"We were very careful on the language we used talking about it." Righto. I bet they specifically did not say "these are not gifts they are company property". If they wanted them to stay in the building they should have gotten them engraved. Or heck just give people cheapo firewire drives if all they were used for was 'data transfer'. If they were part of a bonus for a good quarter, then the employees keep them. If the were given a cash bonus instead, would they have to return that?

Those iPods can be considered to be company equipment. They were certainly never intended to be gold watches. As for the bonus analogy, it does not apply. A bonus is clearly compensation for services rendered. Consider the case of employees who control petty cash. In that case, he goes to prison if he tries to take the money with him.

Miserable, indian-giving b@stards.

Said at the time of the giveaway... )two company spokesmen would not directly answer questions from Star-Telegram reporter Aman Batheja as to whether workers would be able to keep the iPods once they left the company.

"We haven't crossed that bridge," said Scott Kahl, human resources director.)

That right there tells me they're cheatin' crooks. This was considered an award by the company. I don't know of many places that makes you give back awards you receive for making the company more money than they've ever made before. Did they know at that time they were going to be laying those people off? I'm ashamed my iPod has anything to with this company.

Here's the response I got from them... -- I understand your anger. Let me clarify a couple of points.

The iPod, as a work tool, is no different from a cell phone, blackberry, laptop and desktop --- items the company also gives to employees for their use while at work. No one has complained, yet, about returning those items when they leave the company. So the outcry about the ipod is a bit misplaced. National also has a progressive policy of allowing employees to use work equipment for personal use, such as using company PCs for personal email. So we offered the ipod in the same vein --- enjoy them, use them for personal purposes, use them for work.

Re Texas, we are upgrading our plant in Texas, swapping out older equipment for new, which is why we reduced a small percentage of our workforce last week. But the move was not a surprise; all employees knew about it far in advance. We informed those who left that they could buy the ipod at a used rate ($200) or turn it back in to the company. Seemed like a fair deal all the way around, since the ipods by then were only 2 weeks old at most.

In any case, thanks for emailing National. We appreciate feedback, good or bad, and respect people who take personal time to tell others what they think directly, rather than hide behind anonymous blogs or web postings.

We also value your business, so thanks for that , too.

--

I still think that it's crummy to "give" them something....unfortunately, we'll never know exactly what they told them

PS: I forgot to mention, the "I understand your anger.." part and everything after is their words, not mine.