Finally understand the Facebook no-no's

[raebabelvn]

I've been having a lot of problems with a co-worker lately, and when she requested to be my FB friend, I thought about it long and hard before I accepted. I'm a nice person, and I give people the benefit of the doubt the majority of the time. She had been a lil nicer to me, so I thought this might be her way of mending bridges.

Wrong.

I have a nasty cold. One of those ones that settles into your chest and hangs on for days. Two days ago, I slept all day, then attempted to keep my dinner plans I had made a week or so ago. I would've canceled but its for a younger girl that I mentor. I went to dinner, and I was miserable. Could barely breathe, and I was exhausted when I arrived home. Up until that point, I had been feeling ok and I was going to try working, but once I got home, I knew I couldn't manage a 10 hour shift. I called in. I posted a status about needing lots of breathing tx's and sleep, and I thanked the young girl for putting up with my miserably sick self while at dinner.

I received a call from my nursing supervisor the next morning. Basically, my co-worker knew I called out, and she saw this status. This status had nothing to do with work, and in my opinion, isn't even incriminating. She "misread" it and told my supervisor that I went out to dinner after I had called in. I had to explain to my supervisor that I had attempted to go out to dinner before I called in, but was so sick I left early. She was still angry and told me that "it didn't look good" and asked why I even went out to dinner. So, I explained that the plans had been made for a week, and it was with a younger girl I mentor. Its been a rough week between me getting sick and my gramma being in the hospital. I was just trying to fit promised time in with the girl. That seemed to shut her up a bit.

After that, I immediately deleted the co-worker. I never post anything about work, or closely related to work on my FB as I know what can happen. I have learned my lesson. Work and FB do NOT mix.

[raebabelvn, LVN]

I guess not.

Then again, I know no one will ever be able to tag me for spending a sick day on FB.

It's funny... The way you say that no one will be able to tag you for spending a sick day on FB sounds like you're equating it to spending a day at the mall or a theme park haha

[indigonurse]

The only issue your employer needs to be concerned about is if you followed the employee handbook in regards to calling in sick. If your supervisor is basing their decision on hearsay from another employee then I believe the supervisor is guilty of gossiping and starting rumors. It is none of your employers business to talk to you about what you do when you are off the clock. They only time they can get involved is if someone can prove you have been convicted of a crime.

[SBarn]

I don't understand how anyone can say "If you are well enough to be on Facebook you are well enough to be at work." You do understand that you can pick up your phone, update your status and go back to sleep, right? There is no real effort required. And, it can be a total time drain if you allow it to be. If you can't manage your time then you are right not to participate in the Facebook world.

I think it totally stinks what your coworker did. Lesson learned and it didn't cost near as much as it could have. Merry Christmas!

[alem-tsahai]

Happy Holidays everyone!!

OP,

I hope you give that lousy co-worker of yours the side-eye every time you pass her by. That was a nasty move on her part, ugh!

For those who believe posting on FB while ill is an incredibly laborious task, get real. It takes more effort to get up to go to the BR than surf the internet while ill (sorry if that comes off as crass).

Live and learn OP. I'm sure a lot of readers just made a mental note to themselves after reading your initial post :).

[AKAnurse4]

I will NEVER ACCEPT ANY of my coworkers on Facebook! EVER! And they ask all the time lol

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

While I don't agree with your coworker playing tattle-tale with your boss...you did put information about what you were doing out there for people--including the coworker--to see. And you can't control what they do with that info. You have to be careful with anything you put online, as it's nowhere near as private as we'd like to think it is.

I hope you've gotten over the cold and are feeling better!

[Katie5]

Obviously there are two schools of thought on this- those who are for and against.But remember that all situations are unique and should be treated as such.

Peeping on facebook is not neccessarily the same as working 10hours on the floor, but again, nursing staff who are short staffed might not be very disposed to looking at it as such.

We need to consider from both sides- each has a valid point.

[Katie5]

I will NEVER ACCEPT ANY of my coworkers on Facebook! EVER! And they ask all the time lol

Stick to your guns- their persistent asking means no good.

[Katie5]

Happy Holidays everyone!!

OP,

I hope you give that lousy co-worker of yours the side-eye every time you pass her by. That was a nasty move on her part, ugh!

For those who believe posting on FB while ill is an incredibly laborious task, get real. It takes more effort to get up to go to the BR than surf the internet while ill (sorry if that comes off as crass).

Live and learn OP. I'm sure a lot of readers just made a mental note to themselves after reading your initial post :).

Honey if you're that ill, you don't WANT to do anything;)

[IVqueen23]

This is why i am scared to add anybody from work, although I get along with a lot of my co-workers, I fear this same senario. I give you credit! Feel betterr!!

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

I agree w/ Ruby and OCN. I understand that one might be physically able to post on FB while too ill to work but I sincerely do NOT understand why you would want to. But then I don't understand why healthy people do it either. A lot of self involved over-sharing that interests no one but you, lol. Just keep a diary.

[CaOTn96]

i can understand the part about trying to go to dinner because the plans were made a week in advance. and i can understand feeling too sick afterward to go to work. what i cannot understand is why, when you felt too sick to go to work, you felt well enough -- and compelled to -- update your "status" on facebook. you knew you had "friended" co-workers, and from your post you knew that this one co-worker might not be trustworthy. so why even go there?

as the co-worker of a nurse who went out after work to celebrate her 30th birthday, called in sick the next morning, and then spent the rest of the day posting photos of her drunken self celebrating her birthday the night before, i can see where your co-workers might not think the best of you right now. we all got stuck picking up the slack that day because bebe was "horribly ill -- too ill to come to work" ten minutes before the shift started. as a consequence, most of us who may have been inclined to let some of her less than stellar work habits go because she was so cute and so friendly, are no longer willing to pick up her slack. that's a helluva price to pay for stupidity.

i don't have a facebook because i do not trust the lack of privacy. i know many sites collect information about you from social networking sites. google your name and you might be surprised at how much information has been collected without you knowledge or consent.

spokeo, zabasearch, radaris, and intelieus all collect data about you from various sites.

mylife dot com has been known to swipe photos from fb to compile unauthorized free to the public personal profiles on people with personal data such as photo, employment, addresses, relatives addresses etc.

plus like ruby v i've recently worked dangerously short due to a call-in. the next day a co-worker mentioned to me that the rn who had called in sick posted about something he was doing as a facebook status. neither myself nor my co-worker told the nm but it did tick us off.