AI: My Resume: Scientology’s best anti-vax homeopathic chiropractor
Last week over at Friendly Atheist, Hemant posted a letter from one of his readers. The reader, Atheist Amy, is unemployed and behind on her mortgage. She had an interview coming up with a fundamentalist Christian organization, and was worried, if she did land the job, how she could function in an evangelical environment.
In the past I’ve asked if you guys would take on an anti-skeptical job, and the consensus was yes, you would, if it meant keeping your homes and keeping your children fed. Today I’m wondering how far you would go to get that job and keep it.
Atheist Amy said that on her cover letter she threw in a few Praise Jesuses for good measure. She would more than likely have to pass herself off as a Christian to keep the job. With the economy where it is right now, I can hardly blame her. I’m ready to start making my own homeopathic herbal remedies for baby cancer (and test it on puppies) just to make a few bucks… and my saint of a husband has been nice to Oprah on more than one occasion.
I don’t know if I could assist in psychic surgery or talk someone out of getting chemo or convince parents not to vaccinate or evangelize for Scientology as a full time job. But the possibility of getting a paycheck makes it tempting.
How far would you go to get or keep a job? Would you or could you live a lie at work? Could you do a job that required you to be an active participant in anti-skepticism?
The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear daily at 3pm ET.
As much as I’d like to say that I’d take the moral high ground and say no way, never in a million years, I’m sure there’s an amount that would get me to say yes, depending on what it was I was saying yes to.
I did once turn down a part time job at a faith school as I was required to sign a contract that required me to “espouse the school’s Christian ethos”. The money wasn’t that much more than my unemployment benefit was at the time. Had it been a full time job, I probably would have signed.
Well, I don’t think I would lie to keep a job, but I realize that’s very easy for me to say because I’m employed, debt-free, and I have enough in savings to live for a year if I need. I also have no dependents, no major expenses, and I’m sure would my mom would allow me to move in with her as a very last resort.
However, I still think that I could not endanger someone else’s life to keep my job. I simply could never tell people to avoid medical treatments that would save their lives or the lives of their children.
It’s harder to say what I would do if I only had to pretend to be a certain religion. As it is, I don’t fit in politically with my coworkers and boss. My boss is pretty cool and would never fire me for being liberal, but I generally try to avoid the topic completely. It’s been hard this past week working with global warming-deniers during this blizzard which is unusual for my area.
I have actually been in a position where my boss was doing something unethical and expected me to go along with it. I work in a chemical laboratory, and he wanted to dispose of waste in the wrong way to save money, basically by throwing hazardous waste in the dumpster or down the drain. I never went along with his “suggestions”, but I never really feared for my job because you can’t really fire someone for following laws and ethical guidelines.
The situation was bad enough that I reported my boss to the ES&H department, but they did nothing because I couldn’t prove what he had done. I started searching for a new job, but eventually that boss got laid off and things have been a little better, but still not an ideal lab workspace.
I could take a job that required me to feign religion. I would have no problem with that, provided there wasn’t an equally good or better job also available to me in which I could be openly atheist. No system of belief or lack thereof is worth going broke for. If you’re going to pay me an amount I feel worthy of lying for, I’ll do it. I have a family now and that matters more than my personal opinion about something trivial.
I wouldn’t be able to take a job leading people astray medically. Ever. I couldn’t work in any way for a homeopath who was trying to pass off fake cancer and AIDs remedies or telling people to stop their medications regiments and replace them with crystal therapy.
Saying “sure, I believe in God” for a paycheck is one thing. Putting people in harm’s way is another.
When I was a massage therapist, I refused to work anywhere that required me to “practice” or promote energy work or other woowoo. Narrowed my options by a lot.
I’d only work somewhere faith-based–religious, psuedoscientific, or otherwise–if the job didn’t involve proselytization. I don’t mind staying quiet about my (lack of) beliefs, but I’m not going to lie.
@Chelsea:
So… I guess I won’t ask you to help me find a place to dump these puppies?
While providing for your family is a paramount duty for anyone, I think we need to draw the line at lying and, especially, living a lie.
I would rather go on welfare and food stamps, or take an unpleasant, mind-numbing job involving manual labor in disgusting places, before I would take a job doing something that went against my beliefs or morals.
What kind of role model would I be to my children and what lessons would they learn from my pretending to be someone/something I am not?
I read so much about how we skeptics trying to show the world that we are decent and moral people. People whose morality is grounded in humanistic ethics. To prove that we don’t need a god or a law-giver to validate our sense of right and wrong. Once you compromise your principles, you become a hypocrite, no matter what your reasons for doing so.
I don’t know about other people, but I can’t put a price on my integrity. I would be failing at one of my most basic of duties as a human being if I did so, because doing so would take invalidate my most important core value: honesty.
I work for myself, so this is a different sort of question for me.
I have long watched these televangelists, alt-med peddlers, and general uneccessary knick-knack salesmen with a small degree of envy. What they do is easy, doesn’t take a lot of start-up capital and easily rakes in more money than the same amount of effort in a legitimate business, but I’ve said many times that I have way too many scruples to really get rich that way and that’s true. I could never swindle innocent people out of their hard-earned money. I probably couldn’t keep a straight face saying “Of course this stuff works.” either. This would be true even if all my other avenues to a paycheck had dried up. I’d go back to a 9-5 job and be a janitor or office temp before I’d do that.
However, if I came across an opportunity to swindling one of the swindlers…. I’d have to say that my willpower to resist that sort of deal would be woefully inadequate. I wouldn’t break any laws, but all bets are off on anything else.
I might technically “lie” to get a job in the sense that I might tell an employer during an interview that I had a skill I didn’t really have, but I’d make damned sure I had that skill before my first day, and it wouldn’t be something they could check easily… “Yeah, I’ve flown 747’s before.. Nothing to it.”
I don’t know about a religious job. I’m an Atheist. I don’t think there would be any harm in saying I believed, and I have a mischievous streak in me so I might fake it a little to have some fun, but I’d never use it as a platform to try to convert anyone away from the faith and I’d keep looking for another job because I’m not that good at hiding that sort of thing. I’m sure someone would complain eventually, no matter what I did.
On the other hand, keeping in mind the idea of swindling the swindlers, if I happen to be solicited for employment by a group like the Westboro Baptists or Scientology for whatever reason…… well the temptation to cause major mischief would be just too much.
Right out of college I went to work in a max security prison here in Texas. It was brand new so inmates had to be shipped in from all over the state to fill it. Given the opportunity to get rid of trouble makers the wardens in charge of other prison dumped them on us.
From June 1995 until February 1998 I put up with having urine thrown on me (over 100 times), being bitten (twice), hit or kicked (dozens of times), cum thrown on me (once) and two attempts on my life. I participated in quelling 1 riot and apparently had a record number of death threats against me. I put up with all of that to feed my children and keep them in a home. I hated that job so much it would make me sick.
So yeah I would be a homepathic scientologist reflexologist if it was what I had to do to take care of them
But I would rather rob banks.
@Elyse: Puppy is tender and best grilled with garlic and onions. Plus the pelts make lovely slippers.
@Gabrielbrawley:
I’m not about to compromise my ethics by eating puppies! I’m a vegetarian!
@primowalker:
I sometimes wonder if “being true to yourself” is a nice luxury people have when they have enough to not have to compromise.
For me, being true to myself and teaching my son about morals includes working to feed your family… and that comes before my ideals.
Of course, for me the question is a bit irrelevant given that doing an intensive background investigation by typing “Elyse Anders” into Google pretty much tells any woo-based employer that I am not the woman for the job.
@Gabrielbrawley:
Goddamn, man. Good for you. Prison guard is on my list of job that I always assumed were a big pile of no fun. You are now officially the toughest skeptic I know.
If you count simply almost never saying openly “I’m an Atheist”, then I live a lie every day.
It’s a lot easier to avoid proselytizing and unpleasantness when you stay in the (religious) closet. My boss tells me all about her church, and I just smile and nod. I like my job, and I’d like to keep it.
I’ve “enhanced” (euphemism for falsified) photos for a living but I was never required to actually live a lie. And I’m outspoken enough that, honestly, I don’t think I’d actually be able to keep up appearances for more than a few hours before blurting something out.
I’ve four weeks vacation starting this coming weekend, and as a joke we’ve put together something to help my colleagues feel as if I’m there: It’s a sheet of paper with my photo on it and a sampling of things that I tend to say often. At the top is “That’s not strictly accurate…”
I suppose I could be a freelance con-artist of sorts where I wouldn’t have to keep up appearances to anyone. I think I’d go with numerology since it doesn’t require me to learn any jargon beyond the digits from 0-9 and I know those already. And it’s such a mindbogglingly idiotic thing to believe in that I could probably live with conning the people uncritical enough to believe in it simply from the “a fool and his money will soon part” perspective. And I could stick to telling people to add new and amusing consonants to their names and, if asked for medical advice, could just tell people that the checksum of their name and birthdate told me they should consult a doctor.
Yeah, I think I could do that. But I wouldn’t be proud of myself.
I like to think that I’d be willing to prostitute myself for rent and food… but I also think I’d get fired in short order because I’m a wise ass.
I once had a job that required regular church attendance. I was a direct care staff member for a woman with a developmental disability, and one of the things she needed was someone to go to church and sing in the choir with her. It was a pretty laid back Methodist church, so no one got particularly preachy or even asked me about my specific beliefs. And really, they were all around nice and accepting people, and I really enjoyed singing with them. I found the whole thing pretty easy to deal with, but if it had been a more fundamentalist church, I don’t think I could have handled it. I’m pretty sure I would not be able to do a job that put me in the position of claiming things that I don’t believe in. I know a fellow skeptic who works at a grocery co-op and has to sell homeopathic remedies and supplements to people, which would be where I draw the line. I don’t know if I’d be able to sell bogus products to people. But then, I just put in an application at Whole Foods, so we’ll see how it goes.
I’m a DJ at an FM pop station, so… basically I lie at work every day. I get paid to endorse products I’ve never used, promote local venues I’ve never been to and most painful of all, claim to love musicians that I cannot fucking stand.
Music is the thing in my life I’m most passionate about, yet I make a living out of playing terrible songs for people and claiming them to be “the best music of today”. I’m sure if I spent more time thinking about it, I’d be pretty unhappy with myself. But am I able to distance my professional life from my personal opinions? Am I able to lie at work? Hell yeah, and I think I’m pretty good at it.
Like most other people here though, I would definitely have to draw the line at promoting any kind of alternative medicine or anything that could cause real harm. I’ve refused to do ads for similar things in the past, and I always will.
@Elyse: “I sometimes wonder if “being true to yourself†is a nice luxury people have when they have enough to not have to compromise. ”
Absolutely… to a point. I’ve been to the bottom of the lowest tax bracket and I have to say that it very much sucks dead badgers through steel conduit.
I’ve never actually committed a crime to get by, but I can definitely see how normal rational human beings can decide to rob a store or mug someone when things get bad, rationalizing it all sorts of ways. I don’t think it’s right and those people deserve to have the full weight of the law come down on them, but I understand them much better now. I’ve gone from “I would never do that.” to “I’d like to think I would never do that.”
There WERE a crap-load of things I promised myself out of college about the kinds of jobs I would take and the kind of jobs I wouldn’t. When I look back now, I laugh myself silly at the very idea.
On the flip side, those people who were born into wealth and never had to decide between eating a meal and a pair of shoes think way too little of those that have to make choices like that on a daily basis.
I’ve been one paycheck away from being that guy with the “Will work for food” sign. I never had to compromise my deep principles, but I was never really between that particular rock and hard place. I count myself lucky. I am perfectly happy never having to know what I’d do if I ever was.
I would like to know if there’s anyone reading this blog who has actually held one of those signs, or something like it. I’d love to hear their take on this question.
I almost had an interview at WORD, a faith based radio station in my area. But my home and family was not at stake so I passed.
Ok I passed because the money was crap.
I’ve never been short on money in my life. I learned my lesson with the dissapointment of the Nintendo Game & Watch – Green House, and have been frugal to a fault ever since, so although I’d like to say I’d stick to my principles, I suspect actually being short on money would lead me to drop them in a heart beat.
I could probably live pretty well on Norwegian unemployment benefits, so I’ll probably never find out.
I feel fortunate to have never been put in this position nor can I foresee a circumstance where I would be forced into a tough choice like this. The only thing I can say is I am surprised regularly by what I am capable of. Usually in a good way; sometimes in a bad way, so I couldn’t honestly say “no, never”.
I think @catgirl has the right end of it. Get far ahead and stay that way so you can stand a better chance of avoiding ugly choices. This is my strategy and it has worked so far.
I guess I’m the worst of the worst. I’ve worked at a health food store for 15 years. :(
I started out as a true believer, but I haven’t believed for a very long time. The only excuse I have for still working there is that I need the money.
I try to tell our customers the truth though. If I think something is crap or dangerous, then I tell them. I definitely tell them they should see their doctor.
And fwiw, not all vitamins and herbs are crap – most are, but not all. ;-)
Someday I shall escape from there, but that day is not today.
IF she takes the job, she is a lier and a hypocrite. This is not a tiny white lie, this is a big bloated, adding a job i never worked to my resume to get hired lie. Not only would she be betraying people’s trust, she would also be playing into the “atheists have no morals” role. If she has no issue being a blatant lier, then go for it, but be aware that you are both living a lie, as well as helping foster a world view that you disagree with.
How far would I go . . . 10 miles, no 11. Oh, you didn’t mean distance. Being unemployed right now, I would probably do just about anything. I like to think, however, that I wouldn’t do anything that would compromise my own beliefs or morals, but as I have never been in that situation yet it is hard to say what I would actually do.
Would I lie? It depends on the lie. If it was part of the job, like being in the CIA then yes, otherwise probably not. This does remind me of a question I had to answer when I went for my Eagle Scout. My dad had introduced a question which was basically “Would you back date a document to keep your job so that you child could continue going to school? Would do that if it meant that 20 people at another company would loose their jobs?” I really hated that question.
Anti-skeptic job? Probably not. I actually want to teach at some point in my life, and hopefully get critical thinking into my class somehow. I guess I could start a homeopathy business and give out free sham-pills. Hm . . . that sounded better in my head.
I’m not sure if I could lie but I definitely know I can fly under the radar. In middle school I often felt like I had to hide that I was skeptically and scientifically minded because of how conservative and religious my classmates and teachers were. I never openly lied about how I felt but I kept my mouth shut and tried not to rock the boat. It seemed like if you didn’t bring it up everyone would assume you shared their views and I wasn’t going to correct them. It felt more like self preservation that anything.
I think there are a couple of ethical issues here. One is lying to get a job, and the other is the ethical value of the job role itself.
For me personal ethics are very important, and both lying to get a job, and then the ongoing lying in the job would pretty much be a deal breaker to begin with. On the other hand I guess I can imagine that if it was coming down closer to a ‘live or die’ situation then that may affect my choice.
However what I felt was the outcome of the job role itself may then push me away again. In this particular case as an ex-christian and now an atheist I feel very strongly about supporting any church or church cause. I wouldn’t want to take away someone’s right to belong to a church, and someone’s “belief” doesn’t hurt anyone per se, but there is a difference between an adult making a choice and a child being affected by that choice. My personal view is not to support churches in any way, as I believe the influence that members of the church have on children encourages non-critical thinking and can easily lead those children to then become adults that are taken in by scams that will hurt them in a very real way.
So there isn’t one right answer to any particular job choice, the person going for the job has to weigh up for themselves the ethics involved in (a) getting the job, (b) working in the job, and (c) what the outcomes are for other people as a result of you doing that job.
I could/would do any number of things to take care of my family. Being responsible to my personal ethics takes a back seat to other more fundamental responsibilities.
I would and have put my personal convictions and artistic standards aside to keep a job. Working in the entertainment industry is about as close as you can get to prostitution with your cloths on. But I do have my limits. I was once assigned to a Sunday morning bible thumper show called “I Believe in Miracles”. After 2 months I couldn’t take it any more and had to get myself fired by letting the producer hear me call it “The Catherine Coleman Comedy Hour. I don’t think I could handle swindling people out of their life savings for worthless pseudo medical treatment but sometimes you gota do what you gota do. After all a starving person doesn’t have a lot of options.
I chose to move back home a few years back, when the choice was either that, or take a job at a rather fundie place. During my interview there, I didn’t see one desk or office that wasn’t filled with dollar store religious crap.
I’ve said that I’d never take a job where I needed to shower at the end of the day – literally or figuratively.
Now, I can’t leave home again since I’m busy taking care of an elderly family member along with work, but I’m still happy with my decision.
I couldn’t do it simply because I can’t maintain that kind of facade for very long. I’m a lousy poker player and I know it. It would quickly be obvious to all concerned that I thought they were full of shit. “Quickly” as in “a matter of days, if not hours.” Perhaps it’s what Shakespeare was referring to when he wrote “Does not suffer fools gladly.”
It’s gotten me in trouble a few times over the years with supervisors and managers that were in way over their heads and tried to bullshit me into either believing them or joining them in the bullshit pond. I don’t have to say a word – I guess my expression gives it all away.
@GabrielBrawley: Well if you have to rob, why not rob the homepathic scientologist reflexologists?
I could probably work for a Christian welfare organisation that helped people get their lives back together, but I could not work for a religious organization that promoted intolerance in any way, shape or form.
Alternatively I couldn’t work for an company that defrauded people, lied to them about the effectiveness of medical treatment or in any way gave people false hope. I just couldn’t live with myself.
Then again in order to eat and keep myself fed maybe I would have to simply out of necessity but I would definitely spend the whole time looking for another job.
I have no time for anyone actively promoting “knowledge” who knows it’s nonsense. I do not believe that anyone in the free world is ever in the position where they must choose between the death of their family and becoming a homeopath/psychic/preacher. IMO people who do them without believing in them are scum.
It’s not at all the same thing to keep your head down at work or to work on an artistic project of dubious quality as it is to attempt to deliberately mislead. I’d much rather sign on.
@ThickMcRunfast: I’ve said that I’d never take a job where I needed to shower at the end of the day – literally or figuratively.
Tell me you would turn down a job wrestling Skepchicks in Jello.
What makes you think I’d want to wash the Jell-O off?
Well said.
@Zoltan: Thank you but you do what you have to to take care of the kids.
@QuestionAuthority: See, this is why we have these discussions. I wouldn’t have thought of that. And they would be easy to rob. I wouldn’t even need a gun.
@primowalker:
It might mean the difference between a rolemodel with no time to be with his kids or one that has the time to explain how his kids are more valuable than ideals. Kids learn better from parents that are present enough to teach
Quite simply, I have and I haven’t.
I was working as a prop builder when our company got the job working on Left Behind.
I turned down a lucrative gig doing foreign market commercials for Phillip Morris.
I’ve made several straight to DVD Veggietales films and one feature for them.
The Phillip Morris gig was a no brained, I could afford to lose the gig and so could the contact who I hoped to influence. And tobacco products cause direct harm.
For the Left behind gig I could have stood my ground but it would have meant nothing but trouble for my boss and would have been no impact on the production. And realistically my boss would have had to replace me to get the job done. I couldn’t afford that at that point.
As for Veggietales I was happy to work for them and would in the future. They were good people that were interested in making shows for kids that taught them to be good people. Yes it’s based on Christianity but that’s who they are. They had no issues with their product being made by a cadre of Jews, Muslims, Atheiests, Communists and Anarchists. They treated us all with respect, dignity and thanks when we pointed out how some of the imagery might be interpreted in a manner they hadn’t considered.
They never showed any sign of thinking of us as anything less than equals and to this day are my favorite client. If I were to turn them down because they are Christian I could not help but feel like a bigot.
As I’m heading towards retirement I have already purchased some packs of tarot cards and am brushing up my cold reading ready to enhace my pitiful pension. Needs must etc.
I still feel guilty about that job interview I had for an arms company back when I was unemployed. I didn’t get the job, but I would probably have taken it if offered.
I just watched a BBC documentary on a guy who leaked top-secret vietnam documents to the papers – daniel something i think his name was; his defence team were told not to pick middle-aged men for the jury because they probably had compromised their personal principles at some point to get ahead in their careers, and would be contemptuous towards him for refusing to do the same.
And I thought of this thread.
There is, I think, no better celebration of what it means to be human than the ability to piss ethics up the wall.
I’m going to sleep and I’m so tired I might not bother to wake up.
I like to think that if it came to those circumstances, I’d rather work 80 hour weeks at McDonald’s than pretend to be something I’m not. I hope it never comes to that, but when you’ve got to make end’s meat, you do what you’ve got to.
@Sean:
Except no McDonalds is going to give you 80 hours… you’d be lucky if they gave you 35 off the bat. You’re realistically looking at 20 hours a week.
So saying you’d rather work there might be just as realistic as saying you’d rather be the CEO of Google.
Also what happens when you go to work at whatever minimum wage job you can find is that you end up with a job that doesn’t help make ends meet (and probably cuts into any government benefits you may be receiving) while taking time out of your “real job” search.
At least by doing what Atheist Amy is doing, you’re still using your marketable skills and networking at the same time. You’re far more likely to land another job while working in your field than by working at McDonald’s or not working at all.
I count myself very fortunate as I am in a similar situation to @Catgirl. As DINKs we’re almost debt free and I have a good job (OMG big pharma shill!!!111!one!).
Lie? I sure as hell would if it was for my family and I didn’t have another efficient option. I’m just really not very good at lying…that’s the only problem. Sooner, rather than later, they’d figure out I don’t really go to church. I think I’d be better off spending my time learning a new skill for a different job than reading a bible to convince my new coworkers that I’m Christian.
I would never knowingly significantly compromise someone’s health via bogus drugs or influencing them off of a working treatment. Or at least, I would like I think I would never… but there’s a lot of things I can say I’d never do when I’ve never been in the situation.
After the contract for my first job out of grad school (museum studies) ended, I applied a number of places including the Bush Sr. presidential library, which was about to open at the time. His politics are not my cup of tea, but I had student loans and not many job prospects.
As part of the federal application hoops to jump through, I had to write an essay about how Bush Sr had affected my life. I carefully crafted it to avoid all mentions of my personal beliefs and wrote a bland essay on “How G. Bush Affected The World I Live In.”
I made it to the shortlist, but before they scheduled an interview I was offered another job that paid the exact same, so I took that one and withdrew my application. Had I gotten the job, I’d have performed it with the same attitude as the essay, and started looking for a new job after the minimum accepted time for job-hopping in the industry (3 years).
My current job is as a librarian at a university with “Christian” in the name. Although there’s a seminary on campus, the connection to Christianity is more historical than actual. It bothers me a bit at professional conferences that people assume I’m Christian because I work here. I don’t get that in my daily life, however, as most people in the city refer to the school by its initials and don’t really associate the school with the church.
@Elyse: I’ll just go stand in the corner now.
@Sean:
Don’t be silly. No one is hiring there.
@Elyse:
That’s where you’re wrong !
Corner standing assistant needed for the next two months at least. Somewhat flexible schedule, but at least 3 days a week will be needed. Possible long term employment.
Candidates must be totally proficient in advanced standing techniques, including one-foot, goofy foot and regular foot.
Candidates must have experience with advanced materials such as silicone casting, urethane casting, life casting, fiberglass layup, etc.
Only serious standers need apply. Knowledge of and interest in not-funny comment thread posting is a plus.
@Skept-artist:
COTW
I think I applied for that job last week on Craigslist
@Elyse: You’re hired!
I worked as a before-and-after school program coordinator in a Catholic school for a year. I was told when I was hired that I didn’t need to be Catholic, but I had to be respectful. I was totally fine with that, and really enjoyed working there. It was a great school with a focus on community and learning, and the kids were well-adjusted and normal. I would just direct any (rare) theological or sex-based questions they had to their parents (had they been in high school I would have openly talked sex with them, but little guys can have mum & dad explain it for now).
I am currently confused about an issue. I need a full time job so I can go to Toronto to go to art school. I found an application for a health food store, and I am considering it. Thing is, they have all these reading they want you to do, and while I frequent health food stores for vitamins or specialty (nut-free) foods, I don’t buy the woo. I don’t think I can sell woo. I don’t know what to do about it. I need a job, but I just can’t lie to someone’s face. Not sure how I feel about this.
On the other side of this, I have been known to do Tarot readings. When I do them, I tell people “This isn’t reading the future, this is pattern recognition”. I see it as a method of learning, as you’ll remember and recognize aspects of the symbolism that have meaning to -you-. I tell people this too. I think some of us (myself included) learn very well metaphorically. We learn through stories, symbols help us put an image on a vast, encompassing idea. I also do Tarot for fun, and I make sure people I am speaking with have fun with it too. Still, I haven’t done it in a while because I’m not sure where I stand with it. I asked for donations, I’ve done lots for free or traded a reading for something fun.
What do you guys think about this?
Well I’d like to admit that I work for a chiropractor… ::ducks::
But here’s the details. I started working there as a favor to a family member (the chiropractor was in need of a secretary and is also my bf’s step father). When I took the job I seriously had no idea what chiropractic even was. For the most part I answered phones and scheduled people, typical medical office secretary stuff.
Over the years, we’ve gone to chiropractic conferences, I’ve done projects to promote chiropractic and I am a “face” for the practice.
So this is where it gets, well icky, for lack of a better word. I say icky because, honestly, the DC I work for is not too bad. Really. I can say to him “look at this nutcase, ionic foot baths?” And we share a laugh at how ridiculous that is. He knows that aligning vertebrae in your spine will not cure anything except maybe a pinched nerve and some back pain. Most importantly, he doesn’t advertise it to get people through the door either. Also, I got him to change our website design company because they refused to not link to some crappy homeopathic websites that we did NOT want to associated with.
Having said that though, I feel strange going to work and having to be excited about it. A lot of patients come in looking for the quackery and I do my best to stay somewhere in the middle of “you’re freaking nuts” and “maybe we can help with that”. It’s not great. I know how dangerous chiropractic can be and all the dangerous woo that usually follows it.
Despite this, I get a nice boss, a salary to look forward to and the security of being the office manager and knowing he needs me.
When it all boils down, I don’t want to work there. But I have a partner who was just laid off, a 4 year old and another on the way. I would love to find another job, but right now I have to do what I have to do.
Fortunately, in my profession, you are not allowed to be hired/fired due to a specific religion.
Although I’m atheist I do still go to church (not so much upon my own free will). It’s one hour a week I can give up to keep my parents happy. It’s worth it.