More Examples of posting on Facebook and getting fired

I think it's a stretch to say "The police should mow them all down" is threatening people's lives.

RoseQueen we must have been typing the same time and had the same thoughts :)

I think it's a stretch to say "The police should mow them all down" is threatening people's lives.

I guess it is how you preseve mowing down. People can die from being trampled. Some people when discribing being mowed down are people that are hit and run over by a car You can die that way too.

I think it's a stretch to say "The police should mow them all down" is threatening people's lives.

The post said mow them all down with machine guns. I am assuming she meant the machine guns were to be loaded with bullets, not Nerf balls.

Yes, I understand that. But the poster is not threatening anyone's lives. If she said SHE should mow them down, that would be threatening lives. I am going under the presumption that the Facebook poster is not part of the local police force.

If I were to say "Fred Phelps should be taken out" I am not actually threatening Fred Phelps' life (which I realize is purely hypothetical anyway, as he is dead).

Yes, I understand that. But the poster is not threatening anyone's lives. If she said SHE should mow them down, that would be threatening lives. I am going under the presumption that the Facebook poster is not part of the local police force.

She wants SOMEONE to kill them doesn't she? That is a threat on a persons life is it not?

I don't know, did she put a contract out? Or is she simply expressing her opinion on how the POLICE should handle the rioters?

I feel the need to clarify that I found her words abhorrent. But she did not break any laws by saying them (and threatening people's lives is in fact against the law), so I think it serves little purpose to be hyperbolic about it.

I just presented proffesionalism and social media to the incoming first semester students at our bi annual bootcamp. This would have been a good discussion.

Ideally, no, a person's behavior outside of work shouldn't represent their place of employment. Realistically? It does. People WILL think, "I can't believe X facility would employ a person like that." Or, "please don't let that horrible person be my CNA/tech/whatever."

I'm conflicted on this, as a previous poster stated. You should be free to do what you want outside of work. But what if your behavior reflects on your facility? Given that this situation has been very racially charged, I think it's fair to guess she may have been being racial with her statement. What she said was ugly, either way. I'm not sure what the right answer was here. I'm glad it wasn't my decision to make.

She was being hyperbolic in her frustration over the continued rioting. I don't think she actually meant it literally.

I'm with klone and wooh here. When my kids have done something incredibly stupid, I've posted, "I wanna hit my kids upside the head with a 2 x 4!" Am I really going to do that? No! Hyperbole caused by frustration. If I post something like that, the last consequence I expect is a visit from DCFS.

There has to be a line, and I think this employer crossed it.

This! Exactly!

Maybe the person was just tired of the people that cause trouble by rioting and breaking into businesses. People say they wish someone would nuke all if the middle east. But I doubt they mean harm to the innocent people in the middle east. This could have been a good person that had a bad thing happen to them.

I won't be bullied into not being who I am off the clock. And I don't think anyone else should either.

There you have it, the consequences of posting your opinions or venting your frustrations on Facebook/Twitter wherever can be dire. If you friend co-workers and identify your employer on your Face Book page, you are in effect handing them material they can use against you whether you like it or not. That is the reality.