Canadutch
This guy got fired from Waterstones for bitching about his work in his blog.
Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous? Apparently this guy has a pretty popular blog and on a few occasions he came home from work complaining about certain things that had gone on there. He didn’t name anyone by name, or even the exact location/branch of the store, but he still was fired for “Gross misconduct”.
Some of the comments made over a period of weeks/months were:
Adventures with Evil Boss
Monday, Dec 13 2004On the way home from a dreadful day at work (I should really have phoned in sick but
couldn’t face the hassle this causes), I walked rather than catching the bus to get the blood flowing a little. Not far from my flat is a new bakery/pastry store, The Old Bakehouse, which also has an art gallery in the basement. Delicious pastries and artwork? Now how cool is that? Groovy.Tuesday, Nov 16
Bad things recently. Having to pay Edinburgh bastard moneygrubbing council’s tax, may they choke on every penny. Return to shift working as Evil Boss decrees even those now in stockroom must do late and early shifts, which is a waste of time for that post.
Xmas working hours brought in early – first shift now starts at 7.30 bloody am, which is fucking ridiculous.
Evil Boss fucking me off by refusing my requests for a day’s holiday on the 31st of December for my birthday and the first week of January off as I have taken for the last few years …
Evil Boss then has cheek to ask me to work one of the bloody bank holidays in the week he refused me off. Cheeky smegger. Said no.
Noticing he has put me down for one of those days anyway, the sandal-wearing bastard. Words will be exchanged – if he gives me my birthday off I will do his bank holiday day. If not, he can kiss my magnificent Celtic ass, since it is voluntary.
Monday Nov 8
Yes, my day slaving for Bastardstone’s was lightened (never an easy task on a Monday) by one of the avalanche of humour books that appear before Xmas, Far From [Dull] and Other Places by Dominic Greyer …
Amusing myself this week with Rich Hall’s excellent biography of his redneck “uncle”, Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society, and probably pissing everyone in our staffroom out by laughing my arse off.
I could see if he said “My boss at Waterstones on ____ Street in _____ City, named _______, phone number ###-#### is such a PRICK.” Then sure, the guy would have plenty of reason to give the guy a kick in the ass and fire him, but the above material does not warrant a dismissal. At least in my opinion.
This is the age of blogs, everyone and their dog has one. Photo blogs, personal blogs, business blogs, and everything else under the sun blogs. Should any information written in a blog be open to attack.. either verbal, legal or otherwise? Where is the line between what is acceptable and what isn’t? While the internet is indeed public, personal websites are the owners domain. Many see their websites/blogs as their territory, it’s there space where they can speak their mind freely. On the other hand, people have a point when they say that when writing a blog you should show some consideration for those you are writing about. Wasn’t that what this guy was doing though? By giving his boss the petname “Evil Boss” and not giving away which branch he worked at etc?
I often see people writing in their blogs saying things like…
“My friend’s brother is such an asshole!”
“I went out with HRH tonight and.. ” (*Winks at Mick*)
“Yesterday I saw Sexy Neighbour going out with Slutty Blond again.. “.
No names are mentioned and the privacy of those involved is being protected. So if HRH, Sexy Neighbour, friend’s brother or Slutty blond happen to come across the blog, put 2 and 2 together and realize it’s them being spoken about, do they have a right to kick up a stink about it or is there a point where they have to realize that the writer has the right to speak his/her mind?
I mean another example is the True Porn Clerk Stories a friend told me about last week. It’s a blog written by a chick named Ali Davis about her job, the people she works with and the many weird, disgusting customers. How many people could read her blog and find themselves in her stories. Should she lose her job? Hardly..
Anyway, I could probably go on about this for days. I think the rest of the world just has not caught up with the Blog Age yet.. it’s about damn time they did.
It’s an interesting question. I know with my blog I’m somewhat careful about references to other people. I don’t ever use last names and I always consider “would so-and-so be uncomfortable with this particular reference to them?” Usually the answer is no, and if the answer is yes, I don’t post it. If I’m talking more specifically about my feelings about someone, I’ll be much more vague. I just think it’s respectful in this day and age. There’s enough violations of peoples’ privacy without me contributing to it! That said, sounds like the guy in question got a bum rap. It’ll be interesting to see how things catch up as blogging becomes more and more mainstream.
I think the photo was taken after he got fired, for the article in the paper. I don’t think he put the pic on the blog and was then bitching about where he worked. After he was fired it was no secret which one he worked at or who the Evil Boss was.
Have a look at these:
http://committeetoprotectbloggers.blogspot.com/
This case last year got a lot of publicity because it was Friendster who fired this employee (Troutgirl):
http://socialsoftware.weblogsinc.com/entry/5719484404972462/
Also, I remember reading that a Microsoft employee was fired for posting a photo of a shipment of Macs to his workplace. Microsoft is a huge company, and they have Mac developers who work on MS software for the Mac platform, and yet this guy got the boot.
This Scottish guy, though, was treading on shaky ground by bitching about Waterstone’s and expecting nothing to happen. Waterstone’s is expensive, snooty, and very “establishment” and even the picture pretty much gives away his location: Princes St. In 1993 there was only one Waterstone’s in Edinburgh, and it’s right smack in the city centre, the self-conscious tourist district.
I read the article, and apparently he didn’t get a warning. On that basis alone, I think he can win his appeal. I don’t think you can even get the sack if you tell your boss to piss off — you still need a warning.
I’m not saying he should’ve been fired, but if he wanted to be a martyr for free speech, this sure is a tough way to do it.
SHEIT!!! If my princpal ever got a glimpse of my blog,I would be SO fucking fired. I believe I called her Lau Cow, since that is one of her names. His getting fired is SUCH bullshit.
I have read the true porn clerks stories and LAUGHED MY ARSE OFF.
Hum…being nice when writing in a blog? Now, I am worried if I am being nice….crap.