Friday, July 16, 2010

Somethings make you go - hmmmm?

This blog was created as a creative outlet when I quit my job and moved to the outback of Australia. The secondary purpose was to keep friends and family in the USA updated and my adventures. According to the reports generated by this blogs hosting mechanism, 99% of all visitors accessing the blog are from the United States and due to the nature of the blog; most can be assumed to be friends and family members of the author.

In the past four days, there has been a drastic increase in the number of hits this blog receives and they all originate in Alice Springs. It’s a bit peculiar for a blog, usually viewed twice a day in the USA, to be viewed 36 times like it was yesterday; especially when all the views were in Australia.

This change in viewing pattern makes me wonder what the fascination is, for a group of Australian already living in the outback, to read the ramblings of a Yank expatriate living in their community. My life isn’t all that interesting, especially if you don’t already know and love me.

My only guess is that current employees of my former employer found the posting that explained in the form of a humorous analogy why I choose to return to a life of leisure. At no point, did I name the former employer and prior to posting; I went back thru the archives of the blog removing any mention to the name of the company for which I worked. The now deleted paragraph was a dryly satirical example of the conditions under which I was no longer willing to work.

I believe in keeping my professional and personal life separate and hadn’t intentionally shared my blog with any of my former workmates. Not out of secrecy, but simply because I didn’t think they’d be interested. I’m now curious about how a group of people who all complain about being overworked had time to be surfing the web and looking at my blog – but oh well. Through a serendipitous and circuitous route, I discovered that the 87 hits my blog received this week were most likely originated within the office of my former employer.

Although Australian’s aren’t guaranteed the same inalienable freedom of speech in a constitution that American’s are, there is legal precedence in this country has been set in a number of cases that sure citizens of Australia that they can freely express their opinions verbally as well as in writing.

Although I am safe from any legal liability I have chosen to remove the offending paragraph out of respect from my former colleagues. In no way, would I want them to be placed in an uncomfortable position between myself and their employer.

To read more about the freedom of speech in Australia - visit this link.

2 comments:

Walk with me said...

Thanks for all the wonderful and supportive emails. I must acknowledge that shallow and petty aren't common attributes of Australians in general, but they obviously exist here. They are a bothersome combination especially when combined with narcissism and paranoia.

Walk with me said...

If you'd like to see the paragraph that caused the tempest in a teacup, shoot me an email and I'll happily send you the satire that landed a little too close to home to the bullies I used to for with. Everyone but the guilty parties will find my little story quite amusing.

The punchline to this whole story is that despite their little temper tantrum, they didn't bother to remove my name from the several places it appears on the organization's website!!