A friend close to Mets told Craig Carton that the alleged joke that got the Voice of the Mets fired was told to a buddy in A CLOSED OFFICE. Later we revealed that the joke was not only told in a closed office but that the eavesdropper recorded the private conversation from a location she should not have been in.
Well it looks like Chris Granozio, 53, who worked as an assistant director, writer, archivist and scoreboard operator with the team since 1996, was also fired in February.
For laughing.
He told DailyMailTV the firing was like 1984 and that he still has no idea who he offended or what rule the Mets claim he and his co-worker broke.
The ordeal began on February 16, when Granozio and a male colleague went to a keycard-entry scoreboard control room at the Citi Field stadium while they had a few minutes of downtime between their tasks.
Granozio said that this colleague, well-known for his sense of humor, began making jokes that 'were vulgar in nature but of a PG-13 level.'
During their private conversation, the colleague used the word 'p***y'. Although he did not make any jokes himself, Granozio admits that he was 'laughing and encouraging him'.
He told DailyMail.com: 'We certainly were acting clownish. It was very brief and a one-time thing. We thought we were alone. It was not intended to harm or disparage anyone, it was generic. No names were used. It wasn't addressed at anyone.'
The colleague, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal in his other employment, confirmed Granozio's account of the incident to DailyMailTV.
Unbeknownst to the two friends, Citi Field was undergoing construction during the off-season and some employees from the main offices had been displaced to an area normally used by sports reporters and announcers during games.
A week later, Granozio learned that his colleague had been fired. A few days after that, he was called to a meeting with two members of the Human Resources department. He was fired on the spot, told to hand over his ID pass and escorted from the stadium.
He said: 'They said that I had violated something in the employee handbook, some statute of decency. My lawyer and I have looked at the handbook – there's nothing that we violated, either one of us.'
Granozio said there was no specific mention of a victim but said that it was 'implied that someone was offended'.
He added: 'They kept saying they had a zero-tolerance policy of this but we still don't understand what we did that violated anything. We were overheard doing a comedy riff that had nothing to do with the accuser.'
Granozio, who is married, later learned that a female co-worker had recorded their private conversation through a wall using her cell phone and sent the audio recording to HR.
'The booths are usually vacant during the off-season but they had people housed temporarily. We didn't know anyone was in the room next to us,' Granozio said.
'We were eavesdropped on by a woman in an adjacent booth which normally is unoccupied.
'I come to find out she heard us, pressed her cell phone up to the partition between our booths and recorded us. She couldn't even see us from her vantage point. She then sent that recording to the Human Resources department expressly to get us fired, I assume.'
He added: 'This woman is someone I've never met. I wish she had knocked on the door and said, "Guys, we can hear you, not cool."
'We would have been profusely apologetic - but we had no idea she was there. Instead, I feel like our privacy was invaded.
'I believe that, by firing us, it sets a very dangerous precedent that you can eavesdrop and record in the workplace. It's an increasingly Orwellian world.
'It's very scary and I know that my former colleagues are walking on eggshells because of this.
'I think the punishment does not fit the crime here - if you can even call it a crime.'
Granozio plans to file a complaint for unjust dismissal with the New York City Human Rights Commission this week. He is not interested in financial compensation but simply wants his job back.
He said: 'In the exit interview, I volunteered to apologize to the offended party. I offered to take sensitivity courses, to take a suspension without pay. I was not given any avenue for appeal and neither was my colleague.
'That's what we find very disheartening - they had no interest in hearing our side or finding a compromise.
'My lawyer and I asked to meet with them [the Mets] and they've turned us down. I did not want to make this a public thing but they have left me no option. I'm not going to take this lying down because it's an injustice.'
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the NY Mets Organization said: 'We are committed to maintaining a work environment that is free of discrimination and harassment, and our actions with respect to the employees in question were consistent with that objective.'
Granozio's attorney, Jeffrey Dubin, told DailyMailTV: 'Chris was an exemplary Mets employee for more than twenty years. He was summarily fired for a single, two-and-a half minute conversation. He had neither touched, nor ever met the woman who complained about him. She was invading Chris' privacy by surreptitiously recording his conversation.
'It reminds me of events that used to happen in the Soviet Union. People would listen to conversations through walls; provide the conversations to the secret police. Those people would then disappear.'
Granozio, a New Yorker who has been a lifelong Mets fan, has been left shell-shocked by the sudden and unexpected loss of his job.
Granozio said: 'The Mets were a great company to work for. I never had any issues with them until this incident. I really loved working with everyone there and people seemed to love working with me. This came out of the blue and it was very shocking.
'I have a squeaky-clean record. I won two national awards for my work. I can't think of one person who would have a beef with me.
'I feel as if I was excommunicated from my family. I feel a loss and, not to toot my own horn, but I was a valuable employee there.
'It's a very sad thing for me but I still root for the Mets. They are still my team and I still wish everyone else there well.'
Granozio said that he is a big supporter of MeToo movement but thinks that his situation suggests the dangers of an overreach.
He said: 'I support the MeToo movement. I'm a product of a single-parent household, my mother raised me and my sister. I'm acutely aware of the abuses that happen against women and I'm all for anyone standing up against any kind of violations - but I think this is taking it to another level.
'I don't think what we did in any way violates any particular woman's rights. I'm all for MeToo - but I think this is MeToo far. 'I think it really hurts the cause. It de-legitimizes it, when there are legitimate complaints.'
He added: 'I think it's very slippery slope because if people can't make jokes or use a word that is offensive but said in private, I don't understand how people can work without always looking over their shoulder. It's like Orwell's 1984.'
And yet, more importantly, Sandy Alderson continues to be employed. Ridiculous.
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