Curt Tucker is a Liar
Which Curt Tucker are we talking about?
Curt Tucker is a tall, middle-aged, white male. He lives in or around Champaign, Illinois. He is co-owner of Verdant Systems, the Verde Art Gallery, and Verdant News and Coffee, all located in Champaign, Illinois. As of July 2003, Curt is balding, wears round glasses, and sports a goatee. He claims to hold a background in social services and psychiatry.
Tucker in Georgia would like to make it clear that “There are other Curt Tuckers out here who have never been to Champaign, Illinois and who have never fired anyone.” This page is not intended to in any way disparage the many fine Curt Tuckers who have never been to Champaign, Illinois and who have never fired anyone, and who, for all I know, are good, honest men.
How do you know Curt Tucker?
From April to July of 2003, I worked as a Barista at Verdant News and Coffee. Curt hired me, and fired me. I had frequent interactions with Curt. I also interacted with other employees and patrons who dealt with Curt.
What do you have against Curt Tucker anyway? You just said he fired you.
While I enjoyed working for Verdant News and Coffee, I did not enjoy working for Curt. When he fired me, I no longer had to work for him. I was also re-qualified for an old unemployment claim which pays more than Verdant, so in firing me he did me a favor.
Why do you need to make this page? Can’t you just go on with your life?
Most liars can be avoided once you figure them out. Curt claims to be a psychiatrist, and a social worker. Curt is an employer, and as a businessman with an art gallery and cafe in downtown Champaign, he is a public figure, trying to bring the community together. As an employer, and as a public figure, a liar can do a lot of damage.
It only takes me an hour or two to publish this page, which should be picked up in future web searches by anyone looking for information on Curt or his enterprises.
Who has he lied to about what?
From what I can tell, Curt tends to alter facts to fit a particular situation. He’ll claim that he never said something, that he said something else, or that another person has said something they haven’t. I don’t want to disclose private information or air dirty laundry. I can attest that:
- Curt has lied to employees about factual data.
- Curt has lied to employees about other employees.
- Curt lied to the State of California about my termination.
(That last part did me no harm, as an employer must prove gross misconduct when terminating an employee without prior cause.)
Why should I trust your word against Curt’s?
Unless you are a close personal friend, or I’m trying to sell you something, I don’t want you to trust me. You probably just found this page off of a web search, and for all you know I’m a mal-adjusted liar with some weird psychological antipathy for Curt. (Actually, this is probably what Curt would say in response to this page.)
I want you to think skeptically. Read my statements with a critical mind. Read Curt’s statements with a critical mind.
So what … do you want me to boycott Verdant or something?
I believe that the Verde Art Gallery is a valuable addition to downtown Champaign, and the Verdant News and Coffee serves some damned excellent coffee. The community stands to benefit from their success. This success is threatened by Curt’s penchant for dishonesty. By all means, deal with Curt and his enterprises. Please do so with some caution, and if Curt says something implausible, take it with a grain of salt, and see if you can verify the claim. In important matters, see if you can get him to commit to details in writing. I believe that Curt means well and may actually believe what he is saying. If you can catch him in an untruth, you may be doing him and the community he serves a favor, and you will have safe-guarded your own interests in the process.
Responses
Jimmy
Back when I was fired from Verdant, I typed what I was feeling that day. It’s more than a year later, but I found dannyman’s post and decided to add to it. I didn’t originally post it online for fear of being busted for libel, but as I’ve learned, truth is an absolute bar to recovery on defamation suits. So here’s the story of Jimmy’s demise. I didn’t use anyone’s real names, but I suppose if you read Danny’s post, you can figure it out.
Dec. 17, 2003
Well, it finally happened to me too. After working under the Boss-Man for several months now, I was fired. Here’s how it happened:
A few weeks ago, while punching out, I misaligned the time card so that my ‘start time’ fell on a red line, rather than between lines. I didn’t view this as a problem, since I had always worked the same number of hours per week: I had a regular schedule and I assumed whoever figured the payments would realize that and also be able to read the card without much effort. The time card was also rather difficult to get correct, so I figured everyone would understand.
When my paycheck arrived, I was paid 2 hours less than I had worked. I knew the Boss-Man would be pissed if I told he made a mistake, so I told him that I had probably done something wrong, but that I had worked 2 more hours than my paycheck indicated, and I asked him if he could please double-check my timecard.
Another week or so went by, and the Boss-Man approached me and told me that my area of the store wasn’t making any money, and that he may have to let me go in the near future. I told him that I understood. Being fired for economic reasons wouldn’t be so bad, and I could use the Boss-Man as a reference for future jobs.
The next day, however, the Boss-Man took a very different approach. While I was working in the area, which as usual had no customers, he handed me my time card. “What’s wrong with this?� he asked. I examined it for about 10 seconds, noticed my punching error, and mentioned it. He had misread the 12 for a 2, and thus paid me for 2 less hours. Again, knowing the Boss-Man was unstable and quick to anger, I took responsibility. I was not, however, ready to give up 2 hours of pay for a simple punching error, especially when the Boss-Man knew my hours had been the same since the beginning of the semester.
Things then took a turn for the worse. The Boss-Man 1) claimed that I had treated him like a jerk by accusing him of intentionally not paying me; 2) accused me of working more and more hours as time went by, which he considered a step away from stealing and which he found particularly disrespectful since he had only hired me “because he knew I needed the money”; and 3) told me that Friday should probably be my last day in light of my “bad attitude.â€?
At this point I actually wasn’t very surprised – this was just like the Boss-Man to fire people. I told him I understood, and that I was sorry. He shook his head and smiled: “No, you’re not sorry.� He began to leave my area. I offered to come in the following Monday and train my replacement, who would be Mr. B, a fellow employee. The Boss-Man said Mr. B could more than handle my job and that he required no training. I suppose this was an attempt to demean me, by showing that my job was very simple, but I didn’t catch it at the time. The Boss-Man then stormed out.
The Boss-Man’s complaints were complete bunk. I was intentionally non-confrontational when talking to the Boss-Man originally, I had done a lot of tough work that the Boss-Man couldn’t do due to his bad back, and I had never been chastised in any other job, let alone fired, for my bad attitude. I knew that I wasn’t working more hours – I had the same hours for the entire semester. I knew the Boss-Man’s game, and I wouldn’t become the bad guy that he wanted to fire. Don’t let him justify this, James. Keep your cool.
A few minutes later, the Boss-Man came back, this time with a new threat: “On your last days here, don’t get any funny ideas, or there will be consequences.â€? I immediately assumed that he was warning me not to screw up the business through sabotage, but I found his phrase ambiguous and I also had never given him any indication that I would use “funny ideas” to his detriment, so I asked for clarification. “You know exactly what I mean,â€? he responded. I told him that I would never do something to intentionally harm his business, though afterwards several ideas came into my head.
About 20 minutes later, Mr. N came to the back room and I told him what had happened. He looked angry, but I told him not to do anything. Just then, the Boss-Man came back and nearly shouted: “James, is there something you want to tell me?� I guess he thought I was bitching about him, which I wasn’t really. “Yes,� I answered, “I don’t think I will attend your Christmas party,� which was that Sunday. He chuckled and responded, “I think that would be a good idea.� He then took Mr. N to another room and fired him for unrelated reasons. While Mr. N was getting the axe, I decided to tell the other employees what had just happened to me. They all seemed shocked, which I found odd, given the Boss-Man’s propensity for instability. But I was a good guy, and most people thought my quit wits and Midwest manner would keep me going. Not a chance.
I really do think I lost my job for economic reasons, but the Boss Man couldn’t bring himself to let someone go for that. So he convinced himself that I had a bad attitude, that I did treat him like a jerk when inquiring about my missing hours, and that I was ungrateful to him. The store prides itself on providing a valuable service to the community, which I guess the Boss-Man didn’t think could happen if he had to fire a decent employee. I’m not sure if this was subconscious or not, given how nuts the Boss Man is.
Later that night I took out my old paystubs. My first few weeks I worked a lot to get the place up and running. After that, the average hours I worked hadn’t changed. I certainly hadn’t been working more and more for the Boss-Man.
I went back to work on Friday, did my normal routine, straightened everything up, took out the recycling, punched out, and that was it. I ran into the Boss-Man and the co-owner, but I kept my cool. The Boss-Man is nuts, but I still have some respect for a guy who can (try to) run his own business. I went back in the morning about a week later and learned that Mr. B, my replacement, had quit upon learning that I had been fired. That gave me a high. No one had ever done something like this for me. So then the Boss-Man had Mr. M do my job as well as work the reception desk at the front. Mr. M is a great guy – in our spare moments, which can be as long as an hour if the owners aren’t in, he would teach me Arabic phrases by writing them in Arabic and then in phonetic English. He would also tell me about al-Messr, his home. He deserved a better job than this. Now when he returns, he’ll tell all of the other Messr-iya what a bunch of bastards American bosses are.
Work has really high turnover and a reputation for being a bad place to work. When I was fired, I had worked there longer than any other employee, and I started soon after it opened. Now the place has been going for about 9 months, and Mr. M is the most senior.
The Boss-Man didn’t address my being fired to the employees, which probably hurt morale. I was just gone, and rumors spread quickly at work.
One more final to take, then I’m done for another semester. I guess I’ll look for a new job then or just take it easy and study more.
pottimous
I’ve read this page on several occasions now. It does come up a lot in google. The first time I read it – I had a lot of sympathy for you because I’ve had employers who were evil. Everyone has. Everyone has had it much worse than both you and me.
Now after reading it again, I find it hard to have sympathy for you. Because I feel that you have went through a toxic event in your life with Mr. Tucker. You have vomited up the toxins and they congealed to form this page.
But – instead of cleaning up the vomit, you have allowed it to fester causing both you and Mr. Tucker to freeze in a kind of suspended animation of hatred.
This is about stagnation and suffering.
It is not about revenge or meaningful discourse.
“You must change your life”
– Rilke
Good luck.
Jeff
I worked at Verde the same time that Jimmy did and can verify what he’s written here. During the year that I worked there, Curt Tucker fired 20 people for having a “bad attitude”, myself among them. A high turnover rate for a place that only employed 7 or 8 people at a time. But we can have the last laugh. Verde Gallery and Verdant News and Coffee will be going out of business at the end of 2006.
One of the Original Baristas
The employees commenting on this site speak true. In the first four months, Verde had 100% turnover in the gallery and the coffee shop had over 400% in the first year alone. While I was there, I worked with many wonderful, over-qualified employees – years of experience in customer service, art studies, architecture, and food management. Not one of these people were given the respect they deserved and many were fired or pushed out of their jobs for imagined slights to Curt. I still talk to some co-workers, and I assure you, these are well-adjusted individuals who are successful in their endeavors.
That being said…
It’s official – Verde Gallery and Verdant News & Coffee closed tonight.
Just Passing By
Curt Tucker is now on Microsoft Office Live boards, goes by altArtifacts.
david
I exhibited several times at Varde and find it a sad loss to the community and to emerging artists . The area needed a place like that and its too bad that the toxicity that emerged at the end caused its demise.
As for Curt being a liar I dont know if he ever lied to me or not. But it really doesnt matter because most of my interactions with him were positive.
The only thing to do is move on and allow the experience.
Mari
I have worked with Curt Tucker for almost a year now and find him to be a very reasonable and caring individual. I also find that it is completely shameful to defame such a persons name online. Anyone who has any question about the matter should deal with him directly. I have known many people who greatly trust and respect him, this is the first time I hear a negative account regarding Curt. What a shame that a personal matter has turned into such a malignant publicity stunt.
Tracy
Danny,
I was married to Curt (his second marriage) and I can verify what you say about his being a liar. I just want to leave a message for Mari: do you really know Curt? Do you know he has a 20 year old college student in the Honor’s Program? He hasn’t spoken to her since she was a senior in high school. If he was so caring, why hasn’t he contacted his daughter??? Please don’t get sucked in to his foolish games!!
Mari
This website says so much about the person who made it.
The fact that you wrote what you did,
says a lot about who you (Tracy) are.
I know danny and now I know you.
I stand by what I said previously.
Not Eno
urt Tucker seems to rarely go by his real name (or even altArtifacts or pottimous) anymore. Could this page have something to do with that fact??
At least online, Curt Tucker has morphed into something called Artotem.
In Second Life, Curt is Artotem Tolsen.
On Facebook. Curt is ArtotemsCo.
On Twitter, Curt is Artotem.
On Flickr, Curt is ArtotemsCo.
On YouTube, Curt is Artotem.
On Tumblr, Curt is ArtotemsCo.
And of course, he operates Artotems.com.
You get the idea.
Sal D
As one of the original employees of Verde, I only have one thing to say:
Karma is a b*tch.
nnm
Went to school with you danny. We always knew you were the stalker type. lmao didnt know you were the internet stalker type. lol
eliot tucker
oh hi tracy. Â this is eliot. Â remember when we lived together? Â his daughter is a great person. Â you are not. Â you don’t deserve to be married to my uncle, who is less than me in some ways, but certainly greater than you. Â you are a nobody piece of shit.
eliot tucker
look people. Â i know curt is a genius and an asshole. Â and he makes mistakes. Â but i know he’s better than you fucktards. Â grow a spine.
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