The Driver's Room

"The day started like any other day--get up, dink around for a bit, bus into work, and start working through the stack of jobs. Just shy of an hour after I got in, my manager came in and asked me to step into his office when I had a chance. Sure, no biggie, and I headed over as soon as I finished the job I was setting up.

'Okay, here's the first question. Is this page,' and here he turned his monitor towards me, letting me see my 'Even Microsoft wants G5s' post from last Thursday, 'hosted on any Microsoft computer? Or is it on your own?'

'It's on mine. Well, it's on a hosted site that I pay for, but no, it's not on anything of Microsoft's.'

'Good. That means that as it's your site on your own server, you have the right to say anything you want. Unfortunately, Microsoft has the right to decide that because of what you said, you're no longer welcome on the Microsoft campus.'"

This guy did nothing but post a picture of a truck load of Apple computers being unloaded at Microsoft. For that he was fired. Union members cannot be fired for the same "offense", but being critical of both management and the union does not enhance your standing with the union. And from personal experience I can tell you--that can lead to the union turning a blind eye toward anything management may want to do to you.