Some readers of The BFD may recall the Mr Berry Mr Berry Show, a Youtube show I hosted for eighteen months. In mid-February, I decided to finish the show in order to focus on my employment as a Retail Coordinator at Officeworks in Melbourne (henceforth to be known as Officewokes), a stationery, technology and furniture chain store much like Warehouse Stationery in New Zealand. As of mid-April, I am unemployed.
The Mr Berry Mr Berry Show could be described as satire, jokes, a parody of myself as someone painted by the left as a right-wing extremist and the humour is dark. So very, very dark.
Mr Berry Mr Berry was produced in a news reading format and focused on politics. I also wrote and performed several stand up comedy routines between retiring from politics in June 2020 and arriving in Australia in April 2021 but these are a politics-free zone.
I’ve spent years watching and idolising performers such as Frankie Boyle, Louis C.K. and Jimmy Carr while changing channels at the hint of a Trump joke. I don’t do this because I’m a Trump fan, but rather because it just reeks of laziness and desperation. The formula for my form of standup isn’t particularly complicated; over-analyse otherwise normal daily activities, warp their purpose and conclusion into something disturbing, then finish with an even more appalling follow-up comment.
On April 13 2022, I had the wind knocked out of me after being called into the office and handed an invitation to attend a formal meeting to discuss “concerns regarding your conduct. Specifically, we have been made aware of your personal views publicly posted and accessible to our community which appear to be significantly misaligned to Officeworks core values.
The specific allegation to be discussed:
“On Thursday 24 February 24, 2022, you posted a video to YouTube where made sexual oriented and derogatory comments about women that are significantly misaligned to our core values.”
The video was actually published on 17 February 2022 and was to be my last. By all means, watch it if you wish but keep in mind it will offend many. It probably crosses the line of good taste, though one never knows where that is until they cross it. Some of the comments made probably aren’t that funny on reflection but after 18 months of producing this show, I was never going to hit the mark every single time. If you cringe, squeeze your forehead with your fingers and mumble “Jesus Christ, Stephen” to yourself that is completely justifiable.
I don’t contend that what was said in the episode is completely acceptable or that people have no right to be offended. Indeed, my goal for each script written was specifically to comb the depths of the swamp for horrible nouns and adjectives then use them. However, in my mind, what I do with my own time and publish to my YouTube channel is none of Officewokes’ business, especially when I have taken every possible step to keep the show separate from my employment.
Compare Bob Saget’s portrayal as family man Danny Tanner on Full House with his standup material. What I do contend is that there was no justifiable cause for an investigation or my dismissal.
The reference to my “personal views publicly posted” is obviously absolute lunacy. Of course, I don’t genuinely believe women are “useless because they’re stupid and annoying.” Unlike the SJW idiots who took on student loans to fill their heads with bullshit in the HR departments at large retail chains, I am an individualist and don’t make judgements against others based on whichever identity group is convenient for them at the time. Perhaps I should have, given Thursday’s inquisition was held by two women, one of whom has pronoun and ally badges around her rainbow coloured lanyard.
Upon commencing my employment with Officewokes in January of this year, I was sent copies of the company’s Code of Conduct, Social Media Policy and Respectful Workplace policy. There are some jobs where it is absolutely appropriate for rules stipulating how you spend your private time. There are jobs where that shouldn’t be relevant but the rules are inserted into their employment agreements anyway. As a libertarian, I accept the legitimacy of such contracts because there is no obligation upon me to accept the conditions.
Prior to signing, I read each policy in great detail with the genuine intention of complying with them.
The Code of Conduct makes reference only to activities on company time, in relation to company employees, customers, property and suppliers.
Officewokes Social Media Policy “relates to social media engagement about Officeworks, its products and services, its team members, customers and its competitors.
It is important to note that this policy does not apply to personal use of social media platforms where the individual brands their posts as their own, makes no reference to Officeworks and is not engaging with other team members, customers or other Officeworks Stakeholders at the time…”
Definitely in the clear on this one. Nobody but my immediate family and closest friends knew I worked for Officewokes. I never mentioned Officewokes on the Mr Berry Mr Berry Show or vice versa on Officewokes social media platforms. I didn’t even have access to my own personal social media accounts while at work.
Officewokes Respectful Workplace Policy “application relates to … Conduct within the workplace at all work functions, and in any situation that is connected with employment with, or engagement at or by Officewokes.”
I don’t appear to be in breach of this policy either, so why did Officewokes deem it appropriate to terminate my employment?
According to Officewokes, it is because I have breached the Officewokes values which were not even publicised to Officewokes staff at the time the video was published! They were released in March 2022 as part of the six-monthly company-wide update.
We Are Good Humans
- We care for ourselves, each other, our communities, customers and our planet.
- We own and grow from our mistakes and find new ways forward.
- We recognise the journey and celebrate the wins together.
It appears that I may have expressed a lack of care about “our communities.” Unlike every other policy, I didn’t breach it appears that this policy is all-encompassing, at all times, whether awake and asleep even though none of those concepts is explicitly mentioned.
The other reason Officewokes has deemed it necessary to terminate my employment is because of complaints by others at the content of the final Mr Berry Mr Berry episode. Officewokes refuses to confirm the names and roles of the complainants, nor whether all of them worked for Officewokes but they believe that because my show was viewed by members of Officewokes staff, a breach of the Officewokes values has occurred.
To clarify, it doesn’t matter that I took all steps necessary and practical to keep my personal life separate from my work. It doesn’t matter that I never once mentioned the show to anyone who works for Officewokes, nor that I never breached any of their policies at any time. Someone who works for Officewokes found the video, shared that video with others and they all chose to lay a complaint.
I’m guilty of mixing my personal life with my professional life because colleagues mixed their professional lives with my personal life.
What’s more, according to the woman who ran this formal meeting, I am guilty of sexual harassment for producing this video because the intent is not what matters but how the complainant interprets it. Evidently, there is no opportunity for the accused to correct any behaviour that they had no intent of being sexual harassment because they don’t know what they have done and “Officewokes has zero tolerance for sexual harassment.”
Due to the laws in Australia allowing large companies to offer probationary employment for six months before the contract becomes permanent (which I don’t necessarily oppose), I have no legal recourse against this decision. However, I will use my free speech to counter this disgraceful attempt at cancelling me.
Wesfarmers Ltd, owner of KMart, Bunnings, Officeworks and Target has been infiltrated, at all levels, by the woke cancer of social justice poison. This company isn’t just virtue signalling, they genuinely believe in diversity, equity, gender pronouns and every other piece of trendy cultural Marxist evil that cost 100 billion lives in the 20th century.
I openly and loudly call upon you to reject this ideologically woke corporate mess and boycott all brands that make up the Wesfarmers group.