For those of you who don't know already, I work for Wells Fargo. Yeah, its not the job of my dreams, but I've worked there for over three and a half years and am still working there for one reason: they take care of their employees. I work part time and have FULL health insurance benefits. I know of no other bank (or any other employer, for that matter) that does that. They offer paid holidays and vacation for both part and full time employees. They offer tuition reimbursement. They let me work a flexible schedule so that I can be home with my baby. Yeah, I don't make a lot, but I know that I am making a pretty good wage for the type of job I do. They even offer small bonuses when I do well--both at customer service and sales.
Which brings me to my point.
Today, it was plastered all over the news that Wells Fargo was about to hold a glorified corporate shindig that was going to be a greedy, over-the-top waste of taxpayers' hard earned bailout money. I even heard one guy state with triumph that because of this new, diligent observance of all things financial, they were able to successfully circumvent this horrific waste of the common person's precious pennies.
THIS IS A CROCK.
This, my friends, was not the CEO and his cronies partying spring-break style in swimsuits while pretty ladies fanned them with giant leaves and fed them grapes. This was a RECOGNITION EVENT planned to celebrate the great job done by many employees in the Home Mortgage sector of the bank. This was an incentive that they put out there to encourage employees to work hard and do a good job. In this case, in a tough housing market where their efforts helped make huge gains to stimulate the housing market and therefore STIMULATE THE ECONOMY. NO BAILOUT FUNDS WERE EVER UTILIZED OR EVER WOULD BE UTILIZED TO HOST A RECOGNITION EVENT. During this crisis when all these other banks are melting down, Wells Fargo has been thriving. We were able to acquire Wachovia over Citibank without any government intervention. Citibank had put forth a plan to use millions of government FDIC funds but we didn't have to. We had the assets. It is true, Wells Fargo DID accept a portion of the financial bailout money--but we didn't ask for it. It was divied up so as to further STIMULATE THE ECONOMY by making more funds available for lending. You know...for like, mortgages and stuff.
So a few good people did their job and expected to get rewarded for doing it right and doing it well. Wells Fargo is the number one mortgage lender in America. The people who were about to attend this recognition event were the ones to help get us there. And if you ask me, hard work deserves reward.
But the mainstream media had a different idea.
They blew the whistle.
Loudly.
That Wells Fargo, who had received bailout money, was about to do something heinous... we're talking, flying in a luxury jet to Washington to ask for money type of heinous.
And the public began to cry foul--and rightfully so. They are being led to believe that a bunch of corporate goons are taking a luxury vacation on their dime. Which would be deplorable.
If it were true.
So now, the Recognition event in Vegas is canceled for the people in the mortgage department. And not only that, the company has canceled every recognition event planned for the entire next year. Activities that have been going on long before the bailout was even a twinkle in the government's eye. Gone. Who does that affect? People like me. (Every employee has had a chance to go to one of these events, even me. But I'm a minimalist. I do the minimal amount I have to to get by. I know some people who have gone and trust me, they deserve it. They shine at what they do.) I can guarantee that if the CEO decided he still wanted to have some sort of expensive party it would still happen. But not us here at the bottom of the totem pole. The average joes. The ones witnessing the effects of the bad economy on our own family and friends. On the people we meet day in and day out as they come to process their financial transactions.
Way to go, media. You sure did a good thing for the world on this one.
But it isn't just the loss of recognition events. This media blitz has a direct hit on EACH and EVERY employee who has any kind of retirement or 401k. After this misleading story broke, our stock dropped. Which means so did my retirement fund. It isn't huge by any stretch of the imaginiation, but every time the stock goes down it still hurts. And it could mean much more to those employees on the brink of retirement. This is probably downright heartbreaking to them.
And what is going to go next? If the media decrys the fact that we get bonuses (a whopping hundred dollars--if we're lucky--a quarter) will we have to see them go, too? What's next? Will my tuition reimbursement be discovered to be a misuse of bailout money? What will happen when they find out the bank is giving part time employees health insurance? What will they have to say about that kind of blatant non-conservative spending? Will that go out the window, too?
This economic downturn, I've realized, is based entirely on fear. Fear that the media plays into to keep people watching, glued to their tvs. The more they sensationalize, the better ratings they get as we all chomp our nails and wait to see what terrible things could possibly happen next. With no more elections to sway, this is what they've turned all of their efforts to.
Be warned.
Here is a link to Wells Fargo's official statement on the canceled recognition event. (Only read in chopped up bits and pieces over the air.)
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