Corporations disgust me.
Today, my father was fired from his job at Circuit City. He has worked for the company, and indeed the same store, for nearly 20 years. He has won every award that the company offers, including the "Customer Service Hero" award, given only to employees who have had a least 10 customers write personal, unprompted letter to the store, thanking a particular employee for extraordinary service. He always helps people who asks him questions, even when he is in the store for other reasons and not on the clock. Despite not being a manager, he has run the store on numerous occasions when managers were unavailable or incompetent. He has worked more holidays and overtime hours than I care to count, and has even worn, without complaint, their really ugly bright red shirts.
Yet today he lost his job. Why? Because he, along with several of his long-time friends, was in the unenviable position of being paid at least $0.50 an hour more than the standard pay rate. They were all fired without any warning; they were informed this morning at a staff meeting and then escorted from the building with their stuff is a box.
Basically, the company fired all of their experienced and knowledgeable employees so that they could be replaced by high school and college students willing to work for minimum wage. They have also recently outsourced their technical support department. Strangely enough, this comes at the same time as an initiative to improve their customer service.
You know the really disgusting bit? Circuit City shares went up 2% this morning after the announcement.
Yet today he lost his job. Why? Because he, along with several of his long-time friends, was in the unenviable position of being paid at least $0.50 an hour more than the standard pay rate. They were all fired without any warning; they were informed this morning at a staff meeting and then escorted from the building with their stuff is a box.
Basically, the company fired all of their experienced and knowledgeable employees so that they could be replaced by high school and college students willing to work for minimum wage. They have also recently outsourced their technical support department. Strangely enough, this comes at the same time as an initiative to improve their customer service.
You know the really disgusting bit? Circuit City shares went up 2% this morning after the announcement.