Have you ever lost a friend because they didn't like your job ??

[leadingedge04]

I have had the opposite happen! Got a job with an airline and people came out of the wood-works "Hey, can you get me a free flight? You get buddy passes, right?" "Can you get me an upgrade?"

[jw2]

Originally Posted by tantan1968

I did once. Back in 2004 I was employed at a radio station when our general manager one afternoon had gone on the air with an editorial saying how he did not approve of gay marriage. The next day in another editorial he would slam marijuana and the people who use it. Long story short several friends of mine who supported gay marriage and marijuana warned me that if I didn't quit my job then we can't be friends. I didn't quit and most of them who were upset by that well they haven't spoke to me ever since.

A few years ago our roommate had taken a job at Walmart. One of his best friends at the time worked for King Soopers ( A Denver grocery store chain that is owned by Kroger ). When he told his friend from King Soopers about him working for Walmart the friend said they can no longer be friends since he hated Walmart and the hate extended to those who work there.

I have friends whose political opinions differ from mine. It used to be everyone was that way. This lock-step, "everyone must think the same way" is not healthy for free thought at all.

So, let me get this straight, there is an agenda, (and lord knows who assembles it) and not only must everyone abide by it, but all companies must embrace it and all media must only talk of it. Any exceptions are met with the full wrath of the social justice warriors? Do I have this right? And this is what college students want, the bastion of free thought? Is this the Twilight Zone?

[jbgusa]

Originally Posted by tantan1968

I did once. Back in 2004 I was employed at a radio station when our general manager one afternoon had gone on the air with an editorial saying how he did not approve of gay marriage. The next day in another editorial he would slam marijuana and the people who use it. Long story short several friends of mine who supported gay marriage and marijuana warned me that if I didn't quit my job then we can't be friends. I didn't quit and most of them who were upset by that well they haven't spoke to me ever since.

A few years ago our roommate had taken a job at Walmart. One of his best friends at the time worked for King Soopers ( A Denver grocery store chain that is owned by Kroger ). When he told his friend from King Soopers about him working for Walmart the friend said they can no longer be friends since he hated Walmart and the hate extended to those who work there.

I have a similar story and one that involves snobbishness. I grew up in an affluent suburb of New York. In December 1974 I received my early decision acceptance from an Ivy League school. While I kept up my course work by March 1975 I was bored silly. Also, the inflation-adjusted price of gasoline was higher than now, and that was a major expense of a high school student who inherited his then-late father's car. So I decided to accept a job at the local Gristedes supermarket.

One of my close but intermittent friends (see related threads Starting to Think of Unfriending "Real Life" Close Friend and Advice on Upcoming Tense 40th High School Reunion) remarked, "hey Jim, why don't you take a job that requires some intelligence"? I asked him what he was doing and he was tutoring math to younger high school and junior high school students. Keep in mind, he was close to a straight A+ honors student. My GPA was about 3.7, with about one-third of the course work being honors. I explained that while my grades qualified me for Ivy League acceptance (he also went Ivy League though to a better school) they did not make me sought after as a tutor. I also explained that with my natural father dead and my stepfather not a person of means I needed to chip in somehow.

That remark rankled, though it did not end our friendship. I will admit that more recently he has expressed respect for the fact that I am someone who can "make things happen." However, to this day I often don't discuss employment with this gentleman.