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Employee Foiled By Social Media
August 21, 2009 – 11:03 amFeeling drained after a long, hard day at work (following a long, hard week)?
Well, I’ve got your daily dose of schadenfreude.
A woman was recently fired for insulting her boss on Facebook.
And in a spectacular way, no less.
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| Not for idiots. |
Not only did the woman insult her boss, but called him a pervy wanker on her status. And the boss responded…and fired her on Facebook for everyone to see!
How awesome is that? (And no, I do not have any sympthy for this woman. Yes, it’s terrible when you lose your job. But if you lose if for being an idiot, well, then you’re an idiot.)
I’ve talked about that job applicant getting his offer rescinded for badmouthing his new company on Twitter. I know bosses routinely troll the social media sites, but I always thought getting fired over a stupid status was just urban legend. Apparently not.
Now, of course this brings up a host of issues that I’d love to get a discussion started about in the comment field: Should employees friend their bosses on social media sites? Do employees have the expectation of privacy on what they do in their private life?
I personally don’t think it matters if you friend your boss. The real problem is posting inappropriate stuff. Even if you’re not friends with your boss, someone could let your boss know about the post. It’s like those criminals who post pictures of themselves stealing a car. Think before you post things. Duh.
Anyway, what’s your take?
5 Responses to “Employee Foiled By Social Media”
First…it’s good to be king.
Second….what an idiot, is an appropriate response.
If this woman had a ‘real’ issue with her boss she should have:
First She should spoken with him in a calm fashion – unless he did something so terrible that was not possible,
Secondly She should have spoken with the HR department or some other authority figure she felt was credible – which is elevating this issue in an appropriate fashion.
Perhaps she did do these two things, from the information provided it isn’t clear. But to publicly flog your boss, is asking for a hatchet job.
You don’t have to be friends with your boss to get along in the workplace. They pay you to work for a reason.
Michael
By Michael Bremer on Aug 24, 2009
Michael, I totally agree. However, I’d be willing to bet that this woman didn’t talk to her boss, or HR. It sounds as if she got chastised and then ran to Facebook to complain. I bet if she thought about it for a moment she would have cooled down and let it pass. That’s the problem–and the advantage–of social media: instantaneous results.
Jessica
By jessica livingston on Aug 24, 2009
I believe that this woman was also friends with her boss on facebook, which means he didn’t have to go trolling to see her status, it was delivered directly into his feed like all his other friends. Which makes her double the idiot in my opinion.
By Amy Rae on Aug 26, 2009
This site rocks!
By Bill Bartmann on Sep 2, 2009