Last Thursday I got called to the VP’s office. The lady from Human Resources was present. He had several pages printed out, and I recognized the icon in the upper corner. It’s the userpic from my LiveJournal. “Is this you?” he asked.
I sat in stunned silence. I had read where people got fired for keeping personal blogs that were critical of their workplace, but I never thought it would happen to me. There’s a certain project manager I especially vilified. I also vented about one of our clients. The VP said I also posted sensitive info about our clients, and I did it on company time, and he couldn’t have anybody working for him who would do that.
I signed a letter saying I understood that I was being fired for misusing company property and libelling my coworkers and clients. I couldn’t think of anything to say.
Yes, I was stupid and arrogant. I made the journal public and I used the manager’s real name. I’ve been beating myself up ever since that day that I didn’t keep the journal private and used aliases. They reached out and found the side of me I didn’t present at work. THe journal served as a place for me to vent my frustrations, and it certainly wasn’t meant for anybody at work to see.
I did some web research, but it doesn’t look like there’s much hope for me getting my job back. I’m considering going there on my hands and knees and begging for forgiveness. I haven’t been able to show my face in public. MY friends keep telling me to talk to a lawyer, but I don’t want to sue the company. I actually LIKED working there and I put in a lot of effort to make the place successful. I wanted to stay there until I retired.
SO, just to warn everybody. If you keep a blog where you’re critical about your workplace, make it private, and don’t post to it during working hours. Don’t make the same mistake I did. They WILL find out about it somehow. You are being watched and monitored every time you use a computer.
you’re an idiot
Tough break. Of all the issues in posting a livejournal, using real names is not the one to overlook.
You could try to talk your way back. I don’t know what relationship you had with the company before they found out about this. And by now, perhaps their shock and outrage will have faded a bit so you can reason your way in.
This is something I don’t think I will ever understand. Why would anyone feel the need to post their inner most thoughts to anonymous people on the internet? That’s not a dig at the OP since he certainly isn’t the only one doing it. You will never see me opening a TMI thread or getting a LJ account even using aliases. Maybe I’m just a more private person than most.
I’m fairly private, but I keep a Livejournal. Just that I don’t post to it at work and anything that could be sensitive is either kept off the journal or made private.
People use LJ for interactivity though, so filters can work too. You just have to hope that no one rats you out.
So, is the deal that you think that someone tipped them off or is the case that they have people with nothing better to do but lurk in LJ looking for someone that happens to work there? Either way, pretty lame
+1. I am clearly old school at 43, but I don’t get it either. I live in fear of my kids getting old enough and of this online culture to not see the need for what, to me, are common sense boundaries. That is in NO way meant to be a dis to anyone - sorry if it comes across that way.
I can hardly wait until politicians and other highly-visible roles are filled with folks from this generation - blogs, LiveJournal, etc. - clearly, no one will be electable!
Or how about option #3; they have an IT department that tracks all internet activity, primarily with an eye to those who might be surfing to sites that are known to cause potential security breaches with spyware or viruses, and saw unauthorized LiveJournal activity during work hours by the OP. It’s entirely possible they were ready to call her in on that alone, perhaps even for merely a warning, but the added slander against fellow employees and customers was the icing on the cake that pushed it into a firing, in which case, not lame at all.
Next time, under any circumstances, say “I will not sign that.” They can’t make you.
I’m something of a hardass, but I wouldn’t have fired you for this unless the complaint came from a customer. Otherwise, I’d tell you to change the names and start doing it on your own time.
Just a slight correction to the title of the OP: the term is “dooced,” after dooce.com, perhaps the first person to be fired because of her personal website ca. 2002. Dooced
I’m gonna second this. When I read that you’d signed that form, my jaw dropped open. Signing it does NOTHING for you, and EVERYTHING for them- they’re just trying to cover their own asses. Generally speaking, once a company decides to fire me, I don’t feel the urge to owe them anything.
At my last job, I’d finally had enough (and had been offered another job), so I quit. HR wanted me to sign an NDA- I said, “No thanks”. They couldn’t do a thing to me.
The only caveat I’d add is that if they are offering you something (a severence package or even just a few extra weeks pay), it can be worth it to sign one of those. If, as seems to be the case here, they’re booting you out on your ass then yea, don’t sign.
Sorry, much as I am no fan of corporations, they got you dead to rights on this one. You used company equipment, on company time, to complain about the company? I’d fire you too. Everyone knows, you complain at home, on your own computer.
(I truly am sorry. If making a bonehead move was always actionable, no one would ever have a job.)
It doesn’t really matter whether or not the OP used company equipment/time. You can be fired (legally) for badmouthing the company even on your own time and using your own computer.
Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to s*** where you eat? The company one works for puts food in your mouth. If you’re unhappy at a place, leave, then complain.
I have a coworker who has posted some very insensitive and ciritical griping about her job and superiors on her myspace blog. I don’t know if she realizes this could be held against her.
Reading this thread made me **very ** glad I held back on posting some work- and coworker-related complaints that I badly wanted to share. Sorry about your experience, but at least you’re helping others out.
