Today, I heard on public radio that people are losing their jobs because of what they’re saying about their bosses on their blogs, Facebook, and other social media. I can understand businesses wanting to preserve their images, but in two cases that were reported on, both women did not divulge their places of employment, and they still lost their jobs. One was a teacher and one a paramedic. A lawyer interviewed during the report said that companies are developing policies to regulate their employees’ use of social media and that during a job interview, you could legally be asked to open your Ffacebook page under the pretense of your prospective employer wanting to see if you are engaged in illegal activity.
Here’s my opinion. What you say and do outside of work is nobody else’s business as long as it doesn’t affect your work performance, and as long as you’re not threatening to plant a stink bomb in your boss’s chair that will detonate when he sits down, you should be able to say anything you want on Facebook, your blob, or in a bar. What happened to the First Amendment, anyway?
Fortunately, I’m my own boss. I can say anything I want on my blog without repercussion. Abbie Johnson Taylor is a fat bitch, and her writing’s not worth the paper it’s printed on or the computer and software used to generate it. Okay, Abbie, you’re fired! Oh, shoot, I guess I won’t be able to plant that stink bomb now.
Abbie Johnson Taylor
Author of We Shall Overcome
