazwiecs' house Friday, was attended by about half a dozen people. On Monday, a broadly circulated e-mail from Jazwiec said he and his neighbors had met "and agreed that we can't trust the mayor or the police."


I'm sure the mayor lamented that huge drop off in support. But still no police. Harvey was still at large.

Act Three began a week later with the police contacting Jazwiec.

Meanwhile, because of Jazwiec's lack of a sense of civic duty, Harvey reportedly struck again and again, quaffing beers with amiable residents and showing off his new computer.

And the final Act ... Now we find that Jazwiec has apparently decided not to pursue the matter. Are he and Harvey in cahoots? You know, one hopes that Jazwiec will get some serious help for his paranoia issues. Living in a state of denial is not healthy.

Mike Mathias covered this earlier in much better fashion.


UPDATE: Edited to correct a fallacy. Thx, Jay.

UPDATE: Wiggy comes through with a good take on this affair.

8 comments:

  1. Can you even imagine being an employee at Red Prairie? How embarrassing, eh?

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  2. It's not his fault. He couldn't find the "eleven" on his home phone.

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  3. As far as I can tell, his employees are spending their time googling different versions of "Jazwiec robbery," "Jazwiec home invasion," and "Jazwiec police."

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  4. I've never heard his speaking voice, but now every time I even see his name, for some odd reason, I hear Elmer Fudd saying, "I'm going to get that wascally wabbit".

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  5. I have to admit I haven't followed this story closely, but this guy is nuts.

    His story concludes with: "Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's All, Folks!"

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  6. Act Three began a week later with Jazwiec finally contacting the police.
    Not to dampen a wonderfully vivid tale, but as I recall, Act 3 started with the police contacting him, right?

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  7. Jazwiec needs to be investigated for giving false statements to police. If he did, he needs to be charged, like that girl in Madison did with the false abduction story a few years ago. If police wasted tax dollars investigating a phony story, he also needs to reimburse taxpayers for those costs, which I presume would be part of any sentence.

    Regardless of the fact I agree with him on some issues, Jazwiec is a joke. He no longer has any credibility to speak on any issue.

    And yes, it would have be to rather embarrassing to be working for him.

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