No one ever wants to hear the phrase “we need to talk”, but what might be worse than that is hearing someone in the food chain above you at work wants to have a confidential conversation with you. That’s what happened to one of my employees a few weeks ago — the ethics committee sent her an email telling her they wanted to schedule a confidential meeting. Not any info on what it was about, or who it was in regards to, just “let’s meet”.

Then they waited two days to actually have the meeting.

Thankfully, it turned out that, while she cannot tell me what they discussed (because it’s confidential), she was able to tell me it didn’t involve anyone on our team.

Whew. Because not only was I worried for her, but I was also worried for me. I mean, I do a lot of things at work (or on my work computer) that I probably shouldn’t. I go into various Telegram and Discord channels that could be considered NSFW. I receive all my texts on my computer, and some of them are about sex or spanking. I spend hours each day doing literally nothing because I’m under-utilized (and if I went to my boss and asked for more work he’d ask me what I’ve been doing all this time, and then I’d be in big trouble). I have a mouse mover at my desk so that when I’m working from home it looks like I’m actually doing something.

My job has the right to look at anything that is done on their computer — they say as much every time I log on. They generally don’t, but they always could. It’s a big risk, having the conversations I have and doing (or not doing) what I do. And I’m sure I’m not the only person in the world in this position.

Technically the ethics committee could make a case that I (and people like me) are engaging in unethical behavior, or at the very least in behavior that does not meet our company’s code of conduct and values. I really should be more careful when it comes to my day job. After all, without that I wouldn’t have the freedom to do this.

(And don’t worry; I don’t write spanking fiction or blog posts on my work computer. I’m unethical, but I’m not reckless.)