Unintended Cruelty

I may or may not have worked for a company that exhibited unintended cruelty to the staff. Here is how it may or may not have worked:

The United Way campaign was a top priority to the company owners. They believed that it was everyone’s duty to contribute to this cause. I may or may not have been tapped to chair the United Way campaign for this company two years in a row. It was a known fact that anyone who did not contribute would be thrown off the bus! It happened. The staff consisted largely of people living paycheck to paycheck. Several of the staff skipped lunches just to pay for the United Way contributions and even felt good about their personal sacrifice for such a worthy cause. I admired them.

During the Christmas season the company owners felt duty-bound to give back to the community philanthropically. This want was satisfied by giving lavish gifts to inter-city children for Christmas. The company staff was required to participate in the present-wrapping project without the owners being there to help. I may or may not have participated in this endeavor wondering why I was wrapping gifts out of my financial reach even as one of the higher paid managers on staff.

The funny thing was that, at the time, it all seemed okay (oops, I mean may or may not have).