This story's been making the rounds of the 'sphere (I picked it up from Mobylives) and I can't help but shake my head at it:
An employee of book chain Waterstone's has been fired for material he included in his blog.
Joe Gordon, who has been running his Woolamaloo Gazette satirical newsletter since 1992, was dismissed last week after working for the bookseller for 11 years, following a disciplinary hearing.
Gordon's blog, which covers everything from the city of Edinburgh to UN scientists in Iraq, also mentions his work in one of the chain's Edinburgh branches. As well as discussing visits from authors to the store and which cartoon characters his work colleagues would be, Gordon occasionally used his online diary to vent steam about his working life.
But unfortunately, referring to his employer in a light-hearted fashion as "Bastardstone's" got him sacked:
"I was gobsmacked," Gordon said of his sacking. The ex-bookseller, who ran a book group for the shop and has appeared on TV and radio as a Waterstone's employee, continued: "I've done so much promotion for this company, it's not true."
If his manager had asked him to stop talking about his job at Waterstone's in his blog, Gordon said he would have done so. "I could live with not talking about that... they've been so heavy-handed," he said.
Gordon is currently talking to his union about his dismissal and may take further action. Waterstone's did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
At Gordon's blog, there's been an outpouring of support, with positive comments added by Neil Gaiman and Richard Morgan. It seems obvious to me that since the blog predated Gordon's employment at Waterstone's that it was meant to be entirely personal. And besides, it's not like the chain's management is meant to be all warm and fuzzies...
Every time I hear about Waterstones, I actually feel fortunate I only have to deal with Borders and Barnes & Noble. Then again, I deal with some cool local management, too.
Still, Waterstones should be proud. It's the best advertisement for British indie shops ever.
Posted by: Jim Winter | January 11, 2005 at 09:58 AM
On the other hand, I see the employers part. *If* you use your blog to publicly slam an employer *and* you identify said employer, it's basically libel. Even if it's only the opinions of the employee. I'm very careful not to talk about my employer specifically so that there appears to be no conflict. He crossed the line and they have the legal right to fire him.
A blog is a public forum. People need to be careful.
Posted by: Lazygal | January 11, 2005 at 10:13 AM
"He crossed the line and they have the legal right to fire him."
Maybe. But having the legal right to do something, and it being a decent thing to do are two entirely different things. If Waterstones are such hyper-sensitive ickle babies with so little faith in the public standing of their business that they can't take a little gentle public ribbing from an employee, that's fair enough, if rather sad.
But what they could have done, is called him in, said look, we're really uncomfortable with you doing this, we don't think it's appropriate, and we'd like you to stop, please. Now. And *then* if he'd gone on doing it, well maybe they could have spit their dummy out of the pram with a little more justification.
But they didn't do that. They sacked him. Over what? A few bad puns on his personal, out of work time blog? Jesus.
And apart from being a pathetic over-reaction, it's amusingly incompetent. How many people read his comments before? How many people have read them *now*? Why, the management of Waterstones have been responsible for more people worldwide reading - and making - negative comments about their company than Gordon ever did.
Perhaps they should sack themselves.
Posted by: Iain Rowan | January 11, 2005 at 05:09 PM