Wednesday, July 9, 2014

It Happened To Me: "I Didn't Know I Was Working For A Christian Marketing Agency"

Alright, that was an easy one. I’ll give ya another,” said Rob, and he quoted another verse from the Bible. Not being a religious person in any way, but also not wanting to cause any trouble, I buried myself in my article about cottages in Northumberland and ignored the conversation. I figured maybe it just happened once in a while. When I told my husband about it over dinner that night, all he could say was, “Welcome to Lake Mary.”
 
"In all the jobs I’d worked, I’d never heard anyone so much as ask anyone about their religion or faith, much less have a group discussion about it in the office. But this was my first time working in Lake Mary, home of Christian entertainment channel, Good Life 45, among other things. I wondered if this was a more common occurrence the closer you got to the Bible Belt. I hoped it was just a first day fluke and left it at that." (read more)
 

24 comments:

Unknown said...

Good thing she escaped to the porn industry. Also convenient that the so-called Christian marketing firm no longer exists.

KCFleming said...

So why did she cover up the logo on her shirt if the business is gone?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Maybe it is bullshit, but I know someone who worked in communications at Mars, Inc. who told a similar story. Personally, I believed her.

But here's the thing: She wasn't claiming that she was being oppressed or anything. It was more along the lines of, "Hey, you're never gonna believe the weirdos I have to work with."

Seen in that light, her story was nothing more than the same sort of mild blowing-off-steam sort of thing people do all the time, all over the world, when they want to stop feeling like they don't belong.

A whole lot of that goes on in these comment threads, so far as I can tell.

Shouting Thomas said...

Odd that they talk about Christianity at a "Christian" network.

What do they think they are doing?

Michael Haz said...

I agree with Pogo. The article is bullshit. Sorry, but that kind of discrimination doesn't exist in the modern workplace.

The article feeds into the kind of stereotypes that died a long time ago.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I call BS too.

But, I know how she might have felt in being the odd person out when everyone at work is discussing something about which you know nothing and have no interest. It happened to me often at various conferences in my stock brokerage career where I was often one of two or three women and the rest of the conference was men.

Big deal.

KCFleming said...

Her Facebook timeline lists nothing about DEC 2012 or in the weeks after that regarding this job or a move to miami.

On her LinkedIn:
"Priscilla Blossom's Experience
Current
Freelance Writer at Freelance Writer
Contributing Travel Writer at GlobalGrasshopper
Past
Editor at Quad International, Incorporated
Client Services Representative at MiamiShared
Expert Solo Traveler at Self-Employed
Gallery Assistant and Personal Assistant at ABRO Gallery
Development Associate at HistoryMiami
Freelance Writer at Loopt
Office Intern / Teaching Intern at Breakthrough Miami
Freelance Writer at The Miami New Times
News Staff and Radio DJ at WVUM 90.5 FM, Inc.
Freelance Writer and Secretary at Miami's Community Newspapers
"

Where' the job she wrote about?
Nothing covers her 12/2012 timeframe.
Bullshit.

Michael Haz said...

It seems like hanging on to a job is not a skill she has acquired.

Paddy O said...

People at my place of work talk about Christianity all the time. It's craziness.

edutcher said...

And yet, she'd think nothing of being asked her "sexual orientation" or her opinions of same sex marriage.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

People playing biblical trivia at work?

Sounds fishi to me too.

YoungHegelian said...

I'm sure that the author found the proper level of office decorum working for those porn sites she claimed she worked for.

I'm sure no one at those offices made off-color comments about Jews. Rather, there was probably some old Jewish guy who'd say things like "Oy gevalt! Look at the size of the putz on that schwartze!" & she wouldn't have a clue as to what had just transpired.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

"I don't know what upsets me more, Don, the fact that there's no picture of your family on your desk, or that I don't see a Bible anywhere."

-- Conrad Hilton (some Mad Men episode) (from memory)

Michael Haz said...

Paddy, lol.

KCFleming said...

Her name is Pris Blossom.

Fo shizzle.

Chip S. said...

Stupid writer didn't tell us the most important thing about this company: did it offer her a free IUD?

Trooper York said...

This is definitely bullshit.

I bet they hung a noose on the door of the Ladies room.

ampersand said...

Then they made some jokes about Islamist extremists.

Poor Islamist extremists, where's the love?

Michael Haz said...

Here's the thing about chipper little Pris: She's hateful. In fact, she's the kind of person she probably hates.

Re-read her essay and replace all references to Christians with "blacks", or "Jews", or "Gays".

Ugly, innit?

Chip Ahoy said...

I always feel sorry for people who move into a community and are too lazy or too stupid or both to faintly research the company they intend to spend all uckingfay day at working away.

type type tippy type, type type type...
*bring, bring*
"Hello, this is Bleeding Heart of the Tormented and Crucified Christ School for Little Girls, Mary Elizabeth Kay Donahue Gonzales Rodrigues Salazar speaking. Is this the party of whom it is of which I am speaking? How may I hay-yelp you?"

"What? Are you telling me this place is Christian? Oh, Lawd. Eye. did. not. know. that."

KCFleming said...

@Chip: Hilarious.

Do any journalists know about Google?

Lydia said...

I actually just spent some time reading the comments on that article. In this exchange between a commenter and the author she owns up to it being an anti-Christian piece, but then "not really", and in the process shows she's just another run-of-the-mill, opportunistic idiot:

lala:
Was the whole point of this article to say "look how racist and terrible christians are!"? I am agnostic as well so I am not just saying this to defend christians.

Pris Blossom:
Yes. .....except, not really. My bias probably came out, and honestly, it would've probably been less of an interesting read if I just wrote "So I went to work at this place. I found out they were Christian. Then later, I quit. The end!" I don't actually equate all Christians with racism (or sexism or other isms).

And then there's this about her work in porn:

Ashli Anderson:
If there's a follow-up article talking about your experiences editing porn, I'd love to read it. Sounds like you've had quite the career experiences.

Pris Blossom:
Haha i'll pitch that one to the editors and see if they're interested. It was a lot of niche porn (teen, big bust, 40+, granny porn, big girl porn, booty-centric porn, etc).

Teen porn???

KCFleming said...

She made the whole thing up.

In college chemistry class it was called "dry-labbing."

Chip S. said...

"Big bust" porn is a niche market???