What a Long Strange Trip It's Been
This post will likely to be the last in a series that began back in August of 2021. First, a summary of events is in order. Follow the links for details, I will still respond to any comments you may leave.
Part 1 gave an accounting of how, after a year of reporting daily to our empty, "shutdown" office in full knowledge of all those "sheltering in place," I was directly ordered home by the manager of development. Five months later we got the office reopening notice, complete with all the arbitrary and meaningless mitigation mandates we've come to know and love, minus the mandatory vaccination.
Well, I dug in my heals and kicked off a legal process by serving my management and HR with a Conditional Acceptance of their nonsense. My manager was confused, and asked me what I hoped to accomplish with my "unprofessional" tantrum. I answered that I expect Siemens to refrain from inflicting any medical intervention upon me until all conditions of safety, viability, and lawfulness concerning said intervention, as put forth in my Conditional Acceptance, were satisfactorily addressed. In affidavit form. And that eventually, I expect the policy to be withdrawn. This is exactly what has happened: I have been in the office every working day since Thanksgiving, and have not once complied with any mandate; now all C-19 related measures have gone away.
In Part 2 I outlined the Common Law approach I was taking in forcing my corporate aggressors to back off. Though I had come across references to the Common Law in the past, it was only after mandates started popping up like weeds, that I looked into it as a means of challenging the lawfulness of such measures.
The Common Law is our law. It is the law for the people. It is the foundation upon which our founding documents are grounded. Despite all efforts by presidents, legislators, lawyers and judges to push us into a civil/statute/admiralty system of law, we are a Common Law nation. We are what John Adams called "a nation of laws and not of men." That is, no man can decide one's fate, only the law, following due process can determine such an outcome.
Part 3 picked things up after receipt of my Conditional Acceptance. There followed a Teams meeting with my manager and HR, ending in them reading me the riot act, and patting themselves on the back. The smug attitudes explain Miss HR's dumbfoundedness upon being served with a Courtesy Notice graciously giving her another five days in which to respond to my previous Conditional Acceptance.
Vaccinations got added to the mix in Part 4, causing a reset and redirection in strategy. I broadcasted through company e-mail why we did not have to submit to such a demand, and that I would work with anyone wanting to fight it. I got no takers. Nevertheless, I soldiered on. But now my guns were trained on the division CEO, CFO, HR, and four other enablers down the hierarchy. I also reloaded with a new Conditional Acceptance that specifically addressed the vaxx.
Part 5 takes us into November after receipt of the Conditional Acceptance and Courtesy Notice have been confirmed. With due notice having been given, and time to reply having expired, I serve the seven mandate bandits with a Notice of Default and a Notice of Estoppel. The day before Thanksgiving they each got a Notice of (personal) Liability and Fee Schedule and Demand to Cease and Desist, amounting to $100,000 per violation, per day, per person. Things seemed to go oddly quiet after that.
With the legal process in motion, I was girded for battle. The first confrontation is detailed in Part 6. It ended in a stalemate, but I did manage to lay out the expected code of conduct for any future conflict.
A truce is reached in Part 7. It was really more of an unconditional surrender on the part of management with me declaring that I would be coming into the office everyday, oblivious to any and all mandates. I was almost daring them to violate the served estoppel and set the fee schedule into motion. I did promise not to disrupt any more meeting with my maskless form, however.
Bluff Successfully Called
I'm proud to say that I have not wavered in holding to my declaration of noncompliance. Unfortunately, I didn't get to cash in on any violations of estoppel. But really, a payout was never the aim of the strategy. The aim was to take Siemens to the precipice (to borrow a phrase), and force them to back down, which is exactly what happened.
Admittedly, events unwound in my favor, with SCOTUS shooting down Biden's OSHA mandates being the most consequential. That said, the threat of personal liability for the breaching of any one of my inalienable rights did give Siemens pause, if only to regroup. But the counter attack never came. I revel in the thought of any anxiety I may have unleashed in the minds of my targets, gloat over the money spent on legal plottings, and chortle at the time wasted by lawyers. Maybe they learned something.
The mandates disappeared Monday without comment. The masks were simply gone. Ever the smart ass (not that I don't have just cause), I congratulated everyone on being allowed to breath oxygen again, and welcomed them back to the atmosphere. It seems that Siemens, like all other tyrannical organizations, has, as I told the group, decided for no discernible reason to swap a phony pandemic for a phony war.
Truly the fight never ends friends, but we should still take time to savor our victories. I won! I write that almost in disbelief. We won, Pedes. We faced down a Goliath. I read every comment made in the course of this series. I digested every question, concern, encouragement, accolade, and nay saying. I weighed the wisdom and considered the applicability of each. Some I acted on. Knowing that I had to answer to you, and that you all had my back gave me the courage and confidence to sally forth.
Fortified with the knowledge of who I am, drawn from my studies into the Common Law (a free man), and armed with its application, I was able to take the battle to my aggressors. And so, for four months I have walked proudly and defiantly, and above all, honorably, in the very den of the enemy. The experience has kindled a passion in me for the Common Law. It is a tool gifted to We the People. A tool most of the world does not have. With it, whenever we chose to stand against evil, we do not have to stand naked. For we have both the Law and the Lawgiver on our side.
God bless everyone.
Seriously bro … you are the One Percent. I know dozens of combat vets that bent the knee and took that shit completely against their will. They masked up to do physical training. It was obscene and depressing to see. You stood up. You are a modern day William fuking Wallace.
Write a “how to manual” of sorts. You kinda already have.
I say this with 100% sincerity. Your story is inspirational. Not hyperbole. It is.
The kind and inspirational words of you and my GAW brethren (and sisters) have me swelling with pride. I simply found, based on what warriors before had done, the tools by which I thought I might extract myself.
Unfortunately, your vets didn't find those tools. That's exactly why I started writing about my fumbling steps, or as you put it, my "how to manual" -- to get the knowledge out there, and to pick the collective GAW brain. We will be ready for them next time!