Do any of you work somewhere whose business or services are morally ambiguous?

And does this have an effect on your work performance in any way? Being in IT, we tend to offer a technological service in places where technology isn't the business

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hoktauri

As long as I get paid I really don't care what is going on (granted it doesn't get me arrested). I do a lot of freelance work though so others may have differing opinions.

sparten

my company likes to send out mass spam to random innocents

About7Narwhal

I have worked at a place like that previously. It gets very difficult to handle very quickly. This place would install Windows 7 even though we didn't have any product keys, and then string the people along for upwards of 6 months before the owner would buy keys. He would then make us use every key 10 times until we could move on to the next one. He would sell used parts as new or have us fashion parts that were clearly defective so they would last long enough to get the user out the door. Those are just a few of the issues we had.

The customers were obviously pissed. The workers were as well, especially when the checks would bounce. I'd rather work for a reputable company for minimum wage than work for a shady employer for double. Just my opinion.

olaHalo

Doesnt bother me whatsoever.
My first IT job was for a small company who cut a lot of corners.
Pirated software on almost all of our computers.
Ripping off our colocation customers. Lying about our data centers security.

The bad thing was half of my checks were short. The owner wouldnt argue with you if you brought it up but it sucked that they tried to pay steal money from their employees.
The owner literally would pay me out of his wallet with cash when my checks were short...

Still none of this bothered me. I am there to gain experience and a paycheck.

networker050184

Getting short changed on your pay check doesn't bother you?! I need an assistant....

olaHalo

networker050184 wrote: »

Getting short changed on your pay check doesn't bother you?! I need an assistant....

I meant the fact that the company was "morally wrong" didnt bother me, like the OP was talking about.
I always got my money =D

ptilsen

I worked at one that did some shady things. I won't say which. I don't think the owner had bad intent and generally had good intent, but a couple extremely shady things were done that I almost quit over. It's definitely not a position I'd want to be in again. I probably wouldn't work for company that I knew did things I had strong moral objections to beforehand, either.

Iristheangel

I wouldn't say that any of my companies have been shady but I did do inperson repair for onforce and one time I was in the situation of diagnosing a laptop that wouldn't boot into Windows. Turns out the laptop was full of kiddie ****.

And there were two little toddlers in the house so I instantly felt even more horrible. I ended up not touching the computer and claiming I couldn't get it working (didn't want to destroy evidence). I would have called the cops immediately but it was in a REALLY shady area of San Bernardino so I got the hell out of there and called the cops to let them know what happened.

Shadiest situation work-wise I was ever put into. There are some things I cannot turn a blind eye to but overall, as long as it doesn't get me or others arrested and I'm not willingly participating in it, I don't usually care

spike_tomahawk

"Do any of you work somewhere whose business or services are morally ambiguous?"

Yep the Government.... I couldn't resist (2 more weeks till 3 day weekends)

NetworkVeteran

Iristheangel wrote: »

I ended up not touching the computer and claiming I couldn't get it working (didn't want to destroy evidence). I would have called the cops immediately but it was in a REALLY shady area of San Bernardino so I got the hell out of there and called the cops to let them know what happened.

I knew Iristheangel would do the right thing!

I also wouldn't call any of the companies I worked for "morally ambiguous." In fact, I'm an advocate for my present company! We're not perfect, but I believe we're superior to our competition in almost every way, and that comes across when I face-off against them. You shouldn't expect someone who deals irresponsibly with others to deal responsibly with you, so I wouldn't choose to work for a 'morally ambiguous' company if by that you mean one that's dishonest or acts like a thief. I wouldn't have any qualms working for a company whose management had different political, social, or religious beliefs.. as long as they weren't intolerant.

CodeBlox

I work with a Sr Engineer who was telling me just yesterday about a company called MCI that he worked for and how there was corruption within the company.

stiltner

CodeBlox wrote: »

I work with a Sr Engineer who was telling me just yesterday about a company called MCI that he worked for and how there was corruption within the company.

You must be young. MCI Worldcom was a huge huge telecom mess. I think they turned into some other name and then got bought by like Alltel
or something like that, who eventually got bought by AT&T I believe, and the circle of incest in telecom continues.

paul78

@codeblox - you are making me feel old. MCI was one of the largest telcos in the world. what Bernie Ebbers did at MCI Worlcomm was dispicable. MCI is now part of Verizon Business.

tpatt100

I may work for a company that come to find out does a lot of lame things dealing with politics and lobbying and tries to encourage employees to get involved. My department ignores it. I really do not care for companies that try and encourage employees to take part in lobbying.....

datgirl

olaHalo wrote: »

Doesnt bother me whatsoever.
My first IT job was for a small company who cut a lot of corners.
Pirated software on almost all of our computers.
Ripping off our colocation customers. Lying about our data centers security.

The bad thing was half of my checks were short. The owner wouldnt argue with you if you brought it up but it sucked that they tried to pay steal money from their employees.
The owner literally would pay me out of his wallet with cash when my checks were short...

Still none of this bothered me. I am there to gain experience and a paycheck.

As an employee I have worked for companies where my pay checks would bounce. And as a consultant, I have worked at sites where I said to myself "I better have bail money in my pocket, and my lawyer on speed-dial".

eansdad

I work for a school district that 1. Keeps everything "unreported" to the state, 2. Has rampant theft of money, supplies and technology, 3. Promotes stupid instead of trying to remove bad employees, 4. Encourages cheating, 5. Gets 2/3rds of its $200 million budget, hides a good chunk then does invest in education, 5. Lines the pockets of family and friends through new jobs, promotions and no bid contracts...I could go on but it is making me depressed. Can't wait to get out of here!!!