BlogBreak

By RJ

May 30, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this

A commitment to truth, honesty, is higher than it is to an individual. After all, God is our most important Judge and he knows when we succeed and fail in this regard in our daily lives.

By Keeping it REAL

May 30, 2008 10:16 AM | Link to this

Damned skippy, I’d rat out the boss!

They don’t think twice about throwing their employees under the bus (or initiating mass layoffs) when it suits them and serves the bottom line of the organization.

Employee loyalty is highly overrated and usually not rewarded in today’s economy.

… just keeping it real.

By Keeping it REAL

May 30, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this

Damned skippy, I’d rat out the boss!

They don’t think twice about throwing their employees under the bus (or initiating mass layoffs) when it suits them and serves the bottom line of the organization.

Employee loyalty is highly overrated and usually not rewarded in today’s economy.

… just keeping it real.

By Charles

May 30, 2008 10:37 AM | Link to this

This is just typical behavior by someone who is incompetent in their job. They get asked to resign or get fired, find out they can’t get another job with the same pay and benefits - so, they look for a way to discredit their former employer to make money. In the real world its usually a lawsuit. In Mr. McClellan’s case he gets a ghost writer with an axe to grind against the President to make money for the former press secretary.

By Scared

May 30, 2008 10:40 AM | Link to this

I would love to “rat out” the boss. I have documentation on money transactions (not he said, she said, I understood it this way type stuff) but I am scared to even send this blog.

By Al

May 30, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this

Actually, My boss and the company as a whole are very honest. I’m surprised at times how honest they are even if it hurts their bottom line. I would write a book about my boss and the culture of integrity that he has embedded in the company to show people how a company should be run.

By Nny

May 30, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this

Absolutely I would tell all.

And I think that the President, above all other bosses, should be held to the greatest standards of all as far as honesty and accountability. He doesn’t run a company. He runs the country. (Oh wait, these days that’s pretty much the samse thing…)

By BS

May 30, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this

I’d love to rat out a former boss. The company itself was unethical at best, and some of the things they did were downright illegal. Amazing they still haven’t been caught, since their transactions are governed by the SEC! My boss was immature, unethical, cunning, conniving, and able to twist facts so that her boss didn’t know what end was up. If I could rat her (and the company) out, I’d definitely do it. Fortunately, I wised up and moved on to a much better situation.

By Nny

May 30, 2008 11:03 AM | Link to this

Absolutely I would tell all.

And I think that the President, above all other bosses, should be held to the greatest standards of all as far as honesty and accountability. He doesn’t run a company. He runs the country. (Oh wait, these days that’s pretty much the samse thing…)

By Adam

May 30, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this

Truth comes over loyalty. When lives are at stake even confidences can be broken morally.

By Mother Goose

May 30, 2008 11:08 AM | Link to this

Oh yes. I would. If they were unethical or did something while not illegal was downright wrong, you bet I would. Not just because they were famous or I would get rich, this would have to be a crisis of conscience.

By Norris Hall

May 30, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this

The fact that Mr. McClellan kept mum while in the employ of the administration shouldn’t surprise anyone. I’m sure we all have people we have done work for who have had questionable ethics or who didn’t always go by the book. Does that mean we should risk getting fired by “ratting on them”. No. At least not while they are paying to put food on our table.

After the relationship is over, though, anything goes. That’s life.

By Frances

May 30, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this

Honestly if I were to rat out any boss for the world to see I would change my name and their names to protect their privacy. They could be reading what I write and then never have anything to do with me again. Honestly what I would love to write about is all my work experiences since I was fifteen years old, the mistakes I made and the things I learned whether the boss was good or bad at any given time so that any person looking for a job would know what to do when he/she decides it is time to look for a job because there are just so many people that simply don’t know what to do in today’s job market and are usually shocked when things are never what they expect to be.

By Porter Rockwell

May 30, 2008 11:23 AM | Link to this

Bosses, in general, are incompetent at what they do because they are selected by their skill in politics, not management. (This applies to both business and government.) If you decide to rat out your boss, you’re playing into their strong suit. You better be very sure of what you’re doing. On the other hand, the chance of having really good evidence is excellent since they generally screw up their actual job so badly.

By Porter Rockwell

May 30, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this

Bosses, in general, are incompetent because they are selected by their skill in politics, not management. (This applies to both business and government.) If you decide to rat our your boss, you better be very sure of what you’re doing because you’re playing into their strong suit. On the other hand, the chance of having great evidence is excellent because they usually screw up the job they are supposed to be doing so badly.

By MissKnowItAll

May 30, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this

I am exactly working on that - If they would value you more , the chances would be much better for people not to think of this . If you are working with high profile people they should be aware that you know all their secrets and should honor your loyalty and confidentiality. Other then this the devil wears Prada all over again :}}} - well I wont use that title but the financial industry makes a real great subject , especially in these days markets and high power brokers with bad habits.

By abbedd

May 30, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

If my boss was the worst white collar criminal in the history of Man, I would

By Rod Olaka

May 30, 2008 11:31 AM | Link to this

I was a 17 year tenured manager at a large multinational corporation. The company had gone through three years of “right sizing” all of the poor performers and middle performers had been cut loose with severance packages over the previous three years. The new division manager called a meeting on Coaching Counseling and Corrective action. We were given sample reprimand letters with blank spaces for the name and date of the employee to reprimand.

We asked if we were being told to fire people so the company would not have to pay severance, HR said NO, of course not. But I was given a quota of five reprimand letters a week. When I refused I was fired even though I was being considered for promotion and had the highest performance rating on my previous three evals.

They fired 100 employees on one Friday and the employees threatened a class action lawsuit, the div manager took an “early retirement”, and the employees got their severance pay. The company is no more, they lost their best employees and customers, and I would gladly tell this story to anyone who will listen.

Heartless corporations and their pet politicians are ruining our country. Patronize your small local businesses who still care about people and your local economy.

Rod

By Joanne Fennessy

May 30, 2008 11:33 AM | Link to this

Hell yeah, I will write tell all book about my boss, especially when the boss is a nasty one.

By JSmithCSA

May 30, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this

If I were in a situation where my boss was doing something illegal, particularly if I were to play a role in it, I would resign. Not to do so, and to write a book about it afterwards, is sacrificing your personal honor for a fast — and disreputable — buck.

Disloyalty like this will bring no rewards for Scott McClellan. Despite all the big talk from the left (“he said what we knew all along”), they didn’t listen to him in the past and will not listen to him in the future. The right will ignore him as a “traitor”. He will no doubt die friendless.

By Beentheredonethat

May 30, 2008 11:37 AM | Link to this

Yes! And I wouldn’t take the chance of writing a tell all book. In the corporate world it’s smaller than you think. I tend to see familiar faces from way back when. People have long memories and what happened at one workplace can carry to another. Keep your distance from those who are toxic. Sometimes silence is your best defense. Your career may depend on it.

By ms

May 30, 2008 11:38 AM | Link to this

The president valued Rumsfeld’s loyalty and look how well that turned out.

By Don

May 30, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this

Sure! For how much $$$?

By Paul

May 30, 2008 11:51 AM | Link to this

Will I hold my boss accountable if the boss is unethical? Of course. To whom shall I report to? As other respondees point out, the boss is selected [by other upper level bosses] for her/his relational skills and not his/her technical skill.

If the boss that is the top most person in the organization then where do you go? The Board? No way, as the Board are friends of the boss. They will close ranks and assume the person doing the reporting is either [and typically all] incompentent, disgruntled, manipulative, or worse.

I worked for a good sized non-profit that had incompetent senior level managers. They were more concerned about the relationships at their level [and maintaining the status quo] rather than the reports that accurately indicated the non-profit was not performing as it should have according to contracts, policy & procedure, and mission statement.

The non-profit loved to say it had two bottom lines, the mission statement was one and the financial bottom line was the other. The reality was that the financial bottom was the only bottom line that mattered. The client was never part part of the conversation at upper management.

By Eminencefrontman

May 30, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this

I would certainly air my concerns about a superior if their actions reflected as much incompetence as the actions of the current administration have done. Normally, you would be talking about something as ultimately trivial as the workings of a company, but in this case you are talking about much greater stakes. My greatest problem with what McClellan has done is that it took him so long to do so.

By Frak Lynch

May 30, 2008 12:22 PM | Link to this

Never! It’s a betrayal of trust. Ifyou receive pay for your service, you consent to whatever it is you are representing. Even if the person you work for is evil and wrong. By accepting pay you consent to it.

By ron

May 30, 2008 12:28 PM | Link to this

Scott McClellan’s paycheck was more important to him than ratting out the President. As long as he was employed he collected his money and remained silent.To me this shows he wasn’t all that concerned.

By J.R.

May 30, 2008 12:31 PM | Link to this

Heck yes I would. Especially if I couldn’t find a job afterwards. I sure would wright a tell all book. I would even try to make it a movie. :P

By doubleweight

May 30, 2008 12:39 PM | Link to this

Entering a war by choice is a very serious business. Honesty, transparency, and accountability by the leadership are extremely important.

By conscience

May 30, 2008 12:45 PM | Link to this

All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing (Edmund Burke) To those who say that only disgruntled ex-employees speak out against companies: good luck covering for your company and keeping your job. The fact is that most people do not speak out because they fear not having a source of income/job. Once you remove that limitation, as you do when you leave your job and find another one, a few brave good men (and women) speak out. Thank God for each and every one of them.

As for McClellan taking this long to speak out: think about it. If he had spoken out right away he would have likely committed career suicide. You may disagree, but I can imagine having a very hard time getting someone to hire you if you are speaking out against a very big and powerful institution like our government (or any company for that matter). Scott, like most of us, needs a job to make money. He first made sure he had a secure source of income and then did one of the most patriotic things any American can do: he did his best to make sure our country is the best place it can possibly be. Speaking out against corruption/incompetence is a huge step in that direction. Thanks Scott.

By James

May 30, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this

There’s a difference between mismanagement at the highest level of the US government, and putting up with a bad boss. The former should be exposed for the common good.

The latter? I’ve had one great boss and two idiotic bosses on Wall Street. When I quit both positions, I made it a point not to bad-mouth the latter two. It’s not that I ever intended to write a book about them, of course, but I could have filed several justifiable complaints with HR.

The bad Wall Street guys imploded without my help. Baddie #1 is all over the news recently, but I’ll leave you guessing. Baddie #2 was fired shortly after I quit.

It’s tempting to seek revenge when you know you have been mistreated, but as the cliche goes, revenge is a dish best served cold. I sleep better at night knowing I kept my dignity.

OTOH, If I had actual knowledge of misdeeds at the White House that led us to an unwarranted war, I would not sleep at all.

By MrLiberty

May 30, 2008 12:59 PM | Link to this

McClellan writing this book is like Goebbles writing a scathing book about Hitler. I mean how can you spend day after day repeating the lies of a war criminal only to then write a book about how deceptive the war criminal was when he was lying?

Mr. McClellan is likely trying to decrease the time he will have to spend in hell or is hoping to get people to wake up to the lies that are now being spewed about Iran. It is clearly obvious to anyone who was paying attention the last time that the same lies are being told as were told about Iraq. Maybe the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi’s on his soul has at least done some good. More than likely the cold-hearted scum is just looking for some cash.

Would I write a tell-all? First of all I wouldn’t stick around that much immorality long enough to get a book’s worth of dirt on him. I would take the moral and Christian route and blow the wistle on the mass-murderer the first chance I got.

By PacificGatePost

May 30, 2008 1:08 PM | Link to this

WHILE THE FOURTH ESTATE WAS ASLEEP

A TRUTH, NOT FROM ACTIONS…

Not much will surprise us about this Administration. There is, however, more to be learned here from McClellan’s actions or lack thereof.

http://pacificgatepost.blogspot.com/2008/05/lesson-from-scott-mcclellan.html

By KJ

May 30, 2008 1:15 PM | Link to this

I’ve had bosses I wouldn’t pee on if they were on fire… so, yeah, I’d probably rat them out.

By Rick

May 30, 2008 2:20 PM | Link to this

If it served to prevent injustice I would feel compelled to do something, even writing a book if that is what was needed.

What’s sad about McClellan’s book is that from the excerpts I’ve read he states what has long been obvious about the this administration to anyone with an ability to make even the most feeble attempt to objectively evaluate President Bush and his cronies. I think McClellan deserves some knocks for coming to his senses only after he stopped personally benefitting from his employment by Bush. It brings into his question if McClellan’s ethics are superseded by his ego and greed.

That said, anything that can shine more light on this most terrible presidency and speed the American recovery from its abuses is welcome. God knows the GOP propaganda mill has proven as effective or more so as that of some of histories most evil rulers. If only more people would cash in like McClellan if that is what it takes to get them to come clean about the wicked people running this great country.

By BH

May 30, 2008 2:23 PM | Link to this

Hell, yeah!

By BeScared

May 30, 2008 3:44 PM | Link to this

I would in a New York minute. I plan to when I retire.

By Harold

May 30, 2008 4:02 PM | Link to this

I own the boss of a company. I am also a RAT. so go ahead..tell all you know. Like I really care. Now get back to work you pig.

By amy

May 30, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this

ABSO-FREAKIN-LUTELY. Fortunately I’ve never had to but I would in a minute. I’ve always worked for larger companies where they have an Ethics Hotline that provides a way to do this in an anonymous way if you so wish. Have to look out for number one, nobody else will. And if someone else’s questionable or blatently wrong behavior might possibly affect your job too, then there’s no question.