Bully Pulpit

Bully Pulpit

BULLY PULPIT: Not Safe for Work

A very bad day at SmileDirectClub is like too many bad days in too many workplaces.

Bob Garfield's avatar
Bob Garfield
Aug 16, 2021
∙ Paid

I’ll bet Johnny Hardin and Carlton Watson’s pals had some good laughs at their expense.

Both guys are security guards at a place called SmileDirectClub in the Antioch neighborhood of Nashville. It’s a manufacturer of transparent plastic teeth-aligners. In other words, it’s not the Pinnacle Bank on Third Avenue, the financial institution with $9.9 billion in deposits. It is not Genesis Diamonds on Hillsboro Pike or Industrial Chemical & Equipment Co. on Jocelyn Hollow Road or the Mall at Green Hills with Gucci, Tiffany and Luis Vuitton.

It’s a warehouse for orthodontic products, a pre-fab eyesore between Access Dental Lab and Jit-Ex Nashville, a Christian trucking company. Security-guarding there isn’t exactly Seal Team 6.

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