Perception is reality

Posted on | November 20, 2009 | 1 Comment

An acquaintance of mine was laid off this week – a nice guy, married, young kids, smart, hard working. Seemed to me to be very devoted to his job, forward thinking, active and involved in the community.

I was at his place of work a couple of weeks ago and noticed a brand new Porsche convertible, with temp tags, in a special handicapped spot, right by the front entrance. I thought nothing of it.

I was there again briefly tonight – and the car was still there, so it seemed clear that it belonged to someone affiliated with the business. I was informed it belongs to the owner.

I must confess I know little about the situation with my acquaintance and the business, except that the industry it is in is clearly headed for a slow part of the year, and that, in general, has felt the effects of the economy (though another source tells me this outpost had a good summer).

That being said, I still think it sends a really bad message – to the public, the rest of your staff, and the world at large – to buy a brand new luxury vehicle, which I’m guessing runs in the neighborhood of $70,000, and still have the temp tags on it when you lay off an employee with a family to support.

Clearly, the owner has done well for himself, at least financially. His health is clearly not great, since a glance at him makes it clear why he needs the special parking spot within steps of the front entrance. And for that, more power to him; but I’ll have trouble patronizing that business in the future, given the circumstances.

In the recent annals of less-than-ethical behavior by management, ownership, C-level execs, etc., this is clearly a very minor incident; but it is one that is very visible to me, which is no doubt at least part of my misgivings about the situation.

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