this past friday we had to say goodbye to christine (on the left), one of our fellow dishwashers (DAs). we’ve worked really hard together for the past 3 months, and it caught just about all of us (aside from management and a few of the “more experienced” DAs) off guard when she was “terminated” on friday.
it was obvious that the management in the galley didn’t like christine from the beginning. early on they made lists of all the tiny little things she did wrong: arrived to work a few minutes late, socialized too much with others, loaded bowls into the dish machine incorrectly, etc. the problem is that every single DA does exactly those things on a regular basis.
so, they fired her with about 3 weeks left in the season. they could have just let things slide, but they didn’t. they could have just completed her contract and sent her home early, which we all probably would have been perfectly OK with, but they didn’t. instead, they “terminated” her. they took away her bonus, they took away her travel funds, and they (possibly) took away her ability to ever return to this continent.
after getting the specifics of her termination she even went back to management with very well-reasoned rebuttals and a “please reconsider” letter from one of the military flight surgeons, and they still shot her down.
she stood up straight and tall and took it like a champ, and it’s hard for me to imagine being more proud of her.
but the thing that irks me the most is the bureaucracy of it all. management said that they have very specific “policies and procedures” that required them to terminate her. apparently they had gone through all the steps and the only thing left to do was to get rid of her.
but what did this accomplish?
morale is at rock bottom and everyone is pissed. we’ve all completely lost faith in our superiors and are finding it much harder to get through the day. even if i believed that christine deserved to be fire, she definitely didn’t need to be fired. whatever “problems” she was causing when she was here are nothing compared to the shit storm they whipped up by terminating her.
why do “policies and procedures” trump common sense?
January 14, 2008 at 5:33 am
I am sorry about your friend, hopefully you can keep in touch with her in the after-ice. There is a saying inside management circles that goes like … we may be wrong, but we are never in doubt. That means that once a decision has been made and approved, the ‘cost’ of trying to change upper management’s mind is greater than the ‘cost’ of the consequences. I hope that you can live most of your life far from bureauocratic management.
January 14, 2008 at 10:29 am
thanks, dad.
January 14, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Sorry to hear about your friend. Speaking from personal experience I know that sometimes there are things going on that are not disclosed because personnel matters are confidential. Obviously this may or may not be the case here. Regardless, it is sad to not be able to protect you friend from what seems unfair. Your moral support lightens the load.
Eli, congratulations on making friends, and persevering. Is there anything you want to accomplish in your remaining weeks? Is there anything I can do for you?
January 14, 2008 at 11:11 pm
As a former professional dishwasher (I still dabble in some amateur work), I know the truth is that there is a very specific way to load bowls into a dishwasher. There are many different kinds of dishwashers, and unfortunately I do not know much about the ones you guys use, but after so many months, Christine must have known the best way to do this part of the job, it even seems like she got plenty advice on the subject…and often! For Christ’s sake, this is Antarctica…not Anarchy-ta!
January 19, 2008 at 4:35 pm
having been fired from the largest circus of assholes over a year ago, i can understand the frustration. i didn’t care about my job as much as i cared about the principle of my firing. for me, i found that my “superiors” were so bound by policy that they were unable to see that it was not a fundamental truth - it was merely a way to help things run more smoothly. there are always exceptions and such exceptions are opportunities to move the organization or company closer to a more effective model. however, policy is set up to carried out - not to be discussed. this is where i see the failings of organizations such as yours. rather than considering their short comings, they simply eliminate those that rock the boat. however, this just ensures that they remain in a static (i.e. non-evolving) state. those such as your friend have only one option - stand up for what is reasonable, logical, and forward-thinking. it seems that she did this - if ignorance persists, at least it did not go unchallenged. i think that this challenge is everyone’s job - however they choose to address it. i just hope that you all are helping the supervisors learn in a way that your friend was unable to achieve. solidarity is key - as james baldwin said: if they take you that morning, they’ll come for us that night.
January 20, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Pete,
Here is the full account from Baldwin:
“If they come for you in the morning, they’ll be coming for me later that night.” James Baldwin said to Angela Davis. (The actual quote is:”Some of us white and black know how great a price has already been paid to bring into existence a new consciousness, a new people, an unprescedented nation. If we know, and do nothing, were are worse than the murderers hired in our name. If we know, then we must fight for your life as though it were our own - which it is - and render impassible with our bodies the corridor to the gas chamber. For, if they take you in the morning, they will be coming for us that night” - James Baldwin from “An Open Letter to my Sister, Angela Y Davis).
All power to the people!
Bob Duke
January 25, 2008 at 1:20 pm
[...] writes on his blog: Morale is at rock bottom and everyone is pissed. We’ve all completely lost faith in our [...]
March 4, 2008 at 3:39 am
Ah, being fired from a DA job … I remember it well. I got shot by the McMurdo kitchen brass oh, three years ago now, right at the end of January, too — and for what sounds like the same reasons as your friend. A week later they shot a buddy of mine. Not fun at all, but my buddy and I both had mustaches, and so when we got fired, a fellow DA friend of ours grew a memorial mustache in our honor. The kitchen brass didn’t like that much. (Meaning I did, quite a lot.)