Cats and Rats

(He Left No Friends)

Since 1920, General Electric (GE) had a significant industrial park in Rio de Janeiro, with factories producing light bulbs, electrical panels, transformers, generators, locomotives, airplane turbines, and various other products, spread across several industrial sites.

GE was also a pioneer in promoting inclusion and opportunities for advancement within its workforce, both in the US and in Brazil. Over the years, many notable and distinguished engineers passed through its factories and offices, regardless of race or personal choices.

The management at GE in Brazil was a mix of Americans and Brazilians, though the criteria for selection and promotion of staff—especially top executives—by the Human Resources department were never quite clear.

Around 1975, an engineer named Chaves rose to the position of director at GE Brazil. He was the type of leader more concerned with impressing others than with actually getting things done. He cultivated an image of absolute competence, always seeming in control, and even learned to play the organ in an attempt to appear erudite. However, his pocketbooks were always filled with titles like "How to Negotiate Contracts," "How to Manage People," and "How to Present Results to Impress Shareholders." He maintained a cold, distant persona, never smiling, and always keeping his colleagues at arm's length, as if he didn’t trust anyone. His every movement seemed calculated—down to his trips to the bathroom.

When Chaves took over the administration of the factory facilities, he began issuing orders with arrogance and tension. He started to pick on the SPLJ company, which provided outsourced services such as "Security, Cleaning & Gardening," including pest control for rats and insects. He seemed to distrust his predecessor, who had hired SPLJ and been promoted to the position Chaves had wanted.

After some time, without finding any legitimate reason to replace SPLJ, Chaves tried to prove that he could manage things better. This led to him questioning the costs of pest control—especially the rat extermination process. Any rat extermination had to be preceded by a strong application of insecticides to kill the fleas on the rats. If the rats were killed first, the fleas would jump off and infest other animals and humans, potentially causing bubonic plague. But no one dared to explain this to him.

At the first opportunity, Chaves slashed the pest control budget and ordered some cats to be let loose in the factory. Not without ensuring the cats' health—vaccinations, etc.—he thought this was an "eco-friendly" and "sustainable" solution (around 1975), ahead of its time, though now often considered a misguided idea.

A year later, the cat population had grown significantly, causing problems throughout the factory. Cats were entering machines, getting ground up in machinery, leaving cat feces all over the place—creating a chaotic situation.

One day, an American from the central office in downtown Rio brought another American visitor, along with his wife, to see one of the factories. The wife decided to adopt two kittens from the hundreds she saw. That’s when things got really complicated. The visitor, not interested in “pets” but wanting to avoid a confrontation with his wife, began to mock the factory, saying that GE in Brazil seemed to be running a “cat nursery.” This joke made its way back to the US, where it reached the ears of GE’s president in Brazil, who was not amused and demanded immediate action.

Chaves, however, did not take responsibility. Instead, he blamed SPLJ and demanded that they take action to remove the cats.

Tomás, the head of SPLJ, was a tall (around 6’3”), ex-military man who always carried a weapon and had two armed bodyguards. Despite his intimidating appearance, he was a kind-hearted and credulous man. He received the order from Chaves and, in good faith, followed it to the letter: he bought ten dogs for each factory and began a new round of animal control.

The situation, however, became even more complicated. While the dogs initially kept the cats at bay, an agreement seemed to form between the felines and canines, leading to a peaceful coexistence. Before long, both the factories and the surrounding areas had hundreds of dogs and hundreds of cats—and the rats seemed to have disappeared.

Chaves, however, interpreted this as a mockery of his authority and began to target Tomás. As tensions escalated, someone with more common sense finally intervened, and Chaves was "let go" from GE (or perhaps left voluntarily—no one was ever sure).

After leaving GE, a headhunter “sold” him to IESA (a company later acquired by Montreal), but the situation quickly repeated itself. However, the environment at IESA, a project engineering firm, was far different from that of a factory. No one there was naïve, least of all Chaves. It didn’t take long for people to realize that Chaves had little to offer, and his manipulative tactics were evident. Eventually, the situation worsened, and a colleague, acting out of malice, discreetly placed various "motel" souvenirs—matches, napkins, a comb, etc.—in Chaves' jacket pocket. Chaves’ wife found these items at home.

The ensuing conflict was dramatic. Chaves was either forced to leave or left voluntarily—again, the details were unclear. The colleague who had planted the items, a middle-aged man, was also either ousted or left under suspicion.

Chaves’ life was marked by tension. He lived uneasily with himself, and, not long after, he died at the age of just 55. He left no friends behind.

Miguel Fernández y Fernández,Consulting Engineer and Columnist. May 2023, (5,903 characters)