A few weeks back, we did a cartoon about management waterboarding employees.
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, a Provo, Utah based motivational coaching business called Prosper Inc. actually did waterboard an employee to demonstrate that their salespeople should work as hard at sales as the unfortunate employee had worked to breathe.
Wow.
The employee, a salesperson named Chad Hudgens is now suing the company. According to the Tribune article:
The suit claims that Hudgens’ team leader, Joshua Christopherson, asked for volunteers in May for "a new motivational exercise," which he did not describe. Hudgens, who was 26 at the time, volunteered in order to "prove his loyalty and determination," the suit claims. Christopherson led the sales team to the top of a hill near the office and told Hudgens to lie down with his head downhill, the suit claims. Christopherson then told the rest of the team to hold Hudgens by the arms and legs.
Christopherson poured water from a gallon jug over Hudgens’ mouth and nostrils – like the interrogation strategy known as "waterboarding" – and told the team members to hold Hudgens down as he struggled, the suit alleges. At the conclusion of his abusive demonstration, Christopherson told the team that he wanted them to work as hard on making sales as Chad had worked to breathe while he was being waterboarded.
Prosper president Dave Ellis disputes this version of events and claims that Hudgens had been told of the plan before he volunteered and that no one held him down by force.
Ellis characterized the whole incident as,"more along the lines of fun."
As for us, it’s tough enough trying to sell our cartoons without having some out-of-control "motivational" consultant steal our satiric thunder. Our hearts go out to Mr. Hudgens, but we sure hope he doesn’t sue us for giving the company the idea. š
So who is this guy? Well, my name is Bob "Bobbo" Simpson. I am semi-retired and working on my writing hobby. Ā I still work part time Ā for WebTrax Studio which has a bunch of cool people associated with it. WebTrax mostly does work for unions, non-profit groups, social advocacy organizations and educational institutions.I also write gags for labor cartoonist Estelle Carol. Together we publish them in union and alternative publications under the name Carol*Simpson.I was born in Washington DC and grew up in the Maryland suburbs. I attended the University of Maryland and raised hell as a member of the Students for a Democratic Society. I also had my first union experience there as an AFSCME member under the enlightened leadership of Gladys Jefferson.I moved to the Chicagoland area in 1975 and have lived here ever since. I spent 20 years teaching English and history on Chicago's South Side. I met a a lot of savvy working class young people whose intelligence and insights will be shaping this nation for many years to come.I also worked as a U.S. Forest Service trail crew volunteer helping build and maintain trails through some achingly gorgeous areas of North America.I'm an old fashioned labor socialistĀ which makes me an genuine anachronism in our Brave New 21st Century. Yeah..... I know. Most union members don't even know the words to "Solidarity Forever" and union members are only a small minority of the American workforce.So what. We're fighting for labor's comeback despite the obstacles and whatever the odds. What else can we do? We live in a dog-eat-dog cat-eat-mouse economy and right now the labor movement is the only real civilizing force that stands between us and total barbarism. You think that's an exaggeration? Believe me, you wouldn't want to be around if the labor movement packs it in and gives up.I have two kids: one just graduated from college and the other is in high school. They and their contemporaries sure deserve better than joining a slave labor force scratching out a living on a dying planet.But enough doom and gloom. I first became a social activist in the 1960's and I know that people can rise to the occasion when they have to.Here's to a better world!Bob "Bobbo" Simpson- member: National Writers Union (UAW AFL-CIO)
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