Facebook

[saintdave]

This isn't a topic asking how much you love/hate it, whether you have a profile there or what not. Working for a retail company on 2 occasions recently I have posted my frustrations with customers coming after my shift ends wasting my time, this may have been worded strongly but fairly (IMO). I now find out one of my former friends has printed my status off and given it to one of our managers and that other peoples status have been printed off before! I got a warning and a note on my file but I'm wondering is this right from a legal point, to print peoples comments off? So sad and pathetic.

[Hell No..]

I'd say no, that is pretty sad. If it was about the managers, then maybe fair enough. That is rather stupid.

 

I have a different story, this week, I find out that our manager has discovered the face book profile that I made of him. I even took a photo of him on the sly with my mobile and made an account, everyone from work was adding him, but didn't realise it was fake.

 

Apparently he wasn't very happy and wants to find out who done it so they can get the sack. But I've deleted it now, and nothing more has been said, haha!

 

But yeah, just stand up to the fact that it's out of work.

[mrpain]

Yeah I've had the same situation too. Only it happened in school.

 

I stole someone's phone and use that phone to log on to facebook. The school then printed out my whole facebook profile page for 'evidence'.

 

And the stolen phone is still with me

[XMike]

During the football season there was some tension between some people on the team and stuff that was said on a huge status on facebook (like 100+ comments) led to one of the guys on the team being suspended from the team for saying he was going to kill someone else on the team. Good times.

[Doink]

They tried to pull the same crap at my job. Ultimately it came down to the fact that everything that was said was off the clock and they can't do sh*t about it.

 

@mrpain: OHDERURSOCOOOOOL (I've had my phone stolen before and that sh*t f*cking sucks).

Edited March 14, 2010 by Doink

[Punk-in-Drublic]

Somebody got sacked over Facebook for calling their boss a prick. To be honest, what goes on in work and out of work are two completely different things, so they shouldn't have the right to take disciplinary action as you never broke any rules at work, wankers.

[Cursed]

The two things should be kept seperate. What you do/say in your free time is no business of your employers.

[PacMaan]

If you go down the pub and start shouting that your boss is a prick so everyone can hear, of course if word gets back you'll be in his office monday morning.

 

Seems common sense to me - if you're gonna slag someone off behind their back, don't put it in print where the whole world can see.

[Rhoda]

The two things should be kept seperate. What you do/say in your free time is no business of your employers.

That's the way it should be, but that isn't the way it is, at least as far as the UK goes. I've read so many news stories regarding employers and comments coming back to haunt them before, and they weren't even all that harsh. Even if they were, it's no business of theirs to hold a job against you for it. If I was to say "oh, this man on the bus before was a c*nt", is he likely to try and put blocks on my life because of a personal comment? No, and as unjust as the comment may be, an employer has little right to involve your career in something as trivial as a passing remark. Chances are you'll have forgotten about it after a good meal, a drink and a sleep. Tomorrow's another day, people are always going to get on each other's nerves. I don't have Facebook, but I'm familiar with the hypocrisy and tension that surrounds it sometimes.

[epoxi]

I sort of feel bad for you since whoever printed it out is a bit too touchey, but you should've known better than to make the comments on Facebook in the first place.

 

 

Seems pretty pointless to me since you don't actually stand to gain anything through posting your thoughts on the internets.

 

I think China is making the right decision to block social networking: it is more of a curse than a blessing.

[Vanzant]

The best advice I have to offer is to separate work from home. I don't talk about my job much when I'm not at work because I'm not getting paid for it.

[meta187]

Yes, I think from a legal standpoint there should be some protection for people expressing themselves freely on their personal pages. There are a lot of retaliation clauses in civil and common law to protect us in regards to employers seeking retribution on their employees in regards to a formal complaint or legal dispute from the employee against the employer or company. I definitely think that should extend to the internet as well aside from cases of extreme and obvious defamation of character we should be able to speak our minds without worrying about someone trolling our profile.

 

That said, you should also be extremely careful who you allow on your Friends list and who is on those peoples friends list. Just good policy on the C.Y.A. tip.

 

*Good to see you Dave, where ya been all my life?

[saintdave]

Oh yeah I know that posting there can in no way improve the situation but I was so frustrated and I have an iphone so while I was waiting beyond my shift I typed it in. I just always thought you were entitled to your opinion, freedom of speech and all that.

 

Edit - Meta my friend, been ages!

[Scifen]

You think losing your job over calling your boss a prick is bad?

 

I got in an arguement with some dumb c*nt over facebook and told her to chill the f*ck out before the whole thing blows out of proportion. 3 days later my house phone rings and its a detective from the local police department telling me I need to go into the station for questioning about bomb threats.

 

I hate facebook

[Punk-in-Drublic]

 

Oh yeah I know that posting there can in no way improve the situation but I was so frustrated and I have an iphone so while I was waiting beyond my shift I typed it in. I just always thought you were entitled to your opinion, freedom of speech and all that.

You are, you should be able to appeal that warning. Dont let the system win man.

[Voodoo]

Anonymity is one of the great things about the internet. As soon as you start giving up too much public info, it eventually comes back to bite you in the ass. Just like print, never write something down that you may regret later.

 

 

[mrpain]

I'm fine with people expressing their hatred and stupidity on the Internet but I just hope that people are not dumb enough to mention people. Cant they just say 'this dude' or 'some girl'?

[Snake Without a Tongue]

 

You think losing your job over calling your boss a prick is bad?

 

I got in an arguement with some dumb c*nt over facebook and told her to chill the f*ck out before the whole thing blows out of proportion. 3 days later my house phone rings and its a detective from the local police department telling me I need to go into the station for questioning about bomb threats.

 

I hate facebookÿ

Similar thing happened to me. I p*ssed off a girl, she hacked my MySpace and deleted it, contacted friends (she saw their e-mail addresses in forwards I sent her) and told them I said all sorts of hurtful sh*t about them, and then to top it all she contacted the police and my internet provider accusing me of harassing HER. Luckily she is clearly insane and no one took her seriously, but.... crazy chicks are dangerous.

 

EDIT: it started when she complained on her facebook page about her dentist giving her vicodin. she said it was too strong, I suggested she half them first before throwing a fit. she accused me of conspiring with the dentist in trying to poison her.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Snake Without a Tongue

[Andrew]

Sadly the line between work and private life is a very faint one, managers should have no right to use the facebook against you as a warning, however the way they see it, is that you're attacking the store, the stores customers who spend their money there, and the store manager. They are also thinking that you're not willing to put the effort in, or work that little be extra over since you're dealing with a customer.

 

End of the day, anything you post you're responsible for. If someone deems it as offensive then they can do something about that. The internet isn't about free speech anymore, that has long gone. The days of censorship is upon us, and it seems their isn't anything we can do about it. As long as their is money to be made, they'll be away to control it.

[Pico]

I would say as long as you don't let people know WHERE you work, or any specific names of people you are bad talking, they have no legal standings for anything. But usually on Facebook you list you're employer, so you're speaking ill of a business/employer in a somewhat open forum to a wide audience, posting it on an official website. I'm sure they'd be able to find away to hold any repercussions due to things said assuming specifics were given (again, such as names of people or the business at hand).

 

Is it right? I guess so. I know I'd be angry, but on the other hand I wouldn't want an employee talking sh*t about my company behind my back. But then again I'd hope I'd have a good enough relationship with my employees as to not have this type of thing be a problem in the first place.

[Mr.Mister]

That cant be as bad as school cops adding everyone then watching what they do

 

I've heard of people arguing/threatning eachother on facebook then the next day, they are both in the school office with a ISS... wtf

[Rhoda]

I think that schools feel they have more of a responsibility to encourage good conduct because of the kind of institution they run. Obviously schools are going to promote getting along with your fellow and generally favourable manners because that's what's going to get you on the right side of the law, a career and life. I've heard a lot of controversy regarding cyber-bullying and I'm all for taking steps, but there is always going to be a bad word said to someone and there's not always going to be something there to stop it. I'm not saying it's a pointless battle, but things like this are rarely easy. If the fight or abuse took place in school time and/or on school grounds, yes, I don't think they're completely out of order for bringing the people involved into the headmaster's office. Out of hours though, and that may get a little trickier to regulate and moderate.

[LittleBlueTroll]

I dont think any work place should be able to punish you from something on facebook,

as its out of work, out of company hours etc you should have the right to be able to express your opinions outside of working hours,

 

I also heard a rumour that companies are going to check peoples facebook pages before they employ them, to see what there really like!

God i hope thats not true

[Svip]

o_O Why do people hate Facebook? I just used to shrug at it, and I still tend to, but it is sort of your fault for saying stupid sh*t on it. Say it to your friends, like you f*cking used to.

 

Facebook sh*t is what is called 'public'. You say stuff there, you have expressed it 'publicly', compared to privately. The Internet is generally considered public by most authorities, and even if a site claims to have 'privacy', that is often disregarded by law.

 

It's basically the same as standing up in town square, gathering up the entire town and telling them you think your boss is a jerk, if he ain't there, then I am sure someone will tell him. They have it on record and this was not within the 'privacy' of your own home.

 

So Facebook basically boils down to this; you are always shouting from the roof tops, so stop doing it.

 

@tms_junk: A rumour? It's the damned truth. Companies used to just Google you, now Facebook have provided you with a safe haven of juicy information. So only post there what you want the world to know about you. Facebook requires common sense, otherwise you'll be losing jobs, integrity and general respect.

 

While I am not going to argue whether or not companies should have the right to do so on what you say on Facebook, it currently stands that they have all the right to do so, as it is public. It's like printing it in the newspaper. And since they are your employer, they can basically fire you if they feel they have been harassed in public by their employees.

 

Come to think about it, I am in favour of the companies here. Don't any of you see your friends in real life any more to tell them about it? There is still IRC, MSN, ICQ, Jabber, Gmail and all other sorts of methods of sharing your disapproval with your boss that they won't hear.

Edited March 14, 2010 by Svip

[KillerKabel]

Dang mang.. Having a job must be hard. If I feel mistreated by my teachers, I just say it to them, and we work out the problem.

Or I go on a rampage.

Don't think it's healthy to bottle up all that anger.

 

 

[macorules94]

I dont think any work place should be able to punish you from something on facebook,

as its out of work, out of company hours etc you should have the right to be able to express your opinions outside of working hours,

 

I also heard a rumour that companies are going to check peoples facebook pages before they employ them, to see what there really like!

God i hope thats not true

And what if they don't have facebook? They'll be lucky

 

I think the whole facebook-work thing is retarded, and you should never have your boss on facebook or anything else

[Tsuroki]

Nothing online is private. Anything you say can (and likely will) pop up elsewhere. Facebook hasn't been a walled garden in several years, and yes, there are ramifications for running your mouth on it.

[Hell No..]

Yep, like I had to stop with certain jokes after becoming friends with certain ethnics. But that's life.

 

[saintdave]

All very fair points. I must stress that I wasn’t dissing the company in any way though. I referred to customers as c*nts and while this I have since realised wasn’t appropriate to say I still think it’s odd to use that against me. These customers cant see my status as I don’t know them!

[Punk-in-Drublic]

All very fair points. I must stress that I wasn’t dissing the company in any way though. I referred to customers as c*nts and while this I have since realised wasn’t appropriate to say I still think it’s odd to use that against me. These customers cant see my status as I don’t know them!

Do you have your privacy settings set so only friends can see? Or maybe the customer is somebody on your friends list.