The Trouble with Charlie
PEW, THOMAS W. Jr.
The Trouble with Charlie by THOMAS W. PEW, JR. One morning Charlie Green woke up and found he could not get a good job. The spokesmen for a national credit reporting company were telling people...
...At several places where he applied, he was^ told that he was "just the type of man the firm was looking for...
...He discovered the Charlie Green story when, on a Ford Foundation-American Political Science Association Fellowship, he was working in Senator William Prox-mire's office and had access to the files of the Senator's subcommittee on credit...
...The spokesmen for a national credit reporting company were telling people that Charlie was "said to have been dishonorably discharged from the Army...
...And today this emerging system is in the hands of corporations which operate without any significant state or Federal controls and with virtual immunity from judicial accountability...
...And, since he had been working, how could he prove for certain that the report had hindered him in getting the jobs he was qualified for...
...He quickly scanned the background on his "Employment-Educational Record," "Finances," and "Legal Records" until he came to: "said to have been dishonorably discharged from the Army . . . cursed her and spit in her face while his wife hurled profanities at her . . . continued to abuse the old woman in spite of her heart condition . . . landlord glad the Charlie Greens moved out of the apartment because they were troublemakers...
...I am not a drinker, so I walked the streets every night until the early hours of the morning...
...anyone other than the old woman in the apartment above the Greens' Could have told them that Charlie had the reputation of being a good neighbor, and that the old woman, who was the investigator's only character reference, was a notorious crank...
...He was called into the sales manager's office...
...Most of all," Westin went on, "this problem will soon become far more critical than it has ever been...
...Why...
...In my industry no one hires salesmen over forty...
...They were telling people that even though Charlie "knew" that the old woman had a "heart condition" he "continued to be rude, abusive, and scurrilous at every opportunity...
...He had read a newspaper story about testimony I had given before a Congressional committee investigating problems of privacy and due process in the operations of retail credit bureaus...
...The measure, if it is kept intact and passed by the House of Representatives, will help correct the kinds of abuses that have plagued Charlie Green by giving all the thirty-five million plus Charlie the right to correct erroneous information in their credit files...
...In the autumn of 1967, by getting a businessman to request a pre-employment report on him, Charlie Green at last saw the source of his six-year curse—the "Special Service Character Credit Report...
...terviews...
...His efforts were in vain...
...Shouldn't there be some legislative protection for people like me?' " Professor Westin told the Senate committee that "if Charlie's case were highly unusual—that rare slip-up and foul-up that can happen in even the most careful system of information—it would be a personal but not a social tragedy...
...The Charlie Green report never told Charlie Green's side of the story, and that was the trouble with Charlie for six years...
...And even if he had made some mistakes in 1961, Charlie observed: "All this deals with one year . . . there is nothing else written in this report about my reputation, absolutely nothing for all the years since 1961...
...But in the interim, before the bill is finally passed by the House and becomes law—if it is passed by the House—the Charlie Greens wait within their own peculiar form of Twentieth Century debtor's prison, never knowing why they have been sentenced...
...Meanwhile, he is at the mercy of the credit investigating company...
...What report...
...Charlie wanted the new report to make note of past errors...
...Charlie applied for a job and made an excellent impression on the East Coast personnel manager of a large national consumer product firm...
...But seven days after Charlie started working at the firm a perturbing thing happened...
...He started looking for a new job...
...I absolutely did not lie on my application...
...He got the job with accolades: The sales manager told him that he had passed six hours of intelligence and aptitude tests with higher scores than anyone else who had ever taken the tests at that firm...
...Every time he had applied for a job for the past six years his potential employers had read this character report...
...What was I accused of...
...He soon learned that the law dealing with such reports allowed the investigating companies "limited privilege...
...The new report was to be circulated only after Charlie and his lawyer had inspected it...
...For a long time Charlie couldn't even find a lawyer who would take his case...
...Charlie's head felt tight, his insides hollow...
...Where was I to turn...
...I just can't hire you," said the manager who had' been so impressed in the beginning...
...They were telling people that Charlie and his wife had had a loud Christmas party in 1961 and that when an elderly woman neighbor complained to the police Charlie "abused her verbally" and "expectorated" on her face, while Charlie's wife "used profanity" on her...
...Professor Westin told the Senate Committee: "I know Charlie Green's story because he called me a few weeks ago for help...
...Charlie Green's real name isn't Charlie Green...
...It also gives them the right to be told the reason for credit or insurance rejection, to have access to all information in their credit file, to know to whom the information has been given, to file a statement giving the individual's side of the story, to have all information kept confidential and used only for legitimate business purposes, and to have negative information removed after seven years (or fourteen years in bankruptcy cases...
...Because of the delay that such a damage suit has in getting to court, Charlie now faces a three or four year wait before he can get his case tried and decided...
...And you know what it is...
...the manager asked Charlie...
...But Charlie's problem is not unique...
...Charlie couldn't prove these things...
...On May 20, 1969, Alan F. Westin, professor of public law and government, Columbia University, came before Senator William Proxmire's Committee on Banking and Currency and at the Fair Credit Reporting Act hearings told the story of Charlie Green as it is told here...
...Because of the time and cost factors involved, errors do crop up in these reports, yet the basic procedures of these companies inhibit individuals from learning that they have been unfairly judged and sharply impede efforts to correct such errors when they are detected...
...How could Charlie prove these things...
...There must be some mistake...
...Look, Professor Westin,' Charlie said, 'I'm almost forty years old...
...How could some anonymous company do this to him...
...He did well on his tests, and he had good inTHOAAAS W, PEW, JR...
...This meant that Charlie would have to prove the credit investigating company had a malicious intent in circulating the false information about him, or that it had been "grossly negligent" in collecting the information, or had given it out publicly rather than to their subscribers...
...But Charlie's troubles were only just beginning...
...And how could he "prove" to a jury the anguish inflicted on his wife and family because of the curse over them for six years...
...Then he added: "I don't think any company in the industry will hire you with that report...
...Almost every time he would see the sales manager, the man who had originally praised him for his high qualifications, the manager made some snide reference to Charlie's "coming clean...
...Should he try to get a job with any of the thousands of corporations that use their services...
...The bill also provides for criminal penalties for those who obtain reports under false pretenses...
...The arrival of computerized data banks and cheap long-distance communication networks are creating a private national intelligence system...
...That report...
...What's wrong...
...is editor and publisher of the Troy Daily News in Ohio...
...He worked for several of these smaller companies in the mid-Sixties, always trying to land a job on one of the bigger firms' sales staffs...
...The professor added: The credit investigating company has filed a general denial of liability and indicated that it will fight the case all the way...
...I really don't have the slightest idea of what you are talking about...
...He had a wife and two children, and he needed work...
...When he finally did find a lawyer, the credit reporting company told him that Charlie's dishonorable discharge entry was a typographical error...
...In the fall of 1969, after months of fruitless correspondence with the investigating company in an effort to see the corrected report, Charlie filed suit for damages against the company...
...I've tried to help you all I can," the manager said...
...It is impossible to describe my psychological state at that time," Charlie says...
...The firm was set to hire Charlie when it happened again: He "failed" to pass a pre-employment personnel investigation...
...If I have to wait three or four years for my case to get through the courts, even if I win money damages I'm virtually dead as a salesman...
...he still does not know what they will choose to say about him, in writing or by telephone...
...I was ready to jump out of my skin, climb the walls...
...It affects more than thirty-five million Americans today who have their careers monitored and molded by private personnel investigators...
...I really shouldn't have said what I did, and I just can't tell you any more...
...He tried to put the confrontation out of his mind and to concentrate on his job...
...Why didn't you come clean with it...
...They were reporting that Charlie's landlord was glad Charlie moved from the garden apartment where he lived, "in view of his conduct while living there...
...I felt an absolute trembling fear for my family and myself...
...The suit also demanded that the credit company circulate a corrected report to the employers who had rejected Charlie because of their original erroneous report...
...The companies changed their minds about taking on another salesman, or someone who was better qualified came along and got Charlie's job...
...He couldn't...
...Even the most superficial investigation by the credit corporation would have shown that their report on Charles Green was entirely erroneous: The Department of the Army could have told them in a minute that Charlie Green was honorably discharged from the Army in 1956...
...Charlie asked...
...How was this situation ever to be resolved...
...Charlie doesn't want to give his real name anymore...
...Charlie's troubles began in the early 1960's when he landed a sales job with a large national manufacturer...
...Every place Charlie looked, the prospects appeared excellent...
...Charlie was in trouble...
...You've lied about some very important information on your job application and I'm terribly disappointed in yo,u...
...As a last resort he turned to small firms where he couldn't earn as much money as his qualifications showed he deserved, but where he could at least have a job...
...But the jobs never came through...
...He returned to his work, confused and troubled about the strange accusation...
...Then, in 1967, the most attractive opportunity of all came along...
...Since there was no way Charlie could "come clean," he finally succumbed to the frustration of the mysterious harassment and resigned...
...I don't know what it is," Charlie protested...
...Recently a bill entitled the Fair Credit Reporting Act was passed by the Senate...
...Charlie now has letters from his landlord and his nearest neighbors from the garden apartment describing Charlie and his wife as in "no way objectionable" and "quiet, pleasant, and courteous neighbors...
...And if my case becomes a big public episode, what company will want to hire a "troublemaker...
...But they wouldn't let either Charlie or his lawyer see the corrected report...
...Is this the way to judge a man's reputation, on one alleged incident reported by one side six years ago...
...They were teling people that Charlie left "the impression in the neighborhood that he was a 'job jumper.' " They were telling these tales to the people at every place Charlie applied for jobs for six years, but they never told Charlie...
...They told Charlie's lawyer that the company had "resolved the problem" and that, as for his "reputation," Charlie had nothing more to worry about...
Vol. 34 • February 1970 • No. 2
