Just been suspended, disciplinary tomorrow.

[c8bof]

zaphod42 said:

You are missing the point. The act covering interception refers to the active interception and tracking when using a work device. I.e scanning emails, etc, checking which sites employees visit, etc.

It is nothing to do with the company monitoring material that an employee has put in the public domain and is "on the Internet" (either directly by that employee or indirectly) which is what happened in this case.

Oh, and HRA doesn't enshrine complete freedom of speech, so they won't fear being sued against that.

Agreed. And it's probably covered somewhere else (in a company code of conduct, for example) phrased something like 'you must not do anything that brings the company into disrepute'. Bad-mouthing them in public (ie on the internet) is just that. HRA got nowt to do with it.

This isn't a dig at the OP. I'm still surprised at the amount of supposed bright and IT literate folk who constantly bang on about how mean, nasty and rubbish their work is on a FB account which has their colleagues as friends.

[chiswick67]

c8bof said:

This isn't a dig at the OP. I'm still surprised at the amount of supposed bright and IT literate folk who constantly bang on about how mean, nasty and rubbish their work is on a FB account which has their colleagues as friends.

Thanks, comments taken on board.
Was actually (intended and I believed) as response to a direct question from a former colleague on Twitter.

Would NEVER have a dig at an employer on Facebook.

[condor]

Good to see that you faced the music and didn't play the off sick with stress card.
Try for a temp Christmas job to tide you over.

[chiswick67]

condor said:

Good to see that you faced the music and didn't play the off sick with stress card.
Try for a temp Christmas job to tide you over.

Cheers... not sure whether to go back into contracting or try for a perm job again, (IT) Contracting has changed a lot since I last did it.
Would love to be able to tell everyone the full story on here, but do not want to share it on an open forum. Let me just say though, that, if people knew the full facts, they would perhaps not think I am quite as stupid as they currently do.

[c8bof]

chiswick67 said:

Cheers... not sure whether to go back into contracting or try for a perm job again, (IT) Contracting has changed a lot since I last did it.
Would love to be able to tell everyone the full story on here, but do not want to share it on an open forum. Let me just say though, that, if people knew the full facts, they would perhaps not think I am quite as stupid as they currently do.

Oops, I didn't realise you were an IT bod - my final sentence there sounds even more like a dig now, apols. It was in reference to IT people on my own FB who, despite repeatedly being told not to, continue to make disparaging comments about their employer.

A hard lesson learned which is a shame, but all the best for getting something else

[Conian]

chiswick67 said:

if people knew the full facts, they would perhaps not think I am quite as stupid as they currently do.

the facts are what they are, and while they may justify your feelings, they dont justify your actions, it is pleasing that you are taking it on the chin and not being a whiney bh, I wish you genuine luck from here on in

[uk66fastback]

Seeing as you have got the bullet, what is now wrong with telling *the full story*? You have more mitigating circumstances I presume ...

[windman2011]

I cannot understand why anybody over 16 has a Facebook and why anybody would use twitter for anything other than promotional purposes.

Facebook has become the new 'bebo' and is just full of crap and daft photos.

If you want a rant what happened to meeting the lads and having a good banter.

I share the amazement of others when I've seen photos of supposedly 'professional' people in all sorts of situations that would see them get the sack. The best one though is the senior IT man who, during a time of rumoured outsourcing, took a 'holiday' then posted photos of himself in China doing touristy stuff. Just so happened that the outsourcing rumours were that there was a move to China coming. Staff members were his friends on Facebook, saw the photos in China, cue hysteria, cue P45 on his desk or thereabouts. He left the company very quickly with a red face and the move to China happened inside 8 months. Even senior management have fallen foul of what is essentially a teenage website.

[chiswick67]

uk66fastback said:

Seeing as you have got the bullet, what is now wrong with telling *the full story*? You have more mitigating circumstances I presume ...

To be honest, feel reluctant to share such information on an open site.
I realise that I no longer work there, but I do not want to leave myself open to legal issues.

Once bitten and all that...but yes, there is more to the story.

[Sheets Tabuer]

I thought no true statement was libelous?

[Pothole]

windman2011 said:

I cannot understand why anybody over 16 has a Facebook and why anybody would use twitter for anything other than promotional purposes.

Facebook has become the new 'bebo' and is just full of crap and daft photos.

If you want a rant what happened to meeting the lads and having a good banter.

I share the amazement of others when I've seen photos of supposedly 'professional' people in all sorts of situations that would see them get the sack. The best one though is the senior IT man who, during a time of rumoured outsourcing, took a 'holiday' then posted photos of himself in China doing touristy stuff. Just so happened that the outsourcing rumours were that there was a move to China coming. Staff members were his friends on Facebook, saw the photos in China, cue hysteria, cue P45 on his desk or thereabouts. He left the company very quickly with a red face and the move to China happened inside 8 months. Even senior management have fallen foul of what is essentially a teenage website.

You're entitled to your opinion of course, but it's slightly devalued when you use the term 'a Facebook' as if each 'member' had their own site. Also, just because you can't understand it and you can cite one example of someone not knowing how to use privacy settings, can you really write it off with any in-depth knowledge of your subject matter?

My own experience has been quite different: I have recruited staff, sold a motorcycle, organised quite a few parties/gatherings with utter simplicity, managing to bring together some quite far-flung and widely spread out people in the process, the whole experience being made much easier by the use of said social network.

As for it being a 'teenage website' I think you have again allowed your own prejudice to prevent you from accepting its more widespread appeal. According to my research the demographic breakdown is like this:




which would suggest that 25% or less of Facebook users are teenagers.

I use the network rather than letting it use me as much as possible. Only a few friends get to see everything, I have no line managers or even current colleagues in any friends lists, although in previous jobs this has never been an issue (indeed the founder and the current CEO of the last but one company I worked for are Facebook friends and have open access to every photo of drunkenness and debauchery on my page, much of it company-funded. I guess it's because they see me as a human being that they don't let what happens outside of work make any difference to their attitude towards me.)

Anyway, you carry on dismissing it out of hand.

[Some Gump]

I honestly don't understand any support for the OP. I currently work witha few people who arrive each day with the simple intention of doing the bare minimum and going home. I wish employment law was different so that my employer could bin them off and get people that want to get on in life instead. God knows there are hundreds of people currently without jobs that would give it a proper go.

[Tonsko]

Sheets Tabuer said:

I thought no true statement was libelous?

Heh heh. Sneaky.

[stevieb]

Some Gump said:

I honestly don't understand any support for the OP. I currently work witha few people who arrive each day with the simple intention of doing the bare minimum and going home. I wish employment law was different so that my employer could bin them off and get people that want to get on in life instead. God knows there are hundreds of people currently without jobs that would give it a proper go.

If only things were that simple. I would start to question what motivation the employees have and what the management team is doing to encourage it's own employees. Money is nt the only motivator

[NorthernBoy]

windman2011 said:

I cannot understand why anybody over 16 has a Facebook and why anybody would use twitter for anything other than promotional purposes.

Facebook has become the new 'bebo' and is just full of crap and daft photos.

If you want a rant what happened to meeting the lads and having a good banter.

My best friends now live in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Singapore, Dubai, Berlin, Newport Beach, Ottawa, and New York. Most work, and most have families, so meeting and having a bit of banter just isn't going to happen. Facebook keeps us all in touch with what we are each up to, let's us see each others' photos, and the like.

Even among my schoolfriends, you'd struggle to get over half of them in a circle of 50 miles radius, and I don't think that that's so unusual nowadays.

If you still live a half mile from your parents, school, and job, then that's great for you, but loads of us have had to move, often, for our careers, and social media are a godsend when it comes to keeping in touch, at times that work for everyone.

[NorthernBoy]

Some Gump said:

I honestly don't understand any support for the OP. I currently work witha few people who arrive each day with the simple intention of doing the bare minimum and going home. I wish employment law was different so that my employer could bin them off and get people that want to get on in life instead. God knows there are hundreds of people currently without jobs that would give it a proper go.

I agree with you there. When I worked in the civil service, or in a supermarket, there were far too many people like that, who thought that turning up and going through the motions was enough. Strangely, in a job with a proper incentive scheme, and zero job security (in banking), there are virtually none. Instead of asking "what can I do to avoid effort", people instead think "how can I do my job better, how can I add more value".

It is completely alien to me now to read people like the OP, who seem not to get at all why they are surplus to requirements.

OP, I hope that you find a good job again, soon, and when you do, please think back to what you've been doing here, pull your socks up, stop taking sickies, and make yourself so valuable that firms will be fighting to take you on.

[zaphod42]

windman2011 said:

I cannot understand why anybody over 16 has a Facebook and why anybody would use twitter for anything other than promotional purposes.

Facebook has become the new 'bebo' and is just full of crap and daft photos.

If you want a rant what happened to meeting the lads and having a good banter.

I share the amazement of others when I've seen photos of supposedly 'professional' people in all sorts of situations that would see them get the sack. The best one though is the senior IT man who, during a time of rumoured outsourcing, took a 'holiday' then posted photos of himself in China doing touristy stuff. Just so happened that the outsourcing rumours were that there was a move to China coming. Staff members were his friends on Facebook, saw the photos in China, cue hysteria, cue P45 on his desk or thereabouts. He left the company very quickly with a red face and the move to China happened inside 8 months. Even senior management have fallen foul of what is essentially a teenage website.

Personally I find it very useful - a small circle of friends dotted around the UK, Europe and Oz - it's a handy platform for sharing what we are all up to that we all dip into and out of as time allows. Richer than email and we save clogging up each others inboxes. It's a closed n/w so we are only sharing with the immediate circle.

Works for us (all in our mid 30's).

Oh, and personally I use f/book ONLY for friends. Not one colleague (even if they are a friend as well) are on by facebook, nor is my profile visible. ALl things work - LinkedIn.

[Tonsko]

Am no longer on facebook myself, but can see the arguments for. Then again, email will do everything that facebook does - fb is just more convenient. Everyone swaps convenience with a free service in return for being sold as fb's product. It's not something that ever sat comfortably with me, and I don't miss it.

Edited by Tonsko on Sunday 2nd October 16:15

[Eric Mc]

NorthernBoy said:

windman2011 said:

I cannot understand why anybody over 16 has a Facebook and why anybody would use twitter for anything other than promotional purposes.

Facebook has become the new 'bebo' and is just full of crap and daft photos.

If you want a rant what happened to meeting the lads and having a good banter.

My best friends now live in Newcastle, Edinburgh, Singapore, Dubai, Berlin, Newport Beach, Ottawa, and New York. Most work, and most have families, so meeting and having a bit of banter just isn't going to happen. Facebook keeps us all in touch with what we are each up to, let's us see each others' photos, and the like.

Even among my schoolfriends, you'd struggle to get over half of them in a circle of 50 miles radius, and I don't think that that's so unusual nowadays.

If you still live a half mile from your parents, school, and job, then that's great for you, but loads of us have had to move, often, for our careers, and social media are a godsend when it comes to keeping in touch, at times that work for everyone.

This is a new phenomnenon actually. Most people who move away, or even just move jobs, gradually allow old friends and aquaintances fade away as their lives are now following different paths. This has always been "the norm" and entirely natural.

However, electronic social media allows people who no longer can meet physically to keep in touch virtually. I am not entirely sure that this really is a good thing. I think sometimes is right to "move on" and meet new people - who probably will have more in common with you than those from a previous life.

I'd consider myself a bit sad if I was still "hanging around" (even if only in a "virtual sense" with those I hung around with when I was 18.

[NorthernBoy]

Eric Mc said:

This is a new phenomnenon actually. Most people who move away, or even just move jobs, gradually allow old friends and aquaintances fade away as their lives are now following different paths. This has always been "the norm" and entirely natural.

However, electronic social media allows people who no longer can meet physically to keep in touch virtually. I am not entirely sure that this really is a good thing. I think sometimes is right to "move on" and meet new people - who probably will have more in common with you than those from a previous life.

I'd consider myself a bit sad if I was still "hanging around" (even if only in a "virtual sense" with those I hung around with when I was 18.

These are mainly people that I've worked with in the last few years. I met my French wife working for a German bank in New York, and we both now live in London, where neither of us are from. I'd consider it more than a bit sad if we just walked away from friends just because they don't live here.