We’ve got a solid office in Statl
Thousands of installations, 13 m-shops in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We dove into e-commerce start-up feet first this August. Because of our growth, we had to look for a new office. One of the most attractive premises was in the very centre of Brno – near to a Bar, which doesn’t exist. Magnificent. The tour was short: interesting interior, reasonable rent, likable owner who happens to be a member of some religious group. All plusses. It was clear. We take it!
It is against good manners!
A day before concluding the contract we received an e-mail. It said that according to paragraph 7 the tenant undertook to observe the ethical principles during the entrepreneurship in order to not damage the landlord’s reputation:
„We cannot lease our premises to gambling houses, brothels and lines of business that are against good manners.“
All right. We can’t but agree. Let’s go on.
„We cannot be in partnership with producers or propagators of music such as black metal, heavy metal, death metal, rock etc.“
Something is wrong here. Why is he writing this? Let’s keep reading.
„Leaving aside the religious content (celebration of Satan) which is primary for us, this type of music has a harmful effect on psychical health of especially young people, formation of addictions etc. I recommend you to Google “metal harmfulness”.
And the grand finale…
“By entering your web pages I learned that you had helped Metalshop to double its turnout. (…) That means that you indirectly support this type of music.“
And it hit us. It’s all because of the Metalshop case study on our web. As the devil’s advocate we do not deserve to share the same premises with the propagators of Christian values and avid readers of the magazine “Love one another!” We reread the paragraph – just to make sure weren’t dreaming it.
But I can grant you an indulgence
Then came the best part: the light at the end of the tunnel. We were suggested to – in case it was a one-time thing and we no longer cooperate with that shop – „delete and replace” this advertising by something else.
Everything would be all right then. Like nothing had happened. What the (human) eye doesn’t see, the (God’s) hearth doesn’t grieve over.
Naturally, we refused…
We’re actually really glad it didn’t work out for us. We give our thanks to Metalshop. We will continue our cooperation. But the biggest thanks go to the author of the e-mail who saved us from trouble:
- Zuzka wouldn’t wear above knee skirt to work anymore.
- Honza would have to shave his years-long, cultivated beard.
- No one in the office would listen to Marylin Manson. Not even with headphones.
- And who knows, they might eventually forbid even the morally corrupted internets…
God is somewhere else
What to say in conclusion? Human narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy, you cannot hide behind religious premise. We wish you well. Let you meet only tolerant people without prejudices on your way, people who can smile at such e-mails. Not only at Christmas.
P.S.: For those who read only headlines and bullets: this isn’t Metalshop promo or, God forbid, a hate against believers or the Church itself. There are people in our team who are planning visiting the church during the holiday. We support believers as well as metallers, punkers and rockers.
Doporučená literatura a další zdroje:
Satan’s case study HERE.
