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Teen Calls Job 'Boring' on Facebook, Gets Fired
Fair or not, you've got to be very careful what you post online these days. Schools, employers, and everyone else is probably going to check out what you choose to share on social networking sites like Facebook. | Yes | |
|---|---|
| No | |
| I don't use Facebook |
Sixteen-year-old Kimberley Swann learned this the hard way after she was unceremoniously dumped from her position as an administrator at Ivell Marketing and Logistics Limited in Essex, England. Swann posted a comment on her Facebook profile that called her job "boring." Her employers, feeling obligated to root through her online life, spotted the comment and decided then and there to terminate her employment.
It's a little hard not to think her employers overreacted. Jobs are boring sometimes. Even we here at Switched, as much as we love our jobs, let loose a mighty yawn every time we have to write up another useless USB gadget that clearly has no need to exist. We'd even guess that Steve Ivell, Swann's boss has even been bored by his job at some point and complained about it to someone. Way to be a jerk, Steve. [From: Fox News]
Facebook Crime and Punishment
Self-Incrimination
Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.
Blackmail
Sending any personal info or incriminating pictures to someone on Facebook is a huge mistake for many reasons. One of the worst possible outcomes is getting blackmailed for money, sex, or, well, anything these sickos dream up. Really, whether they're using a fake profile or not, it's a horrible idea. Read up on the story of an 18-year-old who blackmailed 31 male classmates after he posed as a girl and asked for nude pictures. That's lesson enough.
Impostors
Sure, it can be harmless to impersonate a celeb online or create a fake profile for a movie character. But seriously, there's a definite line you shouldn't cross when pretending to be someone else and it can lead to dire consequences for you. Maybe it's not as extreme as the Moroccan man who was jailed for 43 days after creating a fake Facebook profile of a prince, but you never know. Just steer clear of it.
Self-Incrimination
Do we really have to explain this? Just look up the shoplifter who posed with her stolen merchandise, the many photos of drunk underage teens, and, most recently, the album featuring a couple who killed and ate an endangered iguana in the Bahamas.
Suicide
Social networking sites has been blamed for a lot of things, fairly and unfairly, but in our opinion, the worst offense has been their indirect involvement in suicides. Obviously, there are a lot of factors responsible in each case, but there does seem to be links between social networking and a rash of suicides, and obviously tehre's the case tragic of Megan Meier, who killed herself after a classmate's mom impersonated a teen boy and harassed her over Myspace.
Nigerian Scammers
Oh, you thought this only happened via poorly worded emails, right? WRONG. Once people got wise to their old ways, these con men are turning to social networking sites for new targets. This time, they're hacking into people's accounts and impersonating them to ask for money, usually with some weird sob story. You can check out a transcript of one of these conversations here.
Cooperation
Even if the law isn't on a case, a victim, his friends, or empathetic strangers might be. Since it's easy to get word out for anything online, people are using blogs, forums, and social networking sites to help track down criminals. In one such case, a vehicle thief was tracked down by a bunch of anonymous car enthusiasts after the victim posted his story on a forum. In the end, they identified the guy through his Facebook profile.
Murder
We've reported on numerous incidents of people getting in trouble because of their online behavior. Now, people are becoming victims because of what they're doing on the Web too. In England, a man was convicted of murdering his estranged wife after she changed her relationship status to "single." So, be careful of who can see your profile and what you're doing, no matter how harmless it seems.
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Comments
9
Subscribe to commentslucasFeb 27th 2009 10:07PM
what you don't mention is if she was posting it while on the clock using a work computer. both of which are no-nos for most companies and solid reasons for being fired.
aj121489Feb 27th 2009 11:31PM
Well assuming lucas is right then this makes a little more sense, but that still seems a little harsh unless she had repeatedly been caught on facebook. I think if it was her first time getting caught a warning would've sufficed.
norman maineFeb 28th 2009 1:10AM
look, if i'm the employer, i think i have the right to employ someone interested in the job as opposed to one bored by it. obviously if the that person had described the job as boring in the interview, that person would never have been hired. checking out someone's facebook page is not like going through their dresser drawers and leafing through their diary. besides, people who are bored are boring.
cwjFeb 28th 2009 5:19AM
If everyone who ever referred to their job as "boring" were fired, the employed would be the minority.
I'm interested to know i she was posting from work, did she perform her duties effectively, how employer came to find this out.
SeanrossFeb 28th 2009 9:24AM
If this was a unjust firing, she needs to take them to the cleaners. Otherwise, she did it to herself.
nicMar 1st 2009 4:45PM
ridiculous. if she were at a pub and called her job boring to pals there, would they have fired her? you have a face at work and you relax it outside and just as the business has no business following you around in your off work hours, to the grocery, to the pub, to dinner with friends- facebook too is off the clock and not their business
drktranquillityFeb 28th 2009 6:05PM
That's a bit ridiculous. As it has been said, if she was posting on company time (even if it wasn't to say work was boring) then they would certainly have grounds for termination. Otherwise, yeah -- way to be jerks.
Parchacho JohnsonMar 2nd 2009 2:27AM
I don't think you take the veracity of how loud your voice is on a place where volume has no point. I think the girl who complained about her work needs to realize that she doesn't need her hwork, and her work doesn't need her.
tarangryphMar 4th 2009 10:19PM
She's from a generation that's been hooked up to the internet almost since birth and she still hasn't learned from others' mistakes yet... she should've known better. Probably thought she was invincible like every other sixteen year old.