At Will

Ugh.

I want to be a regular blogger. I do. I like it. I like that you like it. It's a nice little circle of back-patting for me.

However, there are certain disadvantages to working at an underfunded non-profit in the heart of a decaying city. No tech support is one. When the computer breaks, there isn't anyone to call. When there's no Internet signal or, worse yet, there is a signal but your computer for some random reason won't connect to it, you're just kind of up a creek. So it is with me. We have a signal - my computer registers that much. But, as of yesterday, my machine stopped recognizing any network connection. So it's like our little modem is all hooked up with no place to go.

It bothers me.

There are other blessings and curses to working where I do. One interesting element is that we are all "at-will" employees. No contracts, no union, nothing. This means that I could walk downstairs right now, find my boss, say to him, "Dude, I would rather take a bath in thumbtacks than work here one second longer," and I could walk out the door without even a look back. They couldn't get me for breach of contract or come after me for not offering two weeks notice. Nope, I could leave this second and that would be that. Nice freedom, right? Maybe. What it also means is that my boss could come upstairs, find me, and say, "Dude, you're wearing a yellow shirt. I hate yellow shirts. They make me so angry! You're fired!" and I would be fired and that would be that. No reason, no notice, no explanation. Fired. Not so cool, eh?

Well, essentially that's what happened last week to two different employees. They'd filed a letter of grievance to the Board of Directors about the behavior of one boss, the program manager. The big boss, the exectutive director, called up one of the women and said, "Did you send that letter of grievance to the Board?" The employee said, "Yes, I did." Big Boss said, "Well, here's something to grieve about: you're terminated." And that was that. She was to be out of the building by the end of the day.

The next morning, the other woman who complained was terminated in similar fashion and she too was to be gone by the end of the day.

Everyone here was freaking out, whispering in hushed tones, "Isn't that illegal - to just fire someone for complaining about bad work conditions?" Then Big Boss came over and gave the talk about being "at-will." Most everyone quieted down and went back to work. Sounds messed up? Well, it is. But what do you do?

This situation, to me, sums up the nature of working here: two pretty nice co-workers got fired for wanting things to get better. At the same time, because one of them isn't here, I'm able to use her computer now that mine refuses to connect with the Internet. Conditions are so poor that I can overlook two hardworking people getting canned for not just lame reasons but bad, unethical reasons simply because it means that I get an Internet connection that works.

Is that the most depressing thing you've ever read or what? One the one hand, I feel like a total sell-out. I would have liked to have walked out that day and said, "If you're going to be evil, I'm not interested in working for you."

On the other hand, I feel like a husband and father who has to do what he has to do in order to fulfill his responsibilities.

Adult life is full of compromises.

Anyway, on the cancer front, because I know many of you are interested, there's really no news yet. My mom should be out of her fancy, radioactive scan by now. I imagine she's having lunch with Aunt Fay, Karen, and my dad right about now. We'll probably have the results tomorrow. When I know, you'll know. (Assuming I haven't been fired by then and that I have an Internet connection.) Til then.