Tuesday – Just Business, Not Personal
Nov. 17th, 2009 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninanevermore.
.
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My former co-worker, Yvette, was happy to hear that I got my unemployment. Her case is still pending, but she was fired two weeks after I was. She has been accused of falsifying her time records, so her case is almost defiantly going to involve a denial she will have to appeal. To get the ball rolling, she has already filed a complaint with the EEOC for wrongful termination.
"You know the other two administrative assistants on that floor were both making more than I was? I know this for a fact." she told me. "And I have a degree, neither one of them does."
This might mean she can throw racism into the complaint along with the whole lying about why they fired her thing. Yvette is black, and the other two assistants are a white woman and a Hispanic. I think the main reason we were let go has to do with the old saying, last hired, first fired. Usually, that means the people with the least seniority are the first ones in line to be laid off. She and I were both hired in 2007 and were among the ones with the least senoirity in the department. In our cases, they really did fire us.
I used my state-issued, recently-restocked unemployment debit account to buy a latte today (it's a necessary mental health expense I make once a week if at all possible) so I could sit in a coffee shop and think about things. It occurred to me that Big Death is probably playing a numbers game with the way they are firing people. When I was let go, they did not mention me filing for unemployment until I asked.
"We always encourage people to file," the HR woman told me without looking at me, "but you probably won't get it since you are being fired for misconduct." I was looking at her, though, and I noticed that one of her eyes was twitching when she said this. What I heard didn't sound much like encouragement to me. When Yvette got the can she did not ask, and unemployment was not mentioned to her. Most companies in my experience hand you a printout on how to file for unemployment, but not Big Death.
I think they are hoping that by not mentioning unemployment or mentioning it with the words "you probably won't get it," they are counting on a certain number of people not even trying. Of those who do file, a certain number of people are going to be denied even if they do file. Of those who are denied, a certain number will be too discouraged to bother filing an appeal. Every person who doesn't file, and every person who is denied but doesn't appeal is an expense Big Death doesn’t have to pay.
If Big Death has an underlying business philosophy, I'm convinced it is Never let doing the right thing get in the way of the bottom line.
One of their internal corporate mottos is "Because Life Matters." The truth is that for them money matters most of all, and death is what brings in the cash. The living people who work for them are just annoying details that must be used, dealt with and sometimes disposed of as a means to their end.
It's just business, after all. And once we are no longer a part of their business, our ability to live ceases to matter.
* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * # * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *
.
.
My former co-worker, Yvette, was happy to hear that I got my unemployment. Her case is still pending, but she was fired two weeks after I was. She has been accused of falsifying her time records, so her case is almost defiantly going to involve a denial she will have to appeal. To get the ball rolling, she has already filed a complaint with the EEOC for wrongful termination.
"You know the other two administrative assistants on that floor were both making more than I was? I know this for a fact." she told me. "And I have a degree, neither one of them does."
This might mean she can throw racism into the complaint along with the whole lying about why they fired her thing. Yvette is black, and the other two assistants are a white woman and a Hispanic. I think the main reason we were let go has to do with the old saying, last hired, first fired. Usually, that means the people with the least seniority are the first ones in line to be laid off. She and I were both hired in 2007 and were among the ones with the least senoirity in the department. In our cases, they really did fire us.
I used my state-issued, recently-restocked unemployment debit account to buy a latte today (it's a necessary mental health expense I make once a week if at all possible) so I could sit in a coffee shop and think about things. It occurred to me that Big Death is probably playing a numbers game with the way they are firing people. When I was let go, they did not mention me filing for unemployment until I asked.
"We always encourage people to file," the HR woman told me without looking at me, "but you probably won't get it since you are being fired for misconduct." I was looking at her, though, and I noticed that one of her eyes was twitching when she said this. What I heard didn't sound much like encouragement to me. When Yvette got the can she did not ask, and unemployment was not mentioned to her. Most companies in my experience hand you a printout on how to file for unemployment, but not Big Death.
I think they are hoping that by not mentioning unemployment or mentioning it with the words "you probably won't get it," they are counting on a certain number of people not even trying. Of those who do file, a certain number of people are going to be denied even if they do file. Of those who are denied, a certain number will be too discouraged to bother filing an appeal. Every person who doesn't file, and every person who is denied but doesn't appeal is an expense Big Death doesn’t have to pay.
If Big Death has an underlying business philosophy, I'm convinced it is Never let doing the right thing get in the way of the bottom line.
One of their internal corporate mottos is "Because Life Matters." The truth is that for them money matters most of all, and death is what brings in the cash. The living people who work for them are just annoying details that must be used, dealt with and sometimes disposed of as a means to their end.
It's just business, after all. And once we are no longer a part of their business, our ability to live ceases to matter.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-11-18 02:04 pm (UTC)The cute guy's boss also fits this phrase.
no subject
Date: 2009-11-20 06:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-19 06:25 pm (UTC)*HUGS*
no subject
Date: 2009-11-20 06:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-20 06:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-11-20 07:03 pm (UTC)