NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Three Metro-North workers have been suspended for allegedly having a secret "man cave" in the bowels of Grand Central Terminal.
The Office of the MTA Inspector General said the employees "commandeered" an unmapped room beneath a platform at the terminal to create their "own personal man cave."
The room was behind a locked door within a storage room. It contained what OIG investigators were told were "sensitive supplies" beneath Track 114 at the terminal, according to the OIG.
The room was fully furnished, with a large flat screen TV, a futon couch and exercise equipment. Inspectors also found a microwave, a refrigerator stocked with beer, air conditioning, a Wi-Fi hotspot and hideaway beds.
Management at the terminal told investigators they didn't even know the storage room existed "let alone that it contained an unauthorized break room." The OIG said there were "customized wooden boxes that could be deployed to quickly disguise" large items, like the futon and flatscreen TV.
"Many a New Yorker has fantasized about kicking back with a cold beer in a prime piece of Manhattan real estate – especially one this close to good transportation," MTA Inspector General Carolyn Pokorny said in a statement. "But few would have the chutzpah to commandeer a secret room beneath Grand Central Terminal and make it their very own man cave, sustained with MTA resources, and maintained at our riders' expense."
The three employees — a wireman, a carpenter foreman and an electrical foreman — were served with disciplinary charges and have been suspended without pay.
A supervisor also lied about an employee's whereabouts during the investigation, according to the OIG, which said it's "conducting an investigation to determine whether additional discipline is necessary."
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