Secrets from the Workplace

Back in my university days, I used to have a blog... not that original, most would think but that was over 10 years ago, before blogs became what they are today. Then again, those ramblings about my ordinary life were restricted to paper and never published for all the world to say. But today, I'm putting it all out there.

Yesterday, I was reading a Dear Abby letter where a Chicago employer was warning against blogs for young people seeking employment. The core of what she had to say was basically that young people looking for jobs shouldn't post their blogs on the Internet because potential employers might do a quick name search and find their blogs and choose not to employ them based on what one might say about one's personal life. That letter got me thinking...

I'm a poet and a writer. And the thought that my employers are scouring the Net looking for anything negative about me as a reason to fire is absolutely repulsive. Where is the line between my personal and professional life drawn? Would this picky employer ask me about this blog in an interview? Would a whimsical blog about life be taken seriously? A lot of questions...

Over the weekend, I attended a get-together with my colleagues from work. It was a house party... everyone pitched in 5$, brought their own alcohol and drinks, there was a co-worker spinning records and a gift exchange. One of our bosses was in attendance, the guy hosting had his girlfriend there and there wasn't any company sponsorship of said party. Naturally, as people are wont to do, some lit cigarettes, some drank alcohol and doobies were also lit. I personally couldn't care less. This was a house party, not sponsored by employers and as such, I expected people to behave as they normally would at a party, without caring that big brother was watching them.

And frankly, why should they? Have we become so puritanical that we cannot believe that at a party, people would lover their inhibitions and go a little crazy? And funny enough, those who looked down their noses as the people who lit up a couple of funny cigarettes were the same who chain-smoked regular cigarettes with amazing alacrity. And the smell that still lingers on my coat isn't that of marijuana, but of tobacco. But let's not draw their attention to that... no sir, no ma'am... we're smoking drugs... big bad evil drugs.

In a party atmosphere, everyone lets go of their inhibitions, it's normal, it's expected and hell, it's supposed to happen. And I'm not going to point a finger at those people who don't take themselves seriously enough to not care who's staring at them while they're rolling weed into a neat and tidy ZigZag. Thanks to Canadian law, that's not a crime. But I will look down on people who use such occasions not to enjoy themselves by not taking themselves seriously but instead use them to garner information they'll scatter every which way under the guise of harmless gossip.

One of the perpetrators of this crime is a forty-ish woman who's been with the company for years and has taken it upon herself to be the group's moral yardstick. But let's be honest and call a spade a spade. This woman isn't a barometer of morality by any means. She lords her years of service over anyone who comes near her and uses her vast knowledge of her colleagues to spread rumors about them. She's not a bad person per se but in her mind, she's the perfect person, as such, that gives her license to lash at anyone with her acidic comments.

Am I a tad bitter? Yes... when I got on the other side of her gossipy mouth. As one point during the evening, my low-waisted jeans gave everyone a peek at my G-string and my butt crack. Naturally, never one to pass up on a juicy morsel, her cohorts never bothered to advise me of that fact. Why should they when it would give fodder for their gab sessions?

I take my job seriously and when I'm work, I focus on that and that only. And when I'm sent out to represent my company, I do so to the best of my abilities. But I draw the line when every second of my behavior is scrutinized for an infraction that could affect my career path. That will not happen. I will not let it happen. As long as my work doesn't suffer from it, nothing I do outside the work place and out from under the company umbrella, should affect or impact my work performance, as long as it's legal. I can swing naked from a chandelier, participate in orgies and use marijuana. As long as none of it affect my job, no prissy co-worker should use that against me.

But these are Real Flights of Fancy. There's always someone watching. It's not necessarily right but that's the way the world is. Should we revolt or quietly accept the invasion of our private lives? It's worth or thought or two.