What Food Network and Staples Have in Common

I don’t watch the Food Network.

I really never paid attention to Paula Deen.

However, the unraveling of Paula’s empire sparked my interest. Here is what I have figured out from various reports, granted it is in no way comprehensive and not complete:

· Paula used the N-word over 20 years ago.

· She has not used the word since.

· It was originally said during a private conversation and presumably never recorded.

· It had nothing to do with any of her enterprising endeavors.

Now that this revelation of her saying the N-word happening, her empire is falling apart with companies like Walmart, Target, and Home Depot leaving her products. But seriously is this really justified?

Many people don’t remember way back in the mid-1940’s when Disney released “Song of the South”. This film featured the N-word several times and characters that today would be deemed inappropriate. Sadly, Disney has never released this in many years under any format and has no intention to ever release it. Are they afraid of the backlash or are they just hoping that people had such a short-term memory as to have long forgotten this film. It seems that the impact of that movie never hurt the company whatsoever.

Note: The movie was released back in 1990 on laserdisc as a Japanese import. It had Japanese soundtrack/subtitles along with English soundtrack/subtitles. The quality of the video was very poor when compared to other laserdiscs. The transfer was plagued with various scratches and blurry scenes. I purchased this disc from a now-defunct store back then and know just how bad it is.

So how does Paula Deen (PD)/Food Network compare to me, Louis Brown (LB)/Staples? Let’s have a looksee:

The targeting of the person:

· PD had her contract up for renewal, however the ratings of her show was down at least 15%. Was it worth renewing her contract for more money with falling viewership?

· LB had returned to work just weeks after being out for 3 weeks with a leg infection. LB was unable to stand for a full shift anymore and needed a stool. Original manager didn’t mind that, but the new replacement manager had major issue with that.

Locking the crosshairs:

· Food Network looked back in PD’s life and saw she made a racial slur 20+ years ago. Didn’t sit well with company.

· Staples didn’t like what they had to put up with when dealing with LB. Staples made excuses of threatening termination if not improve in both health and sales performance.

AIM, FIRED!:

· PD fired for the racial slur.

· LB fired after a fake period of 2 day waiting period. LB was already been training someone new for the past week for his shift a week before the termination. They already knew the results without ever giving me a real chance.

Aftermath:

· PD makes video apologies and goes on morning new show explaining what the truth is. No response from the Food Network. Various companies drop PD’s product and endorsements. Why did Food Network wait until PD’s contract was up to bring up slur, especially given that it had absolutely nothing to do with them and happened years before the network even existed?

· LB files claim with Maine Human Rights Commission. Staples brings up incidents that happened over 5 years earlier as to why LB was terminated. LB has been unable to get a job since then because the lies that Staples said continue to follow LB through any job that LB applies for. Nobody has even considered LB even for an interview because of their actions. My question was if I was so bad why did they wait 5 years to terminate me?

Overall, I feel that I and Paula Deen were both highly mistreated by our respective employers. Fortunately Paula has enough money to live comfortably for the rest of her life, I, on the other hand, is not so lucky. And with my health continuing to decline and no insurance, the possibilities of getting a job look even more hopeless.

In conclusion, I will never watch the Food Network nor will I give the Staples store any business. It’s time that companies that do wrong to employees suffer and those that lie to get ahead suffer even that much more so.

Special Notice: In celebration of July 4^th next week, there will be no blog post. I hopefully will return the following week with a brand new and exciting post at that time. As always, thanks for your continued support.