Mohammed, Late of Key Food, now “Man with Van”

By on May 1, 2009 5:26 pm in Brooklyn Heights, News

Reader Bonnie Burke reports that she has spoken with Mamadou “Mohammed” Doucoure, the former assistant manager at Key Food on Montague, whose struggle with the store’s owners was covered here. Bonnie says he is no longer working the night stock shift at Key Food, the position to which he was demoted some months ago, and is now self-employed as a mover with a van.

She also wrote, “He expressed his gratitude for all his supporters!”

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  • Anne

    That was such an awful situation. I’ll keep him/his new service in mind.

  • AEB

    The question of course is what exactly transpired between M. and Key Food that got him to where he is now.

    Anyone have the details?

  • nobody

    Another prime example how the nabe comes “together” rallying support and in the end accomplishes absolutely NOTHING.

  • AEB

    Disagree, nobody. To the extent that public opinion can be/was rallied–to that extent, larger media (in this case, the Times), pick up on the story (as the Times did), and pressure is applied.

    It’s unlikely the Key Food would have accommodated M. if that hadn’t happened.

    If you’re looking for broader or more profound change–well, the matter was decided between M. and Key Food on terms that were, apparently, agreeable to M.. And the horizon of exploitation is pushed back….

  • The Where

    You’re also assuming that Mr. M was in the right and a good employee behind closed doors.

  • BB

    I’m a longtime resident and frequent shopper at Key Food. In the “front doors” of business where it counts most, I always saw Mohammed as a positive, go-to person.

    I appreciated his ability to resolve complaints, reduce long unexpected cashier lines and handle pricing conflicts with ease. To me and many others, he was the owner of Key Foods. With this being said, the things that we like most about Mohammed may, in fact, be the very traits that led to his job demotion.

    Mohammed most likely was a victim of new management. It happens in every type of job and in every field — including our very own neighborhood grocery store. When new management takes over any company, tenured employees are immediately stamped with a “shelf-life” and given a limited amount of time to prove their value. These employees are only allowed to stay if they can show that they are flexible, profitable and not a threat to the new scheme of things.

    It’s easy to find yourself “unemployed” or “working the graveyard shift” if the new captain feels that his/her authority is being tread upon.

    It’s sad that M. is not there anymore. At the same time, I would rather see him move on to better and brighter horizons than have his wonderful spirit crushed by ego, power-play and cat-and-mouse shenanigans.

    I wish Mohammed the very best.

  • CJP

    I think BB has summed it all up perfectly.

  • No One Of Consequence

    I know it’s been posted before, but I can’t find it.

    Does anyone have Mohammed’s contact info/phone number?

  • bornhere

    NOOC – I posted it, I think, on a “Wednesday” thread about 3 weeks ago. I have his info at home (I’m at the office now). If you haven’t found it by the time I get home, I’ll repost it here.

  • No One Of Consequence

    Thanks for the hint. Found it and re-posting here as this thread is the one that comes up first in a search.

    phone numbers: 212.662.4536 and 917.721.9337. The card notes that he does moving, furniture/appliance deliveries, airport delivery, garbage removal, and move-in/move-out cleaning. (And “No move is too big or too small!”)

  • Sarah Portlock

    I had to move a bed frame from Downtown Brooklyn to the upper Upper West Side, and called Mohammed. He arrived on time, with a 14′ truck — hardly a van — and a partner. They did all the work of carrying the heavy pieces from apartment to apartment (basement of one building to a third-floor walk-up of the other), and offered to help me reassemble everything. They were so polite and helpful, I recommend him to anyone!