Teen Fired for Dissing Her Job on Facebook Options

[superstitious]

These days, millions of people are on some sort of social networking website -- and so are their bosses. A 16-year-old British girl said she was fired from her office job after managers saw that she had branded her position "boring" on Facebook.

British teenager Kimberley Swann says she was called into her manager's office and fired from her job as an office administrator because she had called the job "boring" on her Facebook page, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

"Following your comments made on Facebook about your job and the company, we feel it is better that, as you are not happy and do not enjoy your work, we end your employment with Ivell Marketing & Logistics with immediate effect," the letter read.

"I did not even put the company's name -- I just put that my job was boring. They were just being nosy, going through everything. I think it is really sad. It makes them look stupid that they are going to be so petty," Swann said.

How can you prevent your own teen from following in this now unemployed teen's footsteps? Family counselor Rosanne Tobey offers some tips on how to talk to your kids about the dangers of posting questionable information and photos on the Internet.

By the time your private business has gone public, you can't take it away.
"I think this is a perfect example parents can use to illustrate why NOT to post things you don't want the entire world to see," Rosanne says. "Once it's out there, it's essentially impossible to get it back."

Kids must understand the permanence of the actions they take.
"Teens tend to be so savvy, yet they sometimes have a hard time realizing the reach that the Web might have," Rosanne says. "If a racy pic or personal information is up somewhere with your name attached, and your employer or even a future employer Googles you and finds it, it can really come back to haunt you."

http://www.momlogic.com/2009/02/facebook_fired.php

It just goes to show you that people should exercise a certain amount of caution in what they post online. I think that the firing was a bit excessive and chances are, they were looking for a reason to let this individual go. Although, if they were facebooking while on the job, I can understand why that could be consider grounds for a firing, or a warning at the very least.

[hi-C]

See, that's why I have my whole thing private and keep supervisors in a special group so they can't see all my dirt.

[hypnotique]

I could see them firing her if she had said "this job sucks monkey nuts" or something but all the lass did was say her job was boring.....

Thats so stupid. I mean there is worse things people post that could make better grounds for firing.

[Gigi]

^ But is it really the employee's problem if the job is boring? Is it really their fault if they don't like their jobs? It sort of shocks me how the company doesn't look at it and say to themselves, "Hey, what are we doing wrong? Why does she find her job boring? Maybe we should do something about it" but instead place the blame on her, firing her for finding the job they gave her boring. It's passive, not proactive on the company's part, an entirely apathetic response.

/too much Organizational Behaviour. That course drilled into my head that most good companies seek ways to maximize employee motivation by giving them meaningful jobs and whatnot.

On the other hand, I have no idea what kind of job she was holding, so if it was like a burger flipper then the above doesn't really apply.

[saintsaens]

Though the actual concept of the story is kinda' just stupid in general, I'd say this; does it really matter? Yeah, it's f*cked up that she lost her job, but she's 16 years old. I'm really wondering who reported the story. Was this really worthy of news?

[Gigi]

^ Probably only serves the purpose of a cautionary tale more than anything.

But honestly, I don't think she's that stupid for writing that her job is boring on Facebook. Certainly I wouldn't put it in my main info on my profile like "MY JOB IS BORING LOLZ" but I might write on someone's wall about it if it happened to come up. Dunno.

[batman]

its sort of sad that after this, i went to my profile to edit out any sarcastic comments i've made about my current job although i'm sure my manager wouldn't fire me even if she read those comments.

sometimes its easy to forget that other people besides your close friends [or your target audience] are also reading what you post up.

[illriginal]

See, that's why I have my whole thing private and keep supervisors in a special group so they can't see all my dirt.

Did you know that government companies that you may work for can have a request of all your information that's on Myspace and Facebook? Even your private messages! But that's because the contract you sign gives them permission to do so at any given time without asking you.

[hi-C]

Did you know that government companies that you may work for can have a request of all your information that's on Myspace and Facebook? Even your private messages!

Operative word there: government.

[superstitious]

Though the actual concept of the story is kinda' just stupid in general, I'd say this; does it really matter? Yeah, it's f*cked up that she lost her job, but she's 16 years old. I'm really wondering who reported the story. Was this really worthy of news?

It was posted on mom's logic as sort of a follow up to an article posted a while back regarding the potentially provocative posts that young folks are making online (facebook, specifically). So yea, not headline news worthy but I can see why it makes for a decent brief read.

^ Probably only serves the purpose of a cautionary tale more than anything.

Pretty much.

As a parent, I'm not all too concerned about what young people post on facebook. Although, my son is too young and hasn't expressed any interest, so of course I'm not terribly concerned at this point.

I wouldn't post anything work related online, regardless of the site (blogging, social networking, personal, etc). Bitch about it to your friends, at happy hour, whatever but don't publish it because it's not terribly difficult for someone to dig up what you've said.

[illriginal]

Operative word there: government.

I guess people should keep their profiles private if they're so opinionated, ya?

[Tsukuyomi-No-Mok...]

damn makes you rethink what you post on fb
it's weird though i see soo manny people post things like their status and stuff about their job but they're still workin there

[hi-C]

I guess people should keep their profiles private if they're so opinionated, ya?

Exactly. I do. I my twitter's on private (more for spam followers than anything else) and on facebook, I've made it so that I don't show up in google searches for my profile and in order to see my profile you have to friend me. I have separate viewing permissions on facebook for people I need to impress (co-workers and supervisors, old people, the judgmental, etc). I also no longer have my tumblr listed as contact info on facebook.

[saintsaens]

This is why I'm really anal with what goes on with my facebook. I don't let anything I don't get go around not deleted.

[shoryuken]

lol... i gott facebook n moi sho ppl workk lookk moi upp butt dey aint ginnaa reed moi stuff tha..