I have a dear TBM friend who has been laid off by her LDS boss after many years, with no stated reason why other than "it was a business decision." Recently, she was interviewed by the wife of another LDS business owner, who happen to be my neighbors.

"Do you think your previous boss will give you a good recommendation?" the wife said.
"I would hope so," my friend replied. At least, that is what he promised, though she had yet to receive the letter of recommendation he promised.

"Well, you do know that his wife and I are friends, don't you?" asked my neighbors wife.

A few years ago, I would have called this man's wife a friend rather than just a neighbor's wife--but ever since I stopped going to church, she hasn't so much as looked me in the eye when we've passed each other at our childrens' school.

Then out of the blue, during the interview, she asked my friend, "So, what have you done to help get Morgan back into the church?"

"I've just been a friend to her" my friend said, which is 100% true. She has been accepting of whatever I believe or do, because she loves who I am inside. Just a true friend.

The wife said, "Well, I wish she would come back to church because my kids don't have other kids in the ward the same age that we can carpool with."

Well clearly she's concerned about cutting down on fuel costs. Maybe you could make her a medal of some sort out of an old gas cap to award her for her selflessness.

Yeesh...that sounds like a lowblow question. That isn't appropriate or professional to say in an interview...but I'm sure it's a good feeling to know that she's truly your friend :)

I assume this is Utah, it just goes to show what type of bubble these people live in. then someone like you gets out of the bubble mentally. It is like watching a goldfish swim in it's bowl. It is all these people know. Count yourself lucky that you are not a goldfish swimming in a bowl any more.

I'm going to use the goldfish in a bowl story. Thanks!

maybe you should knit a snuggly for her ferret.

What's hilarious to me about that comment is that it's so self-serving. She doesn't care about Morgan, she's not interested in Morgan's spiritual journey or where she is on that road at all. She only wants Morgan to come back to church so she can pawn off carting her kids around on someone else. That's just funny to me.

Sounds like any of my TBM relatives...

It's the symptoms of belonging to a cult...

Great story...

Nothing new here, eh?

Thanks for the post...

Breedum

If this is a church-owned business, then this interview is ok, per the law.

If this is a PRIVATE business, then those questions are illegal.

She alluded to the job offer being conditional...on the CONDITION that the unemployed person get YOU...back to church...just so YOU can sometimes drive her kids to church...

U-N-A-C-C-E-P-T-A-B-L-E...in the real world.

At Adobe, I have been very open about my exmo status if anyone has asked. A decent number of co-workers have asked, so many people know. But, my 3 bosses used "the mission" to see if I was mormon, and they all assume now that I am.

I helped them interview candidates recently, & while they weren't overt, our post-interview discussions had some inappropriate comments (i.e. I just trust RMs to have matured more, etc...)

1 boss didn't seem biased (the one I suspect of being NOM or covertly exmo).

Of the 10 we interviewed, 2 were obviously mormon & were among the 3 we hired.
But, they were also my top 3 choices based on ability, so it wasn't necessarily biased.

But, having mentioned their religious choices at all crossed ethical lines.

I cannot imagine overtly asking about religion in an interview. That is so wildly inappropriate that I am shocked to hear your story. TBMs' lack of boundaries astound me.

Ugh.

justrob's story about how his bosses make inappropriate comments ("I just trust RMs...") really hits home.

Years ago, I was laid off from my job. I had a hard time finding a new job and a lot of it was because I hadn't served a mission (I was 20 at the time so I SHOULD have been on my mission).

I actually had one person look at my resume, then ask "So did you serve a mission?" When I stuttered out a no, the interview basically ended there.

Amazing how blatantly biased some folks are (& that they don't even hide it).

I was once interviewed by a development team in SLC who asked if I was mormon, married, how old I was, owned/rented, etc...

At least they weren't just religiously biased, but were equal-opportunity folks when it came to crossing ethical boundaries :P
(I'm pretty sure they crossed some legal boundaries too)

I was TBM at the time, so it didn't hurt my chances any.

morgana Wrote:
----------------------------------------------------
> The wife said, "Well, I wish she would come back
> to church because my kids don't have other kids in
> the ward the same age that we can carpool with."


So, this woman will only carpool with other active Mormons??? Please. More evidence that LDS church members deserve their reputation for being close-minded, self righteous snobs.

I took it to mean carpooling to church activities.

You're probably right. I live in Utah and carpool with my LDS neighbors everywhere but church activities, so my brain automatically went there. I guess I was too harsh.