"All I Wanted Was A Donut" - A Question About Privacy

Factual Questions
1

This is my first post and I hope it doesn’t suck.

On a Yahoo! Group that I frequent, someone (no, it was not I) posted the following:

> I go to (local donut chain) for a cup of coffee. A chick that can
> barely speak English
> fubars my order. I’m pissed about the order and I’m pissed that some
> idiot manager would leave this chick alone on the drivethru at 5 AM.
>
> I email (their corporate office) about the fubar’d order AND about the need to
> have some one who speaks English on the drive thru.
>
> They forward my email to the district manager, who forwards it to
> the store manager. The store manager calls my employer’s HR Director
> and says I’m a racist (anti-Hispanic?). I get my ass chewed and a
> ding on my HR record.

The group then, predictably, had a flurry of activity about whether or not this person had grounds for some kind of a law suit. Does this person have any legal grounds for any kind of action? What if he was fired as a result of the phone call?

I know that one’s employers have the right to check company emails, and I know that an employee could get in trouble simply for sending anything of a personal nature through his employers email, but the issue (as far as the group sees it) is whether the donut company overstepped any legal bounds when they contacted this person’s employers. Did they?

Does any company that you send a customer service complaint to have a right to inform your employers about it?

(For the record, I do not know if this person actually did send an inflammatory email; I also don’t know what difference it would make legally even if it might make a difference ethically.)

2

I’d say he should argue with his company’s HR people about why they dinged his record? Basically, all they have is hearsay from some other company. Also, complaining about language skills isn’t per se racist. Many Hispanics speak fluent English.

3

Four companies that I have worked for , clearly stated the IT policy regarding use of the internet on company time , and the penalties. Presumeably this is a universal rule of thumb for most companies and the donut chain took advantage of it.

If he thinks or anyone thinks that the donut chain overstepped bounds , its now in the legal domain and some lawyer can give a more reasonable ansewer , probably based on the donut chains privacy policy
.

What gets me, is that some one could claim ignorance or outrage 5 or 10 years ago , but for petes sake folks , use your home account , not the company account for protest emails of this sort.

Declan

4

Let me get this straight: Your friend went to a donut shop that has NOTHING to do with his employer, received what he considered bad service, complained, and the donut shop then called his employer and said he was a racist?

IANAL, but that sounds like slander to me.

5

And that is why you use gmail rather than your employer’s email system to file complaints. Does nobody read their usage policies anymore? Kids these days!

6

it’s more than just using company email for private correspondance
if the donutguy really did use his company email to flame the drivethru gal, then in effect his company is flaming her company - and that’s where the lawyers and the HR people get bent out of shape
conceivably (and please forgive any typos) DrivethruGal could sue DonutGuy’s company for defimation of character.
That’s the kind of litigious world we live in in the 21st century

7

For one thing, I’m surprised to learn that anyone considers Hispanic a “race”.

Secondly, leaving aside the question of whether the complainer’s company or the company he complained about, either one, overstepped their bounds, it’s easy to see why they bothered: the complainer himself is hot-headed and angry, but does such an unprofessional job of expressing himself that I’m sure they thought they could “take him” in any conflict of testimony.

I mean, he writes “A chick that can barely speak English fubars my order. I’m pissed about the order and I’m pissed that some idiot manager would leave this chick alone on the drivethru at 5 AM.” That kind of ill-thought-out, lazy, flip writing probably led them to conclude he would look bad in any comparison to their response.

Sailboat

8

Well, I know that anybody can sue for anything. My curiosity lies with what expectation of privacy, if any, do we have when we lodge a complaint with a company and, should they fail that expectation, what recourse is available to us.

Would there be any lawyers in the hizzy?

9

My question is, which is worse: getting accused of making a possibly-racist comment in a possibly-company email, or complaining about your company’s HR policies on a public message board? The first will get you dinged, the second could get you fired.

Dude, they’re just doughnusts. Oh, and switch to decaf.

10

My brain glossed right over the fact that he’d used his company email to complain.

11

Where does it say he did?

12

All I wanted was a Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to me!

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.

13

A donut? All he wanted was a donut? And she wouldn’t give it to him?

Sometimes I try to do things, and it just don’t turn out the way I wanted to and I get real frustrated, it’s like, I take my time and I try real hard, but no matter what I do and no matter what I try it never works out, it’s like I concentrate on it real hard, but it never works out, it’s like I need some time to figure these things out, but there’s always someone there going

I remember one time I was sitting in my room, and I was like staring at the walls thinking about everything but then again I was thinking about nothing, and then my mom came in and I didn’t notice she was there and she calls my name and I didn’t hear her and then she started screaming “Mike, Mike!” and I go “What, what’s the matter?” She goes, “What’s the matter with you?”, so I say, “Nothing mom.” She goes, “Don’t tell me nothing, you’re on drugs!” I go, “No mom, I’m not on drugs, I’m ok, I’m just thinking, you know, why don’t you get me a Pepsi?” She goes “No, you’re on drugs, you’re crazy, normal people won’t be acting that way!” I go, “Mom, I’m all right, I’m just thinking, you know, so why don’t you, like give me a Pepsi?” And she goes, “No, you’re crazy!”

All I wanted was a Pepsi, just one Pepsi, and she wouldn’t give it to me, just one Pepsi.

So I can kind of see where all of this is going.

14

That may have just been the world’s slowest simulpost.

15

what is it from?

16

Things we would need to know to comment intelligently:

What did the e-mail say? Was it really racist? Was it sent via a company e-mail address? Did the complainer sign his company name and/or job title, or did the company e-mail system append these items as a matter of course? (Some systems do.) Did the complaint appear as if it was levied on behalf of the company, or was the only tip-off “xxx.com” in the address?

He called the HR director? How did he get the number? Did he forward the e-mail, or read it over the phone? Did he really call the complainer racist, or just re-read the e-mail? I’m deeply skeptical about this aspect of the story, because this is a highly unusual way for a business to respond to a complaint.

For what–racism or misuse of company e-mail? Didn’t they ask for his side of the story? Did he have one? Did he protest back to company headquarters (hopefully using personal e-mail this time) about the store manager’s bizarre response to his complaint? Again, call me skeptical about the whole thing.

17

Suicidal Tendencies, Institutionalized.

18

I do not know. He didn’t post it.

He claims not. He did allow that it was “sarcastic” (whatever that means).

Apparently.

I do not believe so.

I assume it was only because of the domain.

Apparently.

Probably looked at the domain inj the email address and was able to find it.

I have to assume the HR Director asked to hear what was said. It was probably read over the phone and maybe fowarded as well. Dunno.

Apparently the racist conclusion came from the donut people; his company apparently just went with it.

Which business, the donut place or his bosses?

My guess is that they were unhappy with charges of racism but were certainly able to pin the “misuse of company email” (and “making company look bad in the process”) angles on him.

I think he told his bosses that he wasn’t a racist and they still marked his record because of the misuse of email.

I think he is wondering the best way to proceed as to the legal aspects of it all but that might be a good start although I have to say that if the way they handled his first complaint was any indicator, he’s unlikely to get satisfaction from a second.

He had no reason to lie about this one so I know it happened.

19

The OP seems not to know. Nor is it known if his complaint was really racist.

20

He may not have had a reason to lie - but he may have been sufficiently pissed off by the time he posted that there were some major exaggerations

come to think of it - do you know the individual personally? some people lie as a matter of course to make themselves look better in a bad situation.
How do we know he wasn’t overtly rude to DrivethruGal giving tired DrivethruGal a reason to screw his order up (like the waitstaff at some eateries who spit in the food of obnoxious diners - and don’t tell it never happens - I saw a server do just that - (not to my food) so I walked out before my meal came)

The only way you could really know it happened is if you were there to witness it, or if in fact you are the unnmaed DonutGuy