You are FIRED!

With social networking, particularly Facebook, it seems that employers can do a little detective work before investing in a potential employee.  But, should companies be allowed to fire employees for what they do outside of work time?  I still don’t understand how people do not have high security on their profile.  I guess they don’t mind anyone trolling through their wall, seeing their pictures, reading their likes and groups listed.   They don’t mind the stalkers, perverts, potential employers, head hunters, trollers, or weirdos going through their online identity.  I guess I just have too much to hide.  Although I do have a public blog, so who am I to judge?!

You never want to run into your boss while you are getting wasted at the local pub.  It’s almost as weird as seeing your teacher outside of the classroom setting.  But, when you see another side of them that you are normally not privy to, it can be quite the eye opener.

Now, I do not entirely agree with firing someone for what they do outside of work, but it does lend to what type of person they are.  If some dude is addicted to crack and he drives a school bus, I think I would support random drug testing and getting them fired.  How about the chiropractor who has an addiction to Oxycontin?  Are they really the modest, diligent, conservative individual when you see pictures of them in a ho-esque outfit with white powder on the outside rim of their nose and HUGE dilated pupils?  Maybe at work they ARE that person, but now that I know you can be that other person too, I’m not sure I can take your word of commitment seriously.  You are just masquerading as a hardworker, when really you are a Pepsi head that comes in late 3 times a week.

Maybe you can balance both the party and the work world.  Many people can.  Who doesn’t need a break after a long, hard week?  Why should you be punished for what you do on your own time when it doesn’t effect your work?  You’re a Project Manager/Web Designer/Instructor/Accountant/Tech Support/Analyst/etc.  No on is going to die if I go to a 3-day rave and go directly to work Monday.
It’s a slippery slope.  But, somethings are just so obvious.

But, if you’re killed someone due to Drinking and Driving, I don’t want you driving the subway.  If you’ve O.D. but were brought back, I don’t think you should work as a counselor at a rehab clinic.  If you leave your elderly mom in an uninsulated garage while you live in the house, your compassion and empathy are not meeting standards required to work as a director at an old age home.

But, once your honour/character comes into question, people will deal with you differently.  Even those who say they don’t judge people.  In the back of your mind you wonder if you can trust them after you read on thedirty.com that they blah, blah, blah.  Which probably isn’t true, but that’s how haters hate with their rumours.

Don’t be your own idiot that sabotages yourself.  Pictures of you toking, hitting the bong, snorting a line, etc is for you and your friends.  Make sure you lock down your profile.  Create groups with restricted access.  Un-tag yourself.  In this digital age, those embarrassing photos in your youth/now will come back to haunt you as they live on forever.