Fire Manny!

Just for a moment, let’s put the Manny Ramirez steroid baseball suspension fiasco into “real” business terminology.

Manny Ramirez is an employee of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mr. Ramirez is paid a salary of over $25 million. As an employee of the Lost Angeles Dodgers, Mr. Ramirez is expected to fulfill his contract to the company, which includes adherence to a drug policy that includes the ability for his company to penalize him for the use of banned substances. Mr. Ramirez used a banned substance on the job.

The Los Angeles Dodgers suspended Mr. Ramirez for 50 games and he faces about $7 million dollars in penalties. After that, he can come back to his job and his salary, business as usual.

“Suzie Smith” is a hairstylist and works at a salon. One day, she comes to work intoxicated. After cutting a couple of clients, her manager notices that she is not acting like herself. Taking her into the back room, the manager discovers she has alcohol in her system and sends her home. Suzie is immediately terminated from her job for gross misconduct and not adhering to the “no tolerance” policy of the company. Suzie was making $30,000 per year and had health insurance benefits. Suzie loses it all, despite the fact that up until that day, she was the best performing stylist in the salon.

What’s the difference between these two employees? Suzie is held accountable for her actions. Suzie’s employer believes in strict adherence to policy and in addition, believes that by performing her duty under the influence, she was not giving the best to her clients and could potentially injure a client. In addition, the salon reserved the right to report Suzie’s actions to the Department of Cosmetology, thereby putting the status of her hairstyling license and ability to continue with her career into the State’s hands.

Manny is not held accountable for his actions. The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball do not worry about the safety of their other employees or their customers (the ticket holders – oh yes, they are customers). They simply give Manny a “slap on the wrist” and he’s back to making an obscene amount of money. Focus is then put on “the win” and not “the rules”. Customers keep coming back to the Dodgers – paying more and more each year for the product and patronizing the company regardless.

I have decided that the incident with Manny Ramirez is a perfect example of what is going on in The U.S. today. Accountability has fallen to the side of handouts, entitlement, rogue behavior, and the loss of morals and work ethic.

What Manny (and other baseball players) has done is NOT forgivable! You would think that the more a person is paid – the more they should be held accountable for their job performance – not the other way around. Yet, the $10 per hour employee is held more accountable for their actions than the $25 million dollar a year “superstar”.

Backwards thinking?