SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY


THINK BEFORE YOU POST Those racy photos sure seem like good, innocent fun when you first see them, but experts say they can land you in hot water with employers.


Avoiding Facebook Faux Pas


Social media gaff es are not just embarrassing — they can end your career. ::


BY JACK PENMAN D


iane kuchler thought it was funny when she posted some tongue- in-cheek personal


information on her Facebook page. “Addicted to Vicodin, Adderall,


quality marijuana, MD 20/20 grape and absinthe,” she wrote. But her bosses at the local police department where she worked as a dispatcher weren’t laughing. They fi red the 21-year-old.


62 NEWSMAX MAXLIFE | FEBRUARY 2012 Explained city attorney Scott Post


in West Allis, Wis.: “The chief felt that the things that were said on Facebook refl ected adversely on her individually and the police department, and aff ected her ability to perform her duties as a dispatcher.” “It was meant as a joke — I even


put in ‘Ha!’” protested Kuchler. She was reinstated after an appeal, but resigned later over other issues. Ashley Johnson made good money


as a waitress at a pizza restaurant — until a couple came in for lunch and stayed for three hours, forcing her to work an hour past her quitting time. They left her a $5 tip, which she thought was pretty stingy.


So she went home and fl amed


out on her Facebook page, never dreaming she was doing anything worse than blowing off steam to her friends. “Thanks for eating at Brixx,” she


wrote, “you cheap piece of [expletive].” Two days later her bosses at the Charlotte, N.C., restaurant called her in, showed her a copy of her Facebook comments, and told her she was being fi red for violating company policy against speaking disparagingly about customers. “We defi nitely care what people


say about our customers,” said Jeff Van Dyke, one of the partners who runs the restaurant.


PHOTO COMPOSITION: IPAD/ISTOCKPHOTO/BUNNY/©CORBIS/SUPERSTOCK/GUN/STUART HUGHS/STONE+/ GETTY IMAGES/HIPPIES/ALIJA/VETTA/GETTY IMAGES/KEG/SEAN MURPHY/STONE/GETTY IMAGES/WOMEN/ DIGITAL VISION/PHOTODISC/GETTY IMAGES


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