You can get fired for what you put in your blog

Simonetti_cleavageThink twice before discussing what goes on at work in your blog. It can get your fired.  News stories are cropping up about this trend.

Let me give you three examples of some stupid people who blogged about the office and got the axe.  It could happen to you:

1. Heather Armstrong, a Web designer in L.A., blogged about the firm's holiday party. She quoted people saying things like:

  • "In honor of last night, Ruben 'Pizza Slinging' Sandoval is renaming his band 'Super Human Puker'"

  • "I will be giving a seminar next week called: 'Holding Your Own...The insiders guide to drinking in moderation and the lost art of pacing.'"

  • "Shut up, you're gay too?"

  • "Dude, [Asian database administrator] is passed out. Let's give him a wedgie."

  • "I'm gonna hurl."

Heather got "dooced," which is "to lose one's job because of one's web site." (Her blog is located at dooce.com.)

2. Mark Jen got hired at Google on January 17.  Based on information heard at his new-employee orientation, he blogged about the firm's revenues and profits, and marketing plans.  Subsequently, he also blogged complaints about Google's health care plan and compenssation.  By January 28 Jen was fired.

3. Ellen Simonetti, former Delta flight attendant, posted racy photos of herself -- in a Delta uniform on a jet airplane --on her blog (see above).  In her post "Diary of a Flight Attendant," one photo shows her revealing her cleavage, another balancing on a row of seats in what is a near crotch-shot, and a third one showing off her butt as she explores an overhead bin.  She got fired.

I ask myself what were these people thinking? Many words come to mind, like "stupid," "dimwit" and "fool."  What you say in your blog is the same as printing it in the local newspapaper, except that more people will see it.

To quote the now-wiser Heather Armstrong, ""My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET."

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