okay, I have had a very intresting week. I have finally noticed what this job of mine is taking away from me. The most important thing is that I am working almost 12 hour days, and it is taking too much time away from the kids and I. I don't like that. Another thing is that I am spending too much money on the job and I can't keep doing that, regardless if I have my next three months paid rent or not, yeah. Now those are the main reasons behind everything, except for one, which takes a close third to those.
I have been back in my home town of Lawrence for the past two days as the new Marketing Rep. for AT & T. Yesterday, I was able to stop by my fav. bar in the world, the Replay Lounge, and have a drink (yes durning work hours, but fuck it, I was having a bad day). I started talking to some people in there that I had not seen for a while and one of the guys in the bar asked me what I was doing now (sense I was dressed up in a button down shirt, dress paints, dress shoes, tie, you know, the works). I told him what I was doing and working for AT & T. He was about to take a drink from his Hamm's beer, but instead, set it back down on the bar, and turned over and looked at me. I turned my head and looked him dead in the eyes and said "So you are the one who gave my personal conversations to the NSA" (he was just playing about it being me personally). I looked shocked at him. Before he said that, I had totally forgotten about that fact that AT & T did that. It didn't really pop into my head that I had heard the story on NPR and how pissed off that I got about the whole thing until today.
I went and visited my friend Dave at Solidarity! on Mass. St. in Lawrence. He was working the Noon to 3 shift but when I showed up at about 12:30, he had yet to show up. The girl behind the counter told me that he called in said that he would be late, but that he should be there any second. I asked her if they would mind if I just hung out there until he arrived. She told me ofcourse and I took a seat and waited. Finally, he walked through the door. He said, as he walked into the building, "Hey Chris, I heard a rumior that you were back in town. How are you doing?" I told him fine and asked him if he knew why I was there, he said yes but that they were going to switch companies (I had been in the store yesterday and looked at their phone bill already and knew that they were with AT & T). I asked him why and this is what he said. "Well, we were with AT & T, but then they turned over our records to the NSA, so then we switched to SBC. Well they bought out AT & T, and we just don't feel comfortable with a company that just gives away private and personal conversations with out any kind of court order or anything."
Now I just sat back and looked at him. That is when the NPR story clicked into my head. I remember hearing that AT & T and one other company just gave up all of their phone records when the NSA asked for them, not showing any kind of warrent or court order (because there was none) while the other companies basically said, "Fuck you. No, first you show me why I have to give them to you and who said that I have to give them to you, then maybe we will give them to you".
It really made me think about what I was doing. Dave was right. He and I grew up on the same lessons and all on life. I sat back and thought about my home phone that I have. Yes it is SBC/AT & T, and that does mean that my conversations were turned over Uncle Sam. Now I know that I have not said or done anything bad over the phone, but you know, it is a little creapy and really fucked up that they just so willingly gave up their customers personal phone conversations like that. This is going against every thing that I really have been brought up on and believed in, and it is just the simple shit like the Freedom of speach and our civil liberities and crap like that.
So I have decided while drinking a PBR and watching Sonic Youth on David Letterman that I will be looking for a new job. I have to really, I feel too guilty now over the past two weeks that I have been apart of this and that I have taken so much time away from the kids.
I am sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest. I really do think though that we should stage a protest against AT & T and SBC. You know just a little one shoing that we really don't like the bact that they did give out our personal shit like that and that we will not stand for it. Please let me know if you are intrested in that, I will talk to Dave and see how we can set this up better on a US wide protest.
I have been back in my home town of Lawrence for the past two days as the new Marketing Rep. for AT & T. Yesterday, I was able to stop by my fav. bar in the world, the Replay Lounge, and have a drink (yes durning work hours, but fuck it, I was having a bad day). I started talking to some people in there that I had not seen for a while and one of the guys in the bar asked me what I was doing now (sense I was dressed up in a button down shirt, dress paints, dress shoes, tie, you know, the works). I told him what I was doing and working for AT & T. He was about to take a drink from his Hamm's beer, but instead, set it back down on the bar, and turned over and looked at me. I turned my head and looked him dead in the eyes and said "So you are the one who gave my personal conversations to the NSA" (he was just playing about it being me personally). I looked shocked at him. Before he said that, I had totally forgotten about that fact that AT & T did that. It didn't really pop into my head that I had heard the story on NPR and how pissed off that I got about the whole thing until today.
I went and visited my friend Dave at Solidarity! on Mass. St. in Lawrence. He was working the Noon to 3 shift but when I showed up at about 12:30, he had yet to show up. The girl behind the counter told me that he called in said that he would be late, but that he should be there any second. I asked her if they would mind if I just hung out there until he arrived. She told me ofcourse and I took a seat and waited. Finally, he walked through the door. He said, as he walked into the building, "Hey Chris, I heard a rumior that you were back in town. How are you doing?" I told him fine and asked him if he knew why I was there, he said yes but that they were going to switch companies (I had been in the store yesterday and looked at their phone bill already and knew that they were with AT & T). I asked him why and this is what he said. "Well, we were with AT & T, but then they turned over our records to the NSA, so then we switched to SBC. Well they bought out AT & T, and we just don't feel comfortable with a company that just gives away private and personal conversations with out any kind of court order or anything."
Now I just sat back and looked at him. That is when the NPR story clicked into my head. I remember hearing that AT & T and one other company just gave up all of their phone records when the NSA asked for them, not showing any kind of warrent or court order (because there was none) while the other companies basically said, "Fuck you. No, first you show me why I have to give them to you and who said that I have to give them to you, then maybe we will give them to you".
It really made me think about what I was doing. Dave was right. He and I grew up on the same lessons and all on life. I sat back and thought about my home phone that I have. Yes it is SBC/AT & T, and that does mean that my conversations were turned over Uncle Sam. Now I know that I have not said or done anything bad over the phone, but you know, it is a little creapy and really fucked up that they just so willingly gave up their customers personal phone conversations like that. This is going against every thing that I really have been brought up on and believed in, and it is just the simple shit like the Freedom of speach and our civil liberities and crap like that.
So I have decided while drinking a PBR and watching Sonic Youth on David Letterman that I will be looking for a new job. I have to really, I feel too guilty now over the past two weeks that I have been apart of this and that I have taken so much time away from the kids.
I am sorry, I just had to get that off of my chest. I really do think though that we should stage a protest against AT & T and SBC. You know just a little one shoing that we really don't like the bact that they did give out our personal shit like that and that we will not stand for it. Please let me know if you are intrested in that, I will talk to Dave and see how we can set this up better on a US wide protest.
perdita:
Making the ethical/moral choice is not always the easiest thing to do. Good luck with the job search, it's a bitch and a half.