Saturday, October 31, 2009

More dumbasses

Fired over a pin
Trevor Keezor had been working at Home Depot for over a year, when his boss pulled him aside and told him that he'd have to remove a certain pin from his orange apron. The American flag pin said "One nation under God, indivisible." Keezor refused, and he says he was fired for it. In a very buzzy article from the AP, reps from Home Depot explain that Mr. Keezer was fired for violating the dress code, not because the company agrees or disagrees with the button. Policy states that "only company-provided pins and badges can be worn" on the aprons. Not surprisingly, the story sparked tremendous interest in the Search box. Lookups on Mr. Keezor and "home depot firing" both surged into breakout status. And, also not surprisingly, a lawsuit is currently in the works. This is one story that hasn't ended yet.


Lessee, insubordination to begin with. That orange vest belongs to Home Depot. You're required to wear it when you work there. You work there at their discretion. They don't want references to anyone's "god" on the vest they have their employees wear in public. They don't want their customers to assume that Home Depot supports one or another mythology concerning sky pixies or other magic fairies. That's reasonable.
Refusing to abide by the rules the company set forth? You're fired asshole.

Changing names at work
Here goes one of the buzziest and most bizarre stories in some time. Larry Whitten, a hotel owner in New Mexico, ordered his staff of primarily Latino workers to change their names while working. For example, a worker who pronounced his name "Mahr-teen," would have to go by "Martin." The point, Mr. Whitten asserted, was to help the hotel become more profitable and draw more customers. But instead of customers, Whitten was met with protestors—and plenty of 'em. Additionally, the story's Search profile shot through the roof. In just 24 hours, Web lookups on "Paragon Inn," the hotel in question, surged into the thousands. In an article that scored a slew of votes, Whitten explains that he's helped turn around over 20 hotels, and this isn't racism. His guests, he contends, can't understand Spanish. Still, he later said that he was "sorry for the misunderstanding and insisted he has never been against any culture."


WTF?! Maybe you'd like your African-American employees to wear light toned makeup.
So, it's not racism or anything against a culture? Then you're just a completely ignorant dumb fuck bubba who has no business telling anyone anything.
Send this motherfucker AWAY!

4 comments:

Kit (Keep It Trill) said...

It's pretty out here, Sagacious. Whenever I have to apply for a job, I take out my braids and use the curling iron. When my son needs a new ID, I insist he wears a tie for the photo. These decisions are made for survival, not grooming.

The resentment comes into to play b/c whites don't have to even think about this kind of stuff. Imagine if they had to wear braids and cornrows to get a job. Businesses pander to their tastes in style and like that company you cited, even their names.

It's rampant in other countries. You get tech support in India and all have these dumb assed old fashioned names like Nancy and Arnold, and you know damn well that's not their names. You'd think they'd at least be able to have something contemporary, but nooo, they're so conservative they're offensive.

rainywalker said...

Company policy is company policy. If you don't like it? Don't let the screen door bang you in the ass on the way out. Changing names? Where do they get these people, "The Peter Principle" Store? Sagacious the world is changing and you better get on the "expect less" wagon. We aren't going back to reality anytime soon!

Kit,
I hear what your saying but I think a nice shirt and tie would impress any employer. But I think your just shy of the mark. People who used to work for me in WV stayed because of integrity, neatness and being trustworthy. I thought they were gonna go nuts when I hired two females. When my son was in high school he said he was going to grow his hair long. I ask him where he was gonna live. Now he shaves his head and I wear long hair. Not because I'm a Vietnam veteran, or gonna go postal, because I want to. Its sort of like sex, if you don't have it for awhile you forget who gets tied up. But hey, I'm not looking for a job. I stand on the other side of the counter. Yelling at the kid behind it [who can't count] because he doesn't know shit from sineola!
rainywalker

Sagacious, good piece, but I would have expected nothing less......

SagaciousHillbilly said...

Kit, Yes, there is a higher standard for people of color in the work place. When I was a corporate clog I was well aware that my friends of color had to work at a much higher level than the average white worker or risk being called lazy, etc (by the average and below white workers).
Having said that, I taught my children to wear a tie for job interviews, brush their hair and look "nice."
You can make your social and cultural statements most of the time, but don't do it at job interviews, etc. It's just common sense. I also taught them to always take their hat off when entering a building, elbows off the table and a list of other social manner items that they really didn't like at the time but thank me for now. These are things that are really easy to do and reap great rewards. Don't wanna do them? That's fine, but don't complain when the clean cut guy gets the job and you're still looking. That's just life. We gotta comply sometimes. . . but we shouldn't have to change our names!
Good to see you back Kit. Hope you and your good looking and well polished kids are doing well.

Rainy, I refuse to get on the "expect less" wagon. Luckily, I am retired and don't have a long career ahead of me. I can just be an old crumudgen(sp?).

Mike said...

I'll bet Pin Boy got a lot of defenders saying he was being punished for being patriotic.

Maybe someone'll hook him up with Carrie Prejean, another false right-wing martyr.