A closer look at the accused
One thing anyone who has ever spent any time with my wife will notice about her, is her eagerness to reach out to people. She can't stand the idea that she could have made someone's day a little brighter, but didn't. Let me give you some examples.
Linda at one point worked as the instructor for newly hired employees introducing them to company policies and procedures. It was during that time that she met a woman, just hired, who she became acquainted with. About three years after this woman came to Whirlpool, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. When Linda saw a television report that women being treated for breast cancer had a 50% greater chance of recovery if they maintained a consistent level of exercise, Linda talked to her at work and offered to go bike riding with her. Having someone to exercise with would be a great encouragement to maintain a consistent exercise regimen. They managed two Saturdays riding around the nearby reservoir before her co-worker's illness progressed to the point of making her too weak to even do that. Eventually she became too ill to work, and my wife kept in touch with her at home. Linda continued to call to offer encouragement, prayer and to keep her new friend in the loop about events at work. A year later Linda's co-worker recovered enough to return to work, and has now been in remission for one year.
Another woman who worked with Linda in the same area, also was dealing with breast cancer. This woman kept working through the chemotherapy, even though it was very difficult. The job consisted of about a half-a-dozen stations, of varying difficulty which they rotated through one each hour. Linda offered to switch stations when she had the easier sitting job and her co-worker had the more strenuous standing jobs. At first the woman said it wasn't a problem, but she'd let Linda know. Eventually it became a problem, and Linda started switching places with her when she felt too weak to manage the tougher jobs. Linda, therefore would work an additionally harder day in order to alleviate the burden on her cancer stricken friend.
Another co-worker has a wife that is chronically ill. He missed work sporadically and frequently enough that it hurt his chances for many opportunities within the company. But, by law the company had to offer Intermittent Family Medical Leave. For five years this co-worker used up his vacation and allowed absences in caring for his wife, then hung on by his toe-nails for the rest of the time, hoping no emergencies would happen that would cause him to miss enough to get fired. Seven years ago, because of the nature of our children's illness we were also facing sporadic need for time off. Linda, though, was at the company when the FMLA was passed, and the company sent out an explanation of the new law, and also explained the Intermittent FML. But since that time the only information the company offered is a scant and vague mention in the handbook tucked away in the middle of a lengthy, confusing attempt to explain other aspects of the FMLA, and a cryptic mention on a federally mandated poster. Linda remembered the initial explanation and asked about seven year ago and was able to apply and use it.
But eventually she realized this co-worker was struggling through his problem, without taking advantage of the federally mandated solution the company was required to offer. He had no idea it even existed since he came to the company after the FMLA was passed. Linda explained it to him. He applied, and no longer worries about losing his job because of the need to care for an ill wife.
Several times through the years my wife would spend an evening baking cookies to take to co-workers the next day, just to cheer them up and make their tedious job a little easier to handle.
When the opportunity came to go with a local group to deliver humanitarian aid to impoverished, rural Nicaraguans, we decided to use the extra money from our tax return to pay for it, two years in a row. A few years later when an opportunity to go with another church group, to help rebuild some of the ravaged areas in the wake of hurricane Katrina, Linda went with them, too. Linda is never happier than when she's helping people.
Whirlpool Corporation makes a big deal about their involvement with Habitat for Humanity, but that involvement has so far consisted mainly of two, week-long events, both of which Linda was a part of. Linda is convinced that droves of Whirlpool employees applied to participate, and she was only allowed to because of strings her boss pulled. The second time she went, she worried for weeks that she was knocking someone else out of going. Personally, I doubt more applied than actually went, especially since the second year they were begging relatives of employees to go, claiming they simply wanted to "expand the opportunity". And my impression is that her boss was boasting of something he had no hand in, as some guys are wont to do to impress an attractive woman. So we disagree, and there's no way of proving it either way.
Ultimately Linda's character was used against her. Being a naturally open and friendly person, her actions were portrayed by a self-serving boss as sinister. For a company that's worked so hard to build a facade of benevolence, the Whirlpool Corporation certainly seems to be cavalier about the crass reality behind that facade.
Posted by Danny Carlton at June 7, 2007 12:28 PM