How Not to Get Fired Over Internet Misuse at Work

Where are your work ethics? If you want to "play" on your bosses PC, I say not!!! They are not paying you to email, purchase things or surf the net. Most companies have internet policies. Not for personal use. The idea is your boss is paying you to do a job for them, not to play. Like I said, where are your work ethics.?????

A couple years ago, in my first retail job, I was nearly fired for checking an e-mail while at work. I had been on the job for a couple months, but nobody had ever told me that e-mail was absolutely off-limits during work hours. So of course, my boss saw me over the hidden camera system, and immediately came out and started chewing me out. He told me "You don't know how close I am to firing you," even though I was otherwise an excellent and reliable employee. I explained to him that everyone else at the company not only checked their e-mail, but watched YouTube, updated Myspace, etc., and that I honestly had not been aware that it was a termination-worthy offense.

So...I kept my job, but I was required to place phone calls to all of the other employees and tell them of my transgression, and to tell them that if they were caught doing it that they would be fired on the spot. I NEVER again tended to personal business while at work, as once was enough to learn my lesson. I did stay with the company for nearly a year, and when I finally did leave due to a severe illness, my boss kept my position open for nearly two weeks in hopes that I would be well enough to return, even if only part time.

Lesson to be learned is: don't assume that personal computer time is allowed, even if you've never been warned against it and everyone else does it. Just keep the personal business at home, and don't put yourself in the position of being warned, chewed out, and possibly even fired.

It seems as if employees just don't have any common sense, they are down right stupid. How many times people need to be told that they are being paid to do their job - not to surf the internet, send text messages or watch YouTube or check their facebook or myspace pages ???????? Today's employees don't have any ethics because they think they are entitled to everything in their lives having being raised by stupid parents who want to be their friends instead of their parents.

The title phrase " How not to get fired at work " caught my attention, so I was anxious to see some good tips, but after reading the little bit of info. on here, I'm still looking for the how not to get fired, never did see anything like that, not even close. Nothing more than saying you could get fired if you get caught, Well Da!!!
I could have told that one myself. Total waste of time.

Two things--actual company policies vary widely, and while you shouldn't assume anything, companies -should- inform employees of their policies. One of the largest issues in many companies is the horrible lack of training and information. Second, Hope, in a lot of companies, employees may have considerable downtime and not be kept busy or have anything to do. At one job I had, I went for two weeks without any assignment or being able to get any kind of task and then I had three crunch weeks working 60+ hours a week. When were you born? 1865? By the way, the worst cheaters I ever had as employees were usually the ones that had been abused by their parents with beatings and had learned to cheat to get around their parents "discipline"--the ones who had kind, loving parents were quite alright and didn't try to get away with anything, they were secure in themselves.

I know of an employee who was always talking on his cell phone.
When confronted by his supervisor he stated "Dude they are my minutes I am not using the office Phone" and thought that was an accepatble excuse he no longer works here

Stupid, the title of this article was misleading. Now welcome to the 21st century everyone. Just like people used the phone to make a personal call, ppl working in front of a pc will use it too. I do tech support and when the person on the other end of the line puts me on hold what am I suposed to be doing just stare at the screen for 5 minutes? Sorry I meet my call quota everyday and and am surfing all day long. Its called time management. Studies have shown companies that take away their internet have alot more unhappy coworkers, moral drops. I am still doing my job while Im surfing so , sorry its not hurting business. If my boss doesn't like it then we can talk about why we havent had a raise in 2 years lol.

Well, some may disagree with me but I TOTALLY agree with this article. Speaking as a GRADUATE, BACHELORS IN INFORMATION SECURITY FROM ITT TECHNICAL INSTITUTE, I can rightfully state that BROWSING THE INTERNET, ON COMPANY TIME, SHOULD BE ABSOLUTLY PROHIBITED!!! There are websites that can do malicious harm to not only the computer but to the network that the company runs off of. First of all, the company will need every bit of bandwidth to perform it's everyday functions. Second, there are a lot of sites that contain numerous malware and spyware programs that can get access to sensitive data in a heartbeat!!! This wouldn't be good to any company because their clients could sue the company for not securing their sensitive information. Finally, when you use company equipment for personal use it is ALWAYS BEING WATCHED BY SOMEONE!! It could be also watched by a co-worker that may have it in for you. This is "shoulder surfing." It's used by certain "co-workers" who may have it in for someone that they want to see gone. You also have your regular nosy co-workers that can't keep their mouth shut for anything. All it takes is for someone in power to hear or see this activity and next thing you know your butt is hitting the street before your feet. Therefore, I say wait until you get home to browse the web, stream music, and etc. on your internet. Besides, your internet is better and faster than the company's internet. I've seen this first hand. This is leaving your personal life behind at work. When you leave work is when you can enjoy YOUR INTERNET!!!