One Snake at a Time Pt. II Day 13 - A Close Call with Serious

OMG you wouldn't believe what I almost just did! I sat down with something really serious to talk about, something that I felt strongly about, and I was going to title tonight's blog "Integrity" and actually talk about the lack of it in corporate society - can you believe it? That's kinda like talking about the lack of toilet paper in Mexico. Everybody knows the situation, but very few are about to say anything about it. "Hey, amigo, what's this newspaper sitting next to the toilet for?" Thank sock monkey I came to my senses and decided to blather on about crunchy roasted nibs instead.

But before I get started on the health benefits of crunchy roasted nibs, I'll just quickly share with you what prompted this temporary insanity about integrity. First as we all know me talking about integrity is kinda like Rush Limbaugh talking about an America where the fortunate take care of the less fortunate. I mean, that's not a topic he's any more likely to take on than I would take on the lofty subject on integrity.

But I digress and I know you're eager for me to get to the nibs, so let me just share real quick what got me thinking about this: I have a friend, single mother of two almost college age kids,  that works for a huge company which I won't name - it's not BFC but same general league. Anyway I just found out that after many years she is being let go - actually her contract expires at the end of Feb and the company that she's just done this outstanding job for is not going to renew it. And it really has nothing to do with her performance. As it turns out the finance department of the company gave the hiring manager just enough money to hire a contractor out of what we used to call a third world country, but not enough money to renew her contract. No big surprise, right? The company can get somebody from this other country for probably a fifth of what they would pay my friend. I mean, this stuff is happening many times a day, every day, in our country. Some folks would say it's a good thing too, because it helps these big global corporations stay competitive. A lot of these global corporations might have started in America but in this day and age it really doesn't matter - now they're global and they have to compete globally right? So for some reason I was really upset because it seems like my friend is losing her job to somebody for whom English is a second language and normally this wouldn't bother me except that she's a writer. 

"Such are the harsh business realities of global business", as an important executive was so kind to redundantly point out to me which was a real wake up call because I've only been in the workforce for 35 years or thereabouts and this gal has an MBA so I really appreciated that. But what does any of this have to do with integrity? Or should we even be wondering if a big corporation can have something like integrity? We know they can have values because they're posted in the lunchroom, but integrity?

Let's pretend for a moment that a company is able to possess such a quality as integrity, and that acting with integrity meant being able to justify decisions that effect the lives of human beings - what if it meant taking responsibility for decisions that affected the lives of people, their families,their pets, their nibs? Now that might entail some really tough business decisions! What if we decided that we expected businesses, like we expect the government, to act with compassion, to be fair, to be just, and to be loyal to the country and the people in that country that got them started in the first place?
Well the next thing you know we would be talking about the evils of globalization and man that is not fun to talk about at all! I sure hope my friend doesn't have to explain to her daughters that the reason their going to the local community college is because of globalization. But you know on the flip side think how happy that family in India will be when they can send their kids to Harvard! So I guess it all balances out, right?

So it's ironic because one of the dishes that you can eat while you're on The Cleanse, or on The Eliminator Diet, is curry! I love me a nice spicy curry - you gotta skip the dhal, and you have to make sure the curry doesn't have potatoes, corn, or tomatoes in it but besides that you're good to go! Make sure you have it with brown rice, and top it with crunchy roasted nibs. And if you're in Mexico be sure to bring your own toilet paper 'cuz you are going to need it, amigo!

Hey if you think this is just kneeslappingly funny share it with a friend - have a few laughs over globalization maybe you'll have a few friends that have been shitcanned too! And don't forget to follow my blog so I know who you are and can send you a xmas card!