I Couldn't Do It

First, all is well out here in Pobble Land. I just ended up without internet (damn the cable company!) for about ten days. Lovely, huh? Anyway...

I couldn't do it. I couldn't take the job. See, I am, as mentioned here previously, a Constitutionalist. And while reading over the employee handbook, came to realize that several of their employee policies were, quite frankly, unconstitutional. We they legal? Yep. They conform to the laws of the land. Were they constitutional? No, I do not believe so. And then there were the fascists ones. Yep ~ fascist employee policies.

Here are the biggies...

1. Employees' work spaces, lockers and purses or bags are subject to search at any time, with or without probable cause. To the point that the handbook said flat out being on a worksite implied consent to such search.

Okay, yeah, I hate this concept. You know what though? It was a casino. I can understand it, as much as I hate it. Kinda like mandatory drug testing. So where's the problem? The problem was in the next sentence of the handbook which informed us that employees need not be present nor given prior notification nor ever notified that their workspaces, lockers and purses were going to be/had been searched. In other words, I could have walked into the locker room on my break and found security personnel going through my locker and purse. Um...no.

2. Employess were to maintain behaviors and attitudes that reflected postively on the company at all times, both while on and off-duty. Now, who gets to decide this? While I am on duty or even on property while off duty, absoultely. On shift, I belong to the company for which I am working. I follow dress codes. I maintain a professional and appropriate manner. But once I'm off the clock? Who gets to decide what's appropriate and what's not? If I get a buzz on one night after work at the local bar, am I in trouble? If Bolger or Dr. B and I go to a gay club and are seen going in or coming out, am I in trouble? If I stop for gas while wearing my PVC and thigh highs, am I in trouble? And what about this blog? Can I write it or not? Whose morality is applied here?

3. Finally, the last one that I just couldn't ignore was the one about getting a second job. If an employee got a second job for a different company ~ even not a casino ~ the employee had to notify their supervisor immediately. The supervisor would decide if the second job "will or might" (notice the quotations marks?) interfere with the original job at the casino. Please note, it's not that the supervisor will decide if the job is indeed interfering. It's if the job "will or might" interfere. We weren't even necessarily given the opportunity to prove we could do both jobs. Someone else got to decide if we were even allowed to try. Yeah. Not so much.

Now, the truth is, none of this would ever have applied to me. Had they ever searched my purse, they wouldn't have found anything. For all my wildness, I don't behave in a way that would reflect badly on anyone or anything short of the most conservative of Christians. And I'm professional enough that any second job I might have gotten would never have interfered with my first job. That's not the point.

And no, I don't believe that these policies were written badly. I believe they were written exactly the way they were meant to be written ~ intentionally vague so that people could say "oh, that's just the worse case scenario; we wouldn't ever really do that." Fine. Then if you wouldn't ever really do it, don't give yourself the ability to do it.

I'm a goob. I know that. Who the hell doesn't take a job because the employee handbook has the potential to be unconstitutional and fascist? Well...me. 'Cause I may be a goob but I'm a goob who knows what I believe in.

So, back to the job hunt. I'll keep you posted (so long as the cable doesn't go out again!)

Those are Pobble Thoughts. That and a buck fifty will get you coffee.