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Related Links: Feedback | Media List | NY Times Article | Oprah Ask your self these questions before reading the following:
Welcome.
Many of you are here to read about how and why I
was terminated from my job late in 1997. [I'm happy to report I now work
for a much better company].
Here's what happened: In the Fall of 1997, I was working for a small marketing firm in
Northern Michigan as a New Media Specialist. My job duties
consisted of training the existing Production Staff (5-6
people, mostly female) for New Media design and get them up
to speed on the Internet. I was also responsible for the
Macintosh LAN and troubleshooting problems. The owner had
plans to form a new company around me and another guy, a
Windows NT guru, to service the growing demand in the area
(and around the country) for database publishing on the
Internet and also to service company intranets and
extranets. I was happy working for this company and was looking
forward to several years of good exciting work. On November 19, 1997, my boss (also the owner) called me
into his office. It was just before lunch. He told me that
my position was terminated and he had a check for me. I was
shocked. I had no idea why. I spoke with him for over half
an hour, trying to get a reason out of him. He said that he
couldn't tell me, at least not until he spoke with his
lawyers, which he'd been trying to reach all morning. I left
work shortly thereafter in a daze. My boss said that he'd call me to set up a meeting so
that we could talk about why I was terminated. The 19th was
a Wednesday. I waited all day on Thursday for a call. None
came. On Friday, I called his assistant and told her to tell
him to call me, urgent. Shortly thereafter I received a
call. We set up a meeting for Saturday. Saturday came. We met and I finally found out why I was
terminated. It had to do with two of my co-workers.
Apparently, in the course of my training, I mentioned to
them that I had a personal web site and that I wrote fiction
as a hobby. Well, two of my female co-workers went to my
site, read my fiction, got freaked out, shared it with their
husbands, and then went to my boss and said, "Either he
goes, or we go." Now, if you've read my fiction, you might or might not
agree with my co-workers and my boss. I freely admit that my
fiction is of the experimental kind. I spent three years in
college majoring in English-Creative Writing and most of
these stories were shared with my classmates. I never got a
single complaint. I asked my boss if he thought Stephen King went around
his Maine neighborhood, killing people because that's what
he writes about. My boss had no real comment and said that
he'd never read any Stephen King. My boss explained to me that his company was an
"At-Will" Employer, which
basically gives him the right to fire anyone for any reason
at any time, with no warning. Since I signed this agreement
at the start of my employment, I have no legal recourse.
Several Employment Law attorneys I've spoken with have
agreed with this. What about the Free Speech issue, you ask? I've been told
by these same lawyers that the 1st Ammendment does not
pertain to the private sector unless associated with one of
the protected classes (sex, race, religion, age, etc.). So, where does that leave me? Unemployed, angry and
rather pissed off at how close-minded some people can be.
The fact that my boss and my co-workers can't tell the the
difference between my fictional characters and me, Cameron
Barrett, is ludicrous. I asked my boss if he believes
everything he sees on TV. No answer. Here are some facts: I've had several people mention that maybe I was
terminated for another reason. Maybe these co-workers were
scared about losing their jobs because of the new publishing
technologies entering their workplace. It's possible but I
doubt it. I want to share my story with others so that no one else
can get trapped in the same way I did. I'm also interested
in speaking with any ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
lawyers out there who want to help me file a formal
complaint. Update: Several people have
written telling me that I should publish under a pseudonym.
A good idea, but I refuse to do this. I'm not ashamed of my
fiction. I'm not afraid of what others think of me after
they've read my fiction. Why should I be? I see a pseudonym
as a cop-out. It's not for me. A couple other people emailed me privately lambasting me
for seeking pity. I am not looking for anyone's pity. I am
not looking for anyone's sympathy. The whole reason I went
public with my situation was because I want to educate
others so that it doesn't happen again (to me, or to anybody
else). Thanks for listening. I welcome feedback and opinions. <-- Camworld Home |
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