Quote:
Originally Posted by DRybes
Actually, I work for a company that asks for United Way donation pledges once a year for our employees as well, and everyone is required to fill out just such a slip. It's not your company at fault; it's literally how United Way requires pledges to be passed around at a presentation. I always put 0 without even thinking about it, since the marketing is poor and doesn't really convince me I need to donate, but I noticed almost no one else does... many, many people pledge $1 a week. So, I think this just might be the shady way that United Way gets pledges... with a yearly group-shame type of encounter that tests your guilt level. Rather underhanded, but I suppose ultimately the world, like the entire Poker / Gambling zeitgeist, is full of many fish, few hustlers, and few scientists. The funding strategies for many operations that are donation-powered have some of the most aggressive sales/manipulation tactics the average individual will ever encounter... it's what keeps a good charity around. Your company might actually provide you with a very negative response if you were to send such a letter as you say you would... when it's not a company fighting to be the most charitable out of several, then usually someone very high up in a business is of the philanthropist persuasion, perhaps because of his manipulability and not simply a desire to help the world, and that's how United Way might have initially bit your company's neck. Either way, you'll be told to STFU, or perhaps ignored.
Thanks for your post. I no longer work for that company, in fact, as of 1/1/2009 I am a full-time poker player. What I wrote about happened quite a few years ago, and I'm sorry to hear that the tactics, whoever is behind them, are still allowed.
I can say that at this point, were I in the same position, I would not care what my employer thinks. I have been very involved in politics and community affairs: running for local office and vice-chair of a committee that wrote a new city charter, to give two example.
As least partly because of those experiences, I am used to to taking stands, and dealing with the pressure to change those stands. In fact, at the same company I mentioned, during an election cycle I was wearing the button of a presidential candidate.
My boss told me that while he respected my opinion (and in fact agreed with my support of that candidate), that it was too disruptive to the workplace. I pointed out that several others at the company, including some in management, were publicly supporting a candidate in the same way.
Two days later, my boss came back and said that he had looked into the issue, that he was wrong, and that I had every right to wear that button at the workplace.
I guess it takes people like you and me to speak for the sheep who cave to the pressure and give their $1 a month.