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Ethical struggle:
14 years ago
I work for a company that has contractually bound me not to pursue work as a computer technician for any person or organization other than my employer.
I need to pay my bills.
I can make fifty to a hundred dollars in an hour's consultation, get a client's PC up and running, and undercut my employer's prices. That means: if I work forty hours a month as a freelance computer tech, I have rent for the apartment I share with my wife (she also works, so we'd be combining incomes). Given that we actually share the wealth between us, that would mean we could pay off all of our bills and start paying down student loans in a more aggressive manner.
I'm unhappy about this. I don't want to give up my job, because otherwise health insurance goes from $280/mo to over $1100/mo, and besides, I like my job. (I don't like the general manager but the other managers are bro-tier.)
Let's say I work sixty hours a month for my employer, and twenty for myself. That's a few hundred, after taxes and other withholdings, from my employer, and a thousand dollars from freelance work (before taxes - although it's technically under-the-table work, I feel I should declare it if it gets that far).
But to do that, I would be breaking contract, putting a weight on my conscience and risking being fired if my employer finds out.
I feel like I need to take the expedient route, so we can eat and buy gasoline and have a roof over our heads and all those other luxuries.
It's not fair. I should not have to break the rules and risk my livelihood... to make a livelihood. You know what? Fuck poverty with a rake, it sucks.
I need to pay my bills.
I can make fifty to a hundred dollars in an hour's consultation, get a client's PC up and running, and undercut my employer's prices. That means: if I work forty hours a month as a freelance computer tech, I have rent for the apartment I share with my wife (she also works, so we'd be combining incomes). Given that we actually share the wealth between us, that would mean we could pay off all of our bills and start paying down student loans in a more aggressive manner.
I'm unhappy about this. I don't want to give up my job, because otherwise health insurance goes from $280/mo to over $1100/mo, and besides, I like my job. (I don't like the general manager but the other managers are bro-tier.)
Let's say I work sixty hours a month for my employer, and twenty for myself. That's a few hundred, after taxes and other withholdings, from my employer, and a thousand dollars from freelance work (before taxes - although it's technically under-the-table work, I feel I should declare it if it gets that far).
But to do that, I would be breaking contract, putting a weight on my conscience and risking being fired if my employer finds out.
I feel like I need to take the expedient route, so we can eat and buy gasoline and have a roof over our heads and all those other luxuries.
It's not fair. I should not have to break the rules and risk my livelihood... to make a livelihood. You know what? Fuck poverty with a rake, it sucks.
It sounds like you're in a really tough spot. Well, I suppose you could start putting in applications at similar places, which DON'T have that clause in their contracts, and then put in your two weeks notice if one bites. That would be within the bounds of this contract.
Although I'm not entirely sure how such a move would impact insurance and whatnot.
Yeah, poverty really sucks. But don't forget to be grateful for what you have earned so far, too. Believe me, poverty has much worse levels.
Re: contract, it's a non-compete contract; besides which, it would create a conflict of interest for me to do computer-tech work both on my own and for a company at the same time. In the long run, as long as people's computers get fixed I don't worry too much...