Thursday – Not Just Evil

[ninanevermore]

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Yvette from big death sent me an email the other day saying, "They fired me today." I was shocked. Big Death accused her of falsifying her hours on her time card, because she worked through too many lunches without prior authorization. With the downsizing last spring, everyone's work load was more than anyone could do in 40 hours a week. I sat around the corner from Yvette and from what I can recall, she rarely left for lunch. Never mind that a manager signed off on the hours, instead of telling her to resubmit her time because she was not authorized to work the overtime. They are looking for reasons to fire people so they don't have to pay for our unemployment claims.

I was warned not to accept the job with Big Death 2 years ago by someone who warned me that they weren't just evil, but "Enron Evil." Since you can't swing a cat in the Houston area without hitting an ex-Enron employee who lost their shirt in that company's downfall, the accusation of a company being evil on the scale of Enron in this town is pretty strong. Being just the right combination of dumb and desperate after 4 months of unemployment with no other offers in sight, I thought Golly, how bad could they be?

Live and learn.

Sales in the seminar programs I worked on were down drastically from the previous year. I suspect that around the end of the year, they will pull the plug on it. This means Dixie will be laid off or (more likely) fired sometime around Christmas. She is currently doing the work of 3 people, so it will be easy for her to mess something up. They will have no problem finding a reason to fire her and claim it is her own fault.

If I were as mean as she is, I would take pleasure in this idea. I'm not, however. I may not like cats, but I still don't like to hear about anyone torturing one. I don't like Dixie and wish to high heaven she would stop trashing my name, but she is going through a divorce and has a teenaged daughter to support. I don't like the idea of anyone getting screwed.

I learned from Yvette that Big Death has a strange policy about the rights of its employees to speak their minds. They are not allowed to give a positive reference or write a letter of recommendation for a terminated coworker. This announcement came out after I was let go and asked people for just such a reference through the only means I knew of contacting most of them: their company email addresses. A few of them responded with, "Of course I will," but only those who answered right away. The rest were silent, even those who had sung my praises before.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Yvette mused when I last spoke to her before she was given the ax. "I've given lots of references before." She shrugged her shoulders in bewilderment. But if Big Death is in a campaign to fire as many people as possible without paying them unemployment benefits, then they are expecting a lot of appeals to from the terminated employees with the Texas Workforce Commission. It just won't do if other employees are going around saying how good the ex employees were at their jobs. That could gum up the works.

At least Enron's employees were laid off and were able to file for unemployment. Calling Big Death "Enron evil" is not a fair statement; it sullies the good name of Enron.

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Comments

[rottzilla069.livejournal.com]

Yep, instead of layoffs they're quite obviously doing systemic terminations. It's the same thing really, except then they don't have to pay squat.

I hate these people for you. I really do.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the hate. Next time you have a family member that you must arrange a funeral for, I advise you to choose a funeral home that operates under a "family owned and operated" banner. Not only do the dollars you spend stay in your community, they don't fund a giant soulless entity like this one.

[simplecity2htwn.livejournal.com]

I guess compassion and fairness are not how they got to the top of their game. Hopefully, an Enron-style collapse is in their future.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I can only hope and pray. They've had enough scandals to sink the average corporation, but like Michael Meyers in the Halloween movies, true evil is pretty hard to kill and they keep coming back again and again.

[mersipan.livejournal.com]

What the hell. That's just not right. Even better, then, that you got out of there when you did - even if under bad circumstances. Sounds like they're going through a meltdown.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

No, it's not right, but that's never really stopped this company from doing anything in the past, and I doubt it will in the future.

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

My crazy neighbor once gave my six-year-old instructions on how to make napalm. Do you want crazy neighbor's number?

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Nah, not worth getting my hands dirty. Greed has a way of devouring its own worshipers, and Karma has a way of giving people back what they gave. Between these two powerful forces, I think Big Death will get its due.

Thanks for the offer, though. :)

[inever.livejournal.com]

All this is totally reminding me of the evil mortuary empire on Six Feet Under. Maybe that was scripted from real life experience with Big Death.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

The company on Six Feet Under is a send up of Big Death. Google my former employer's name and the word "scandal" and you will be amazed at what all you pull up. I know I was, at least.

[basketcaselady.livejournal.com]

File for unemployment anyway. When I was let go from (a big credit card company) they were looking for any reason after several huge rounds of lay offs. I had severe migraines and my dad had two heart attacks. I was terminated because my absences were unplanned. They told me they considered it gross misconduct. California Unemployment does not pay out if you are terminated for gross misconduct. But gross misconduct is gross misconduct that the state believes it to be, not what your employer meant it to be. If I had followed their suggestion that I was not going to receive benefits, so why bother filing, I would not have received anything. Instead I filed, and received benefits for close to a year. I had asked the case worker about the gross misconduct thing and she told me that they were aware that employers will do that to try to avoid paying out benefits.

And just think of how miserable Dixie will be having to do all that work all by herself. Even if she is not let go, she won't be happy.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

Texas is not as pro employee as California is, but Big Death has burned some bridges with the state (industry regulations are a lot tougher on them than they are for other companies). I've filed. I have not heard whether my claim will be approved or not.

I know Dixie is miserable. I'm trying really hard not to feel smug about it. It's not easy.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid that even if they die off, a new breed of vulture will rise to take their place.

[georgiaskydiver.livejournal.com]

Most companies have a policy of no references. All they can do is verify dates of employment and position(s) held. It's us darned lawyers who mucked up that one - too many lawsuits for either (a) refusal to issue a recommendation to someone who believes they deserve one and thinks they're being discriminated against when they can't get one, or (b) a lawsuit from the new employer for referring someone who doesn't work out.

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

I've only worked for small to mid-sized organizations in the past. While the HR departments may have had a policy of only verifying the start and end date, I've never been told I can't recommend another coworker for another job. That's a personal reference, and my personal bidness, as far as I'm concerned.

[jenelycam.livejournal.com]

It sucks that you got let go...but even worse that they're finding any excuse they can to do it w/o having to pay unemployment. What a bunch of asshats...

[neanahe.livejournal.com]

"What a bunch of asshats."

Oh, you have no idea...