splagg ..talk about bad behaviour

"A 16-year-old girl from Essex [Kimberley Swann] was fired after she described her office job as 'boring' on her Facebook page". The company defended their action by stating "her display of disrespect and dissatisfaction undermined the relationship and made it untenable".

It is still preposterous to think that we could be fired for being at the pub and saying the job is 'boring' when a friend asks. We have changed the way we socialise and communicate and saying your job is boring on Facebook is comparable to being at the pub - you disclose something to a group of friends except that you're on record, and maybe someone in your Facebook group is not to be totally trusted, and that what you wrote in a moment of fatigue can be re-incarnated in front of your boss on Monday morning when perhaps you are refreshed for another week of work. You are on record in the same way that someone could make a video clip at the pub and send it to the boss. What next? Really! I suppose we could be in the park talking with a friend, fifty metres from anyone, and a long-range mic picks up a private comment about the office chair being uncomfortable. Cue sirens, and from nowhere John Cleese (co-worker) is on the scene - "right stop that, that's silly, I'm telling on you". Now Benny Hill (boss) is chasing you and your friend around the park in double-time with daft music to boot.

The company added "had Miss Swann put up a poster on the staff notice board making the same comments and invited other staff to read it there would have been the same result."

Put it into some context Mr Ivell, or make a better case. It is far from the same thing as putting a note up AT work saying the job is boring or crap. Most people would accept that such an act would be disrespectful and inappropriate, and might make the position untenable.