Anybody ever refuse a job because they didn't like what the company did?

jimbarino

Just wondering if I'm crazy here.

I got an offer (or at least the beginnings of an offer - we didn't get to brass tacks, moneywise, but it would have been a significant bump up from what I'm making now) from what is by all appearances a great company, with great benefits, good location, etc. - but it's an internet gambling site. In the end, I just couldn't see myself working there, so I cut off the process (before we started talking money, just to keep myself from knuckling under if they offered me a lot...)

I mean, I'm not a puritan, but I guess my gut told me that I wouldn't feel proud walking in to work there every day. Now, of course, I'm second guessing myself, but I'm pretty sure I made the right decision.

Anyone ever been in a similar position?

veritas_libertas

I can certainly respect that.

laidbackfreak

I've never gotten to the offer stage, but have withdrawn my application from various roles in the past that I have been in strong\almost certain contention for, after I found out further information about a company or its dealings.

If you’re not happy with a company at any point during the interview\offer stage it’s as much your prerogative as theirs to terminate discussions. That's whole process is for your benefit as much as theirs

You made the right choice

mikedisd2

I briefly worked at a casino; we all had moral issues about the place and were very cynical towards the casino's hypocritical acumen.

Glad to be away from there for many many reasons.

chrisone

I dont see what is wrong about the job. If you can gain some technical experience and learn some things here and there , at the same time get paid good money, then move on , why not?

In this economy dont blow an opportunity to learn a thing or two and then move on. Its not like your the one gambling or the owener or representative of the company, you just doing your job taking caring care of your responsibilities.

Just curious what type of job was it?

As for me if it was a network engineer job position and i was out of work or trying to get my foot in the door i would have taken it. If i had any moral issues with the company i would have spend some time there to learn some technical experience that i could use then move on. I am not obligated to speak for the company, represent it in any way, or retire from there.

If they call you again, i would suggest keep the dialog open?

tiersten

I don't see anything wrong with refusing to work somewhere because you're against what they do.

MentholMoose

There are places that I wouldn't like to work, but I have not been in the position of turning down an offer from one. If you have a problem with what a company sells, then don't apply in the first place.

Essendon

Out of curiosity, did you not know the company was a gambling site before you went in for the interview.

I can understand why you have spurned this offer. I hope you have other offers in the pipeline, especially in a not so robust economy.

pennystrader

I walked out before because I worked at a local company that did some low level security work for the US government but they were telling other customers they were professional hackers and using expensive software that they charged money for to run a scan and create a report and when I got to see what they were running they ran Backtrack3 and a few other free tools they downloaded. They would tell companies they could protect them and I was doing their Microsoft work from them and seeing this junk and then they asked me if VMware was Linux based and told me I was wrong that is had to be Windows. I was like umm I have used VMware for 5 years and am certified. It is based off of Linux and they were second guessing me until they ran a Windows scan and of course it failed. I told them I could not deal with fools and people ripping others off. I have never looked back.

If you feel any doubt it is better to go somewhere else where you can earn an honest salary and feel like you can help a greater cause. I look at it like that and think you will look back later at this jim and feel the same way. I think you did the right thing. Gut feeling is usually the right one.

binarysoul

Few years ago, I turned down an interview with a company that produced alcohol.

Hyper-Me

Couple month ago i turned down a job creating AD Domains and workstation rollout packages for 911 emergency centers.

Why?

Because the optimal time for maintenance on a 911 center is 3am on sunday morning.

Its not that the company was immoral, but who wants to do that?

msteinhilber

Frankly in my opinion it takes a greater person to recognize up front that they would have uncertainties of any sort that may impact their ability to carry out their responsibilities as an employee rather than go in knowing you are probably not going to mesh well and await other options. Certainly in cases where you are in dire need of employment you might have to buckle down and deal with it as best you can, but if you are not in that situation I would have to say you made the right choice.

blargoe

I responded to an ad that turned out to be IT for a toy manufacturer. And by toys I mean the dirty kind. Didn't pursue it.

msteinhilber

blargoe wrote: »

I responded to an ad that turned out to be IT for a toy manufacturer. And by toys I mean the dirty kind. Didn't pursue it.

It wasn't an ad for a penetration tester was it?

jimbarino

chrisone wrote: »

I dont see what is wrong about the job. If you can gain some technical experience and learn some things here and there , at the same time get paid good money, then move on , why not?

In this economy dont blow an opportunity to learn a thing or two and then move on. Its not like your the one gambling or the owener or representative of the company, you just doing your job taking caring care of your responsibilities.

Just curious what type of job was it?

As for me if it was a network engineer job position and i was out of work or trying to get my foot in the door i would have taken it. If i had any moral issues with the company i would have spend some time there to learn some technical experience that i could use then move on. I am not obligated to speak for the company, represent it in any way, or retire from there.

If they call you again, i would suggest keep the dialog open?

I currently have a pretty good, stable job (as a network engineer). This would have been a step up in money and responsibility (although not really in technical terms - the place I'm at now has a bigger network.) It would be a move up from a junior guy behind two others to being the senior network engineer there.

If I was out of work and needed the job to support my family, I suppose I would have sucked it up and said yes. (Like I said, I'm not a puritan - nor a martyr...) As it is, I figured other opportunities are out there, and I have time to look for them.

Interestingly, they don't advertise themselves as a gambling site on their website or on the job posting. The recruiter told me about it in the initial phone screen, but by then I guess there was already momentum in scheduling the interview, and I admit I was a little intrigued.

hypnotoad

I dont have very strong opinions either way about guns, but I didnt want to do IT for a manufacturer after a severe shooting nearby.

unclerico

you bet. i had an interview for a SQL DBA position at a huge law firm that was a hefty amount higher in salary and benefits than what i was getting at my current job (at that time). the recruiter that i had gone through to get the interview called me and was so damn excited and then he says "i told them taht you have accepted and will start in a couple of weeks". i said to him that i did research on the affiliations of the firm and it was due to moral issues that i had to turn down the job. he was sooooooo pissed at me because he was about to make some ching on that one. i have no qualms what so ever about turning down a position for moral reasons.

TheShadow

Law firm? Do you not like lawyers or was Tony Soprano their main client.

shodown

I would never do IT for Faux news

SephStorm

Absoloutly. I met a guy before I got out of the military, and he said he had a friend who had a buisness opportunity I might be interested in. Months later, get a call from him, and have a conference call with "Judy" and everyone else they recruited about the "opportunity". Listened to the presentation, didn't like the feel of it, I walked. Same thing with a few other jobs that popped up in the harsh economy. A lot of jobs popped up that may have been good for you, but they hurt someone else. I wasnt willing to do it.

Forsaken_GA

TheShadow wrote: »

Law firm? Do you not like lawyers or was Tony Soprano their main client.

I used to do tech support for law firms, and let me say it's something I don't want to go back to doing ever again. Unfortunately I'm *still* under several NDA's, so I can't go into specifics, but I suppose I can generalize:

It all depends on the firm, and what type of law they practice. Litigators are a pain in the ass. They want answers right then, and they expect everything fixed as soon as possible without having to give you any information as to why it's broken.

Real Estate and Tax Attorneys are a little more laid back and easier to deal with.

The real problem doesn't come from the attorneys or the paralegals though. You know how the army is really run by NCO's? Yeah, well, law firms have their own NCO-archetypes called 'the secretary'. They usually know just as much law as the attorney (if not more, in the case of a well experienced one with a newb lawyer), and they can be utterly ruthless and demanding, and they are *not* stupid.

Of all the law firms I've ever dealt with, there's maybe 2 that I would have considered going to work for fulltime

Forsaken_GA

To be more in line with the original question...

I really suppose it would depend on what it was. Right now, I work for a company that's heavily into the adult industry. I have one of the few jobs on earth where it's not only ok to look at ****, it's actually a job requirement. I'm a perfectly hetero single white guy in my early 30's, so yeah, I don't have a problem with ****. I knew what I was getting into straight up, although apparently I didn't think it through (the company doesn't discriminate in it's customers.... some of you will figure it out).

After about the first month, the cool factor wore off and I became desensitized, and now it's just another job. Someone's going to be making money off this kind of thing because that's how we humans are, so it might as well be me.

I'm of the opinion that, since we deal with content polite society regards as taboo, it breaks down alot of the artificial social barriers in the work place and creates a relaxed and informal work atmosphere, so it's actually kind of fun to go to work. I will admit though, that if a prude female ever made it past the screening process, we'd be ripe for a hostile work environment suit at the least, if not a full blown sexual harassment one

snadam

Its not a bad thing. They are YOUR beliefs. Sometimes you need to stick to your morals.

MentholMoose

Forsaken_GA wrote: »

I'm of the opinion that, since we deal with content polite society regards as taboo, it breaks down alot of the artificial social barriers in the work place and creates a relaxed and informal work atmosphere, so it's actually kind of fun to go to work. I will admit though, that if a prude female ever made it past the screening process, we'd be ripe for a hostile work environment suit at the least, if not a full blown sexual harassment one

I've done some IT consulting work for a "toy" store. It was definitely an interesting environment, very relaxed and informal from what I saw. Most of the employees were actually women.

Slowhand

I've turned down jobs because I didn't like the way the company handled their IT business, (sloppily and with the assumption that magic could happen without a budget). I've turned down several jobs because the interviewing managers either came off as sleazy, rude, and/or downright unprofessional. I've never turned down a based on a pure moral stance, and the only situation I'd do it was if I thought that their business was hurting people or was illegal, or it was simply a dangerous place to work a bad part of town.

undomiel

I'll chime in as having turned down jobs before on moral grounds. There was one place that ran advertising and hosting for a number of online adult sites, so as soon as I found that out I backed out of that interview process right swift. I've also dropped pursuing some companies when it was obvious that the scheduling would not work out with my religious convictions.

CompuTron99

I've never turned down a company, but I have left one for that reason.

unclerico

shodown wrote: »

I would never do IT for Faux news

Are you kidding me?? Have you seen the females that they have on that network?? Oh, you must be one of those people...

haha, i can see how that would come across wrong, what i meant was an MSNBC fan

veritas_libertas

unclerico wrote: »

Are you kidding me?? Have you seen the females that they have on that network??

Nice...

Zartanasaurus

I would have no problem working at an internet gambling site. I can't think of too many places I wouldn't, except maybe certain financial and law sectors due to the high stress.

Paul Boz

Man I'd work at a baby seal clubbing factory if the money was right.