And more march madness… if I were to write that in caps, I have to give a dollar to CBS.

Anyways…

When Does Humor Cross the Line in the Workplace…?

My son is currently working at a local wholesaler that lives close to our house.  He graduated from University last spring (2008) and is doing a couple of internships before he goes back to grad school to further his ecology degree.

Joshie-boy tends to be pretty political, and he is smart enough to keep that out of his workplace, although he does talk a lot about politics and religion on his facebook page. He is quite the liberal and blasphemer…  and is ok with me telling you so.

Anyways…

He got an email from his boss the other day, through the company email.  It went to all employees…  and I asked if I could share it.  He told me it would be ok.  So here it is.  Names have been deleted…

From: XXX XXXXXXX
Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2009

To: All Employees
Subject: LETTER FROM THE BOSS…..

As the CEO of this organization, I have resigned myself to the fact that Barrack (sic) Obama is our President and that our taxes and government fees will increase in a BIG way.

To compensate for these increases, our prices would have to increase by about 10%. But since we cannot increase our prices right now due to the dismal state of the economy, we will have to lay off six of our employees instead. This has really been bothering me, since I believe we are family here and I didn’t know how to choose who would have to go.

So, this is what I did. I walked through our parking lot and found six ‘Obama’ bumper stickers on our employees’ cars and have decided these folks will be the ones to let go. I can’t think of a more fair way to approach this problem. They voted for change; I gave it to them.

I will see the rest of you at the annual company picnic.

Sincerely,
Da’ Boss that signs your paycheck

Imagine my surprise and delight, knowing that I had a Wednesday blog coming up.

OK, this email may be a little tongue-in-cheek.  However it came through the company email system, and was directed to all employees.  We happen to live in a highly republican area.  And business is tough, both for this company and for businesses all around our state.  And every employee knows that.

This has a potential chilling effect.  Not so much for my son, he is 22, thick-headed, and will be leaving the job in a while to go to Nantucket Island, the location of his next internship.   But what about the impact on the other workers?  What will the next “joke” be?  What do the large number of immigrants who work for the company think (by the way, they are all legal immigrants).  Perhaps a joke about INS?  And what about making a crack on the amount of time women are spending outside of work, taking care of a newborn? I know two women that are on leave right now due to recently having babies.  Maybe a joke about their job not being available if they take all 10 weeks.

Email is a dangerous weapon.  Da’ Boss might have been laughing when writing it, but I know of at least three employees who weren’t cracking up reading it.  And in an era when you need employees to feel like part of the family to ensure engagement, this kind of stuff just isn’t called for, especially at work.

BTW, Joshie-boy is looking for an Obama sticker for his car.  After he gets fired, he can get unemployment and sue his former boss.  Life is good.