Used to work at a company that was selling computer equipment to terrorist organizations. They wanted an engineer to work with compliance to basically, very illegally, “reclassify” components so that they could get them to shady organizations more easily (figured this out after I had already accepted the position).
I could’ve just quit. But then they would’ve found some other engineer to do the work, and probably quite easily (they were paying well).
Instead I just refused to do what they asked of me. Got yelled at, they tried everything possible to get me to quit (moving my desk alone in the warehouse where it was freezing, making up rumors about me, etc). Still, it took them a year to finally find a reason to fire me (and still, it was without cause, so I got unemployment too). That’s 1 year that I wasted for them.
Most companies aren’t going to go through the hassle of firing for cause, because that opens them up to lawsuits. They will likely just take the hit of having to pay into unemployment, and lay you off instead.
It is possible to say No. You might get yelled at and be treated like shit, but at the end of the day, I knew I was doing the right thing. And that’s what’s most important, in my opinion.
People say “well if I say No, they’ll just fire me on the spot”, but have you actually tried to say No? If they do fire you, then make them go through the hassle of firing you, and for fucks sake, fight back!
Used to work at a company that was selling computer equipment to terrorist organizations. They wanted an engineer to work with compliance to basically, very illegally, “reclassify” components so that they could get them to shady organizations more easily (figured this out after I had already accepted the position).
I could’ve just quit. But then they would’ve found some other engineer to do the work, and probably quite easily (they were paying well).
Instead I just refused to do what they asked of me. Got yelled at, they tried everything possible to get me to quit (moving my desk alone in the warehouse where it was freezing, making up rumors about me, etc). Still, it took them a year to finally find a reason to fire me (and still, it was without cause, so I got unemployment too). That’s 1 year that I wasted for them.
Most companies aren’t going to go through the hassle of firing for cause, because that opens them up to lawsuits. They will likely just take the hit of having to pay into unemployment, and lay you off instead.
It is possible to say No. You might get yelled at and be treated like shit, but at the end of the day, I knew I was doing the right thing. And that’s what’s most important, in my opinion.
People say “well if I say No, they’ll just fire me on the spot”, but have you actually tried to say No? If they do fire you, then make them go through the hassle of firing you, and for fucks sake, fight back!
If I can do it, anyone can do it.