“Surly in the Extreme”

Judi

Working with Mike Rinder was probably the least pleasant experience I have had in my decades-long career in the Church. He was surly in the extreme, rarely smiled and, when he did, it was usually at someone else’s expense after he had said something particularly derogatory to or about them. He seemed to take delight in humiliating staff in front of others, stating how they had screwed up on something, milking the opportunity to make it as unpleasant and demeaning as possible for the person.

I know because he subjected me to this treatment and I personally saw him do it to others.

One time, a colleague of mine, a young woman, had turned in a proposal to Mike Rinder. Per his reaction, it was obviously not what he wanted.

And he got so mad about it, he grabbed this young woman by the throat and shoved her against a wall and held her there, all the while screaming at her at the top of his voice. After a few seconds, he let her go.

She was about five-foot-three and he towered above her. It was like David and Goliath, only in this case “David” didn’t win. I was totally shocked by this and she was trembling, she was crying. The woman was extremely upset about this for months afterwards.

I’d never seen anything like it ever before and I’ve never seen anything like it since.