Getting Fired in 140 Characters or Less - A Cautionary Tale

Posted by in Career Advice


I have said it hundreds of times, but it seems that it still bears repeating: Never post anything on a social networking site that you don't want the whole world to see.
 
Whether you are looking for a job, or just want to keep working at the job you have, don't get yourself fired in 140 characters or less. I know, I know, you are probably thinking that you already know this, but obviously there are still some people who aren't aware that you can get fired due to poorly chosen tweets. Here are some of the people who have had to learn that lesson the hard way:
 
A job seeker, theconner, interviewed at Cisco and was given a job offer. Shortly thereafter, theconner tweeted:
Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.
 
Unfortunately for theconner, someone from Cisco saw the tweet right away and replied with:
Who is the hiring manager? I'm sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.
 
 
CNN fired their Senior Middle East editor Octavia Nasr over a controversial tweet. She said:
Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot..
 
CNN was upset that she would express her respect for Lebanon's deceased Grand Ayatollah Mohamman Hussein Fadlallah who is often considered anti-American and has been linked to bombings and terrorist attacks that killed more than 260 Americans.
 
 
A waiter at the Beverly Hills Greengrass tweeted about having served actress Jane Adams. He said that she skipped out on the tab and had her agent pay the bill the next day, without leaving a tip. The actress saw the tweet and was upset. She returned to the resturant and tipped the waiter $3 for the $13 tab. The Beverly Hills restaurant fired the waiter. Here is the tweet:
A month later she brought in $3 tip. Made a big deal about $3. Bitterly said she read about it on Twitter. 2 weeks later, no job.
 
 
Mike Bacsik, a former MLB pitcher, now a radio host was fired after making a racist comment on Twitter after a Mavericks-Spurs game. As a Mavericks fan, he was upset about fouls that happened during the game. He decided to vent his frustration on Twitter:
Congrats to all the dirty mexicans in San Antonio
 
Even though he apologized, he was fired from his radio job.
 
 
A woman who worked for a non-profit organization in St.Louis was fired after her boss discovered through Twitter that she also had been running a successful sex blog. Although the woman had used a different name and an assumed identity for the blog, it was still traced back to her and she was fired.

 

 

An employee at the California Pizza Kitchen posted his opinion about the uniforms that he is required to wear to work. The tweet contained some profanity, but was basically:

@Calpizzakitchen black button ups are the lamest stuff ever!!
 
He thought his identity was safe, but forgot that by tagging California Pizza Kitchen, they would see the tweet. They were able to track down his location by looking at his profile and fired him.
 
 
 
So, the moral of the story is, think before you tweet. Everyone has a bad day, everyone wants to vent. There are better ways to do it than in the public forum. Even if you don't follow your boss and think that they won't find out anyway, they can, and depending on how egregious the tweet was, it might not just cost you your job, but it could even ruin your professional reputation for the rest of your career.
 
 
What do you think about people getting fired for Twitter posts? Let me know in the comments.
 
 
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for Administrativejobsblog. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
 
 
 
Comment

Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.

Jobs to Watch