NYC man faces second work suspension for talking like robot

A city worker will likely be suspended for using a robot voice on the job, despite having already served a suspension for that very same cyborgian offense.

Ronald Dillon, an NYC Help Department employee who works at the agency’s IT help desk refuses to stop talking like a robot. “I. Help. You?” he can be heard saying in a recording that is worth playing multiple times, preferably among friends. “How may I help you?'” After the introduction, Dillon returned to a regular tone and speed in conversation, the judge said. The judge that presided at the hearing referred to the voice as “slow, monotone and over-enunciated”, adding it caused at least one caller to hang up and seek a “human” to answer her questions. While Dillon argues that his robotic style is unintentional, and merely an attempt to disguise his hard-to-understand Brooklyn accent, Administrative Law Judge Ingrid Addison disagreed, and slapped Dillon with a 30-day unpaid suspension recommendation, his second proposed suspension for the activity. This is Mr. Dillon. That was in spite of Dillon “being instructed by his supervisor, both verbally and in writing, that to do so was unacceptable and unprofessional”, the judge found, according to the DNAinfo report. Rather, he said, he was speaking in a neutral manner to appease his supervisors, who complained about his tone of voice.

The Health Department wants Dillon sacked this time, but while the judge didn’t go that far, she warned, “Despite his long tenure, if respondent’s insubordination persists, it could lead to his eventual termination from his employment”.

Dillon has apparently worked in the department for almost 40 years, and is clearly unhappy with the course that his career has taken in recent years.

“What was apparent from his rambling explanation and his general testimony was that he felt his skills and education to be superior to the requirements of his current job, especially given the kinds of projects to which he had been previously assigned”, the judge said, according to DNAinfo.