Remember when things traveled by word of mouth? I was just listening to an interview with a leading customer service professional here on Long Island, and she said, “Today it’s not word of mouth, it’s word of mouse.” Very cute. Very funny. And very scary!!!
Years ago if people had a complaint about you, they would have to draft a letter, maybe go see your boss, face to face. It took a lot of effort. Now, when someone gets angry, it’s so easy to go right back to their desk and shoot off an angry email and copy people up the wazoo. They can go on a rant on Facebook or Twitter about their boss or their company or even a co-worker. It’s just a click of the mouse and they are off to the races.
But if you’re one of those people who love to rant, and feel like it’s ok to just let it all out on social media, I want to remind you that you better be sure you really don’t care who reads it. Relationships are crucial in the workplace, and they start from day one. The more you put into them, the more you will get out of them. There are people who can really help you at work, and often they are the same people who can really hurt you at work. We should always be careful of what we say in emails and on social media about other people. There have been countless stories about people saying things on social media about their company or manager and having it backfire. My recent personal favorite is a teenager from Mansfield Texas who was starting a new job at Jet’s Pizza on Saturday. She was less than thrilled about it, but hey, it’s a job. So she went Twitter the night before sarcastically tweeted, “Ew, I start this (!!***!!!***!!) job tomorrow.” She also added a series of thumbs down emojies to make sure everyone reading this would know how much she already hated her new job.
Unfortunately for her, a staff member at the Jet’s Pizza read the tweet and sent it to the store manager who quickly tweeted back, “And…no you don’t start that(!!***!!!***!!) job tomorrow. I just fired you. Good luck with your no money, no job life!”
Think only a stupid teenager would do this? Think again. I used to be in HR. Boy could I tell you some stories!
Thoughts…….. Contact me at abbe@TECResourceCenter.com