Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Fired for checking out adult sites at work?

Sue your employer!

That's right, folks. If you think you have an addiction to online girlie sites, and you get fired for accessing them during work, just sue. Of course, you're covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act...

Seriously, why is this even getting a court date? I mean, when you start working for a company, you're bound by their rules. If you want to do something, you need to first, make sure its not illegal, and second, make sure it doesn't violate a workplace rule. I can't sexually harass anyone, and you can't look at nudie sites while you're at work. It's the rule at every large corporation in the US, and probably the world. Why?

Well, as much as I'd hate to admit it, it's offensive to some people. I don't think that you should have to censor what you say, simply because you're in public, but this is a little different. Sex is a private thing. If letting other people watch you gets your jollies off, fine, but don't do it at work.

When I was in my last job, I used to work out after I was done with my day. Since it was a Navy facility, we had a locker room and a small gym with a treadmill and a few other machines. Invariably, after I was done working out, there would be a guy in the shower. He'd shower for well over an hour, then spend another hour "primping" himself, naked, in the locker room. He'd talk to guys in there, naked, of course, stand at the urinal, in full view when the door was opened, comb his hair, etc, and this happened at least three days a week. Complaints to management went nowhere, and eventually, he was actually moved to the building. That's right, he didn't even have a right to be there, and wasn't an employee in that work space. He just came by three nights a week to shower and display himself for all to see. Why? I don't know...I guess he was just into having guys see him naked. For awhile, his locker was right next to mine. It usually wasn't too big of a problem, that is, until the day he had one leg up on a bench, and his head down, checking out his balls, then started talking to me about the weather. That afternoon, I ran up to the administrator, told her what happened, and told her that if no one was going to do anything about this guy, I wanted my locker moved.

In the end, they moved me, but they did nothing about the guy in the shower. I guess maybe you really can get away with stuff like that at work.

But, when you get fired for it, don't come bitching, filing lawsuits about being discriminated against. Deal with it.