One day I wrote an angry post about a co-worker, the next morning was denounced to a supervisor, then two weeks later I was laid off from my job… that was two years ago.
The post, the result of a vexation induced rant, was bad judgment. True, every bit of it was true, but I should’ve never made it public.
I went to great pains to keep the person anonymous. The co-worker was not identified by name nor gender, was not revealed to be an officemate, and the bullet-point way the post was written, it wasn’t even clear it was about one, single person.
The moment I hit ‘publish,’ I knew it was not the best decision I’ve ever made. And, that little Jiminy Cricket voice telling me to rescind the command or at least make it a password protected tirade, was ignored
The person in question found the post, printed off copies, distributed them to each of our fellow co-workers, then forwarded a copy to our boss in an email.
The first response was to call me a liar, accuse me of systematically trying to sabotage work efforts, and at one point, declare to our boss that I needed professional psychiatric help. The ironic thing was, to know who the piece was about, this person had to recognize what I wrote was true. If I my statements were false, it would have been impossible to know exactly who had made me so mad.
The lay-off wasn’t a surprise. The company we worked for had been hemorrhaging for quite some time. Different departments and divisions nationwide had laid-off dozens of employees and the parent company was in the midst of a bankruptcy proceeding. To me, the timing was suspect, but eliminating my position was a justifiable business move. I have no way of knowing whether the outcome would have been different if I hadn’t published the rant.
I didn’t deny what I had done, I didn’t make excuses, and explained that I had already made the post private (which it still is). I also did not apologize for what I wrote, only saying that publicizing my ire was a poor choice.
The day I was let go, I thanked my boss for the opportunities I had been given at the company, then quickly and quietly cleared out my office. I was gone by the end of the day.
Submitted as part of Shell’s “Pour Your Heart Out” writing prompt at Things I Can’t Say. Please stop by to read the other posts, and give a little comment love.
Day 14 – 30 Days of Shamelessness: hold yourself accountable — not guilty — for something crappy you did to someone else.
Thin spiral notebook 
Whoa. That’s so upsetting!!! I’m sorry that happened to you.
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If someone wants to fire me, fire me…but please don’t make it for a totally bs reason like that.
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I admire your strength to be able to share what some people would say, “deep dark secrets.” It does take a lot of courage to persevere and grow from your mistake. It’s a mistake that your children can learn from. Great post!
Lynn
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Oh wow. What a hard way to have to learn that lesson.
It is annoying though, that the person knew it was about them when they wouldn’t if it wasn’t true.
I’ve had a few statements in some of my posts that a few people have taken personally b/c I’ve seen them vent on twitter about it… but I never mentioned names, just talked about certain behaviors… and if they didn’t recognize themselves in my post, they wouldn’t be complaining…
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Holding yourself accountable without the guilt. Love that. But I take issue that what you did was crappy. What was crappy was the distribution in that manner. Still, a gentle reminder to all of us that what we publish apparently really does matter!
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You were “Dooced”. You should be world famous by now. Oh. Wait. You are. 🙂
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Wow, what a painful lesson to learn about blogging! And that’s kind of what Shell wrote about today too – how some things can’t be talked about “out loud” without repercussions. It sounds like you’ve moved past it in a healthy way. Good for you.
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People rarely like to hear the truth. That’s exactly why it’s so important for it to be told! Of course, the venue does matter…
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I just don’t know what to say, short of damn it.
From what I gather, it seems that whomever that former coworker was, your words hit a nerve, mainly I suspect because he/she knew it was true.
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You’re starting to make me mad. I’ll never be able to publish my crap that happened to me and holding myself accountable for my reaction, because your stories and writing are so awesome.
I’ve been there. Didn’t identify the person. It didn’t cost me my job, but I lost some integrity against an evil human being.
I think writing about your flaws is not only admirable, but cleansing. Thanks for letting me and otehrs know. You are a stand up gal.
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