2/27/2009

ROC Chicago

So, Today I had an orientation for this organization, the Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) of Chicago. The reason I was there was that they are offering a job-training program for the restaurant industry, and seeing as I need a job and have no experience in the industry, I felt it was a good idea to do this... and hell, it's free.

They seem like a good enough organization, they began in New York after 9/11, when the federal gov't gave money to a bunch of people who had survived and lost their jobs. These people were mostly minorities, and they created the organization with their money to help those who had lost jobs due to the destruction of the twin towers.

They found, however, that they could not get the quality of job they had had previously due to the fact that they were minorities. So, the mission of the organization changed to one of creating an ethical business sense within the restaurant industry.

Therein lies a problem for me. While I do appreciate that this organization is teaching me how to work in a restaurant for free, I don't necessarily agree with their ethics within business. However, having attended the orientation this morning, I feel like I have become a member of an organization that has not become a bureaucratic hypocrisy like many of the organizations that supposedly try to help minorities.

However, I can see how something like that could happen... and it's not something I want to be a part of, but I feel there's still good to be done from this organization as well... it's a slight internal conflict that's beginning to annoy me.

Anywho, not really a rant today, just a moral quandry.

Au Revoir,
The Flying Cat Man

5 comments:

mschieren said...

Im confused, what's the problem here?

Harry said...

On the one hand, depending on a government agency is absurd, it's not what this country was founded on. On the other hand, your tax dollars are funding it, so you should get your money's worth. On another hand (and I can't figure out where all of these hands are coming from), do restaurants accept this training as valid?

KPOni said...

Well, it is completely free... which is a bonus, but they expect me to participate in things, which I don't like doing in the first place, and as for this third hand business, well yea, they should.

Anonymous said...

get off your lazy ass and participate. hell, i'll come with you. i told my dad about that program you're doing, he definitely thinks it's worthwhile and that i should go so i can get a job other than folding smelly clothes or filing medical charts. yay.

Anonymous said...

Actually, I am a member of this organization and it was not started with government money, it is not currently receiving money from the government, just grassroots fundraising. NOT ONE CENT OF YOUR TAX DOLLARS GO TO OUR GROUP!