Charity Catastrophe

When I tell this story, it always ends with…dude, you shouldn’t have done that.

A couple years ago we hired a single mom.  Although she never talked about her family life or any life outside of work for that matter, you could tell she struggled.  She was quiet, basically kept to her self.  She wasn’t very good at her job.  You could tell this job was either for insurance, survival or both.  She and work both knew it was just a matter of time.

It was yearly reviews.  This particular company offered the bare minimum.  Everyone received at best a wage increase that barely countered inflation.  They always boasted about what it gift it was to be giving such a raise, hoping you were stupid enough to not realize you were basically just maintaining your current spending power.  I’m not the most educated person, but I know basic math.  Wages <= inflation does not equal a raise.

Anyway, I went to the manager and offered to donate $1/hr of my salary to her.  I’m young, live a modest life alone.  She needed it more than I did. 

It was the only time I have ever heard my boss raise his voice.  You would have thought I had just committed corporate espionage while simultaneously murdering a child.  I was told never to pull a stunt like that again or I would be fired.

To this day, I don’t understand why this was a bad thing.  Is this what is wrong with America?  We punish people for trying to help others?  So what if we set a precedent.  Who does it harm?  I don’t know.  I feel like this is exactly why live in a …what do they call it…a “K” shaped economy.  People have made it a sin to care for others, to help others, to make individual sacrifices for others.  I don’t care what anyone else thinks, I do not regret that day. 

She no longer works there, by the way.