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September 21, 2008
The Facts
According to Home Land Security chief Michael Chertoff 2.2 million people from Texas and 130,000 from Louisiana evacuated because of hurricane Ike. A huge number of them lost everything they had including their houses. Although many did not actually loose their residence, they lost everything in it due to flooding and have no place to live. But the disaster for some did not end there; they were told to report back to work immediately even though they had no place to live, or they would be docked. One such person lives in The Woodlands, a community north of Houston, Texas.
My View (and a few more facts)
On the day of the storm & from my evacuated location, I published a post referencing hurricane Ike. Many people read that post, and one lady posted her comment. Hers is one of those heartbreaking comments. You can go here to read her comment at the bottom of the post. Basically, what she said was that she lost everything in her home due to flooding, which included feces inside & outside her home. Obviously, she didn’t have any power either. But since her company opened for business on Monday after the storm on Saturday, all employees were ordered to report back to work. This particular lady offered to work remotely from where she evacuated to (evidently her job could allow that, at least in part), but she was told if she did not report for work she would be docked.
Before I retired I worked in & around the Gulf of Mexico. I have seen my fair share of hurricanes and have had my fair share of evacuations. The company I worked for was a lot more understanding & compassionate than the company this lady works for. In fact, not only did I and others who worked for my company not loose pay or vacation when we could not return to work, the company offered to help out any way they could including financially. That was because my company had heart & soul, and cared about people. Unfortunately, my company is in the minority. Today there is no heart & soul in most of the “front offices” of America (unless there’s good public relations press to be gained from it). And this lady’s company seems to be one of these.
She asked other readers to post their opinionated comments on this matter, and I encourage you to do so, as I plan to notify her of this post. Hopefully, if nothing else, she will know there are people out there in the same boat and/or those who understand & care.
Thanks to all readers.
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