People - go figure

There is a faculty member in my department who was denied tenure last year, so this is his last year. I'll call him Dr. X. His reaction to this has been, in my view, spiteful and childish.  He has refused to come to any faculty meetings, at any level.  He has refused to post his office hours by his door, as the University requires, though hopefully he has told his classes.  He has not been seen in the hallways by his office except in very rare occasions, and his office door is never open.  The dean says that unless we get student complaints, just let him stew in his own juices. 

A week before spring break, one of our students came to me and told me there had been a death in the family, and that he needed to be out the entire week.  He asked me to pass the word to two CS faculty members, one of which was Dr. X.  I sent an email to both faculty members to this effect.  This particular student is an international student, and he has a nickname that everyone (or so I thought) knew him by, so that's the name I used in the email.

After spring break, the student came to me and told me that Dr. X was angry with him because he had not notified him that he would be missing class.  I assured the student that I had indeed sent an email to Dr. X., but perhaps he didn't get it.  Not knowing if his email was trustworthy,  I printed off a copy of the email I has sent him previously and added a handwritten note, and slipped it under his door.  I thought the note was polite, even friendly, simply asking him to not blame the student for lack of notification.  This was done on or about March 20. 

Then, 2 days ago, I get a scathing email from Dr. X, angry about either the email or the note or both - still not sure what his real complaint was about, except I was just a horrible person or something.  One of the reason that I was horrible was that I referred to the student by his nickname, and I should have used his real name, and included the class he was enrolled in.  I replied, apologizing (for what, I don't know) and told him it was not my intent to be rude or disrespectful, and restated what I had tried to get across in the first place.  Then, he emails back saying that he considered that we were friends, and that I should feel free to call him with any student concerns.  Evidently phone calls are OK but emails and handwritten notes are not. 

Friends??   Are you nuts?  After all that?  No way, Jose.  Call you?  Not a chance in hell, unless the dean orders me to or there is some other disaster. 

Anyway, I am now wondering - has Dr. X even been in his office since March 20? If I call him, what are the chances of getting him in his office? 

Our secretary, one of the few people Dr. X will talk to these days, told me that the last time he had talked to her he said he had not found a new job.  Maybe he has been blaming me for giving him a bad reference; however not a single soul has asked me for one.   Maybe this has put him in an extra bad mood.  I have little sympathy for him, given that he is older than I am and could easily retire, and especially because his family is from the oil rich Arab world and seems to have significant money.  And there is no excuse for acting like a turd, in any case.

So, there is another reason to count the days until the end of the school year!