If you were unemployed, would you take a job that went against your principals as a progressive?

[erodriguez]

I'm just asking the question. A simple yes or no will due.

Thanks

[doc03]

1. Such as? n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

2. I've worked for insurance defense lawyers before.

You do what you have to do. (It's nice to be retired.)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. as a progressive, practically ALL

jobs are against my principles, and it has been a long time since High School, but I was friendly with my Principals then.

[WhiteTara]

4. only if I needed it to get unemployement

I wouldn't last long and so wouldn't put myself through the agony unless it meant something good very short term later.

[Kookaburra]

5. I want to say no, but

having now been unemployed for 7 months, with very few bites from the many resumes I send out every week, I'm almost at my tipping point. So far I've tried not to send resumes to the big banks, with whom I disagree on practically everything, but it's getting to the point now that I could change my mind just to have a job.

[lamp_shade]

6. Yes.

[Ian David]

7. It depends HOW against my principals it was.

A Conservative think tank? No.
Wal-Mart? No.
Domino's Pizza? No.

A company that donates more than 50% of their political donations to Republicans, but otherwise isn't a major bad-actor? Probably, but it wouldn't be my first choice. But if it was my ONLY choice, yes.

[gateley]

8. Yes. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

9. All the jobs I ever held were against my principles of working at all.

But, not having a rich aunt to support me or being a politician, I took them anyway.

[Ikonoklast]

10. When is the answer due?

Do I have to answer right now?

Can I wait a bit, and mull it over?

I haven't spoken to a school principal since my kids graduated, can you wait until I make an appointment with one and get back to you?

Is this OP serious?

None of my questions are.

[lumberjack_jeff]

11. We live in a world of competing principles.

On one hand, a person might hold a moral value that eating meat is wrong, but choose to work at a grocery store to comply with the higher moral imperative to feed one's kids.

[drmeow]

12. maybe

I am in the enviable position of not absolutely having to work if I lose my job. My partner makes enough to support both of us and insurance wouldn't be an issue so I can refuse a job if I want to. By the same token, there is an expectation that I should be working. So - the answer is that it depends. I agree with Ian that some companies I won't work for. There are many who would argue that my current job should go against my principles as a progressive ... I work on a research project which is funded by the DoD. The project itself is not against my principles but for many people in my line of work any DoD money is unprincipled.

[kirby]

13. .

[rucky]

14. Yes.

as long as it's legal.

[kirby]

15. Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose n/t

[Lydia Leftcoast]

16. No

When I was desperately unemployed in the early 1980s, I received a several-days job offer (rare at the time) to promote cigarettes at trade shows. I turned it down.

I have also turned down translation projects if I thought the client's ethics were shady.

[EC]

17. Maybe

not if I believe it is illegal or hurts other people...I have quit jobs for these reasons during hard times and survived.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Egnever]

21. What a lame thing to say

You know nothing about this popster, maybe they are unemployed and dont have money to throw at a website.

Lots of things in life have priority over posting a poll on a website. I have gone years here without a star cause i didnt have extra cash to send to this place.

[Egnever]

22. double post

[spanone]

19. you first.

[SheilaT]

20. For almost everyone here

I suspect the answer is, "It depends."

A couple of years ago I was working for some attorneys who did foreclosures and debt collection. I wasn't crazy about doing it, but I wasn't planning on staying more than six months, so I put up with it.

Recently, after completing a one week temp job, I told the temp agency that I would absolutely not work for that person again, no matter how much money was offered. He was an attorney, doing personal injury work, but there was something uncomfortably sleazy about him.

When I worked in outpatient registration at the local hospital, I really hated that they wanted us to collect as much money as possible from the patients, because I believe we ought to have universal health care. I now work the information desk at the same hospital, so I'm not in the debt-collection business any more.

[lame54]

23. what job doesn't challenge your ideals...

swallowing shit is all part of the game

[elocs]

24. Your question is simplistic, not simple. n/t

[tech9413]

25. I haven't been gainfully employed since 2002

That was by choice initially. My industry became a joke and there wasn't really anything out there I wanted to do. My job now is to care for my parents.
After they're gone, whatever I do will have to provide some value to the community. I will not ever take wages for work that can't be valued as a public good. I'm lucky enough to live where I can sustain myself. I've got skills I can barter for those things I'd rather not do myself.

The simple answer to your question is NO. My days as a wage slave are done.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Inevitably????

[Lisa0825]

27. Depends on how desperate I was...

If I was about to lose my home, I think I would have no problem taking a job with any company for long enough to move on. I'd look at it as "using them" to get by. But then, I am not in marketing or law. I don't think I could help spread a company's message or defend them if they were war profiteers, for example. But I could be a paper pusher or admin support for a short period and be OK with it. I might even enjoy spending some of their paychecks on donations to liberal campaigns.

But as far as long term employment, aiming for promotions and growth, no way. It would just be a temporary stop.

[dimbear]

28. Yes. As the Romans said, necessitas caret lege,

necessity knows no law.

[Toucano]

29. Hell yes!

I'd take their job and their money and do my job poorly...

Fuck em!

[bemildred]

30. Depends, some principles are more flexible than others. nt

[Terra Alta]

31. I would and did.

I was unemployed in 2005 when I took a job at Wal-mart, though I wasn't as progressive then as I am now. I think it was working for Wal-mart, and seeing firsthand what their policies are like, is what made me the progressive I am today. I am still at Wal-mart, though, because unfortunately it's still very hard to find a job. I'll just hold on to the one I've got until I find a better one.

[GoneOffShore]

32. No - And why would I?

[RobinA]

33. Moot Point

for some. I have what should be a progressive job (I'm a social worker) and I'm forced to go agaisnt my principles most of the time. I've quit several jobs where we were supposed to act in ways that I considered unethical and downright malpractice. Comes a time there's no place left to go. Frankly, I might as well work for The Man, for all the good I'm doing where I am. At least there I wouldn't be pretending I'm doing something. Hell, with an office job, maybe I wouldn't be burned out at the end of the day and I could volunteer somewhere.

[scheming daemons]

34. Feeding my family and putting a roof over the heads is more important than politics

....

[Tutankhamun]

35. Yes. I would likely decide to subvert the company and/or cause

with which I had issue. For example, I would have been happy to accept a position as President Bush's Press Secretary. Many is the time I fantasized about doing that job. That would be one hell of a press conference!

Reporter: "Knowing what you know today, is there anything you would have done differently with regard to Iraq?"

Me (as Press Secretary for Bush): "The President deeply regrets lying our great nation into this useless quagmire, causing the deaths of thousands of American Soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians, bringing our economy to its knees and destroying our reputation as a responsible, law-abiding nation that abides by the Geneva Conventions."

etc. You get the point. I'll take the job.

[erodriguez]

40. heheh

[Raine]

36. Probably I would if it wasn't totally horrid then

I would take some of the pay each payday and donate it to a progressive cause.

[HughMoran]

37. No

I've sworn never to work in the defense industry and I never will.

OTOH, I did have a teaparty boss at my last gig - he even talked about politics during the interview which made me feel very uncomfortable. I avoided politics the entire time I worked for him. The guy was a real weirdo.

[aikoaiko]

38. Yes.

With a wife and child, I'd do what I have to do to provide shelter, food, and clothes.

[Fla_Democrat]

39. Yes

:smoke:

[BlueCheese]

41. It reminds me of something Groucho Marx apparently said...

These are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.

[Vickers]

42. Fuck yes I would. n/t

[Xithras]

43. Yes, I've done it.

The last time I was unemployed, I sent out feelers for temp and perm contracts in every direction I could. Because of that, I ended up with two short term contracts that I really didn't believe in. One was for a neighboring counties Republican committee, and another was for a large local company known for having "waste issues", which I had personally protested against on more than one occasion.

In both cases, I took the jobs because I needed the money. In both cases, I never quit looking for OTHER work, so I could dump them if the opportunity arose.