Starbucks fires 6 year employee over blog comments - yet another reason not to spend money there
Private blog wasn't; man fired for blasting boss…
"A sinister cabal of superior writers."
Employee Fired by Starbucks Over Blog - Comments Page 2
Starbucks fires 6 year employee over blog comments - yet another reason not to spend money there
Private blog wasn't; man fired for blasting boss…
Article comments
26 - Terry Whynott
really?
27 - Starbucks employee
Howard Shultz is not Hitler. Howards Shultz is a big business owner. I work at Starbucks, have been for some time now, I signed a contract saying, in large bolded type mind you, that I would try to keep my work environment as good as possible for my fellow partners. Starbucks has never made me work when I was sick even though we had to call every employee to find a sub and sent me home even before we knew we could even get one. One of my fellow employees was fired for sexual harrasment only because Starbucks has a partner complaint hotline to which you can make anonymous complaints. If you don't like the manager call and they'll transfer you to another Starbucks, one of the girls I work with transferred to my store because of a situation like that. The internet is not private, if someone can hack into yahoo, they obviously could get to your private blog without breaking a sweat. You pay more for soy milk because you can steam normal soy milk so Starbucks has it specially made so it can be steamed, though it increases the price it allows those who can't drink normal milk to still enjoy Starbucks coffee, which also costs more only because of it's high quality. Mouthing off online one a blog that is easily identified as yours is not how you should vent. I have never had any problems working at Starbucks, that managment didn't/couldn't fix, that didn't have to do with customers dumping hot coffee in my face because I forgot the one pump of sugar free mocha in they're twenty descriptor latte. I don't expect Howard Shultz to do anything for me personally because he has too much to do already, but with my medical and dental care that many other places don't offer I tihnk I'm alright with signing the contract saying I can't say anything bad about the company or my managers because if I did I wouldn't be working there. By signing the contract I gave up my freedom of speech I did it of my own free will there is no reason to say that Starbucks took it away because the truth is that I gave it to them.
28 - J
Okay. It is completely okay that this company fired their former employee for speaking poorly about them on a publicly viewed blog. First thing to understand is that blogging is a very powerful form of PR. What he did would be the same thing as if he made paper fliers and posted them all over town. It is bad publicity and hurts business. And besides, just because he wasn't on the clock doesn't mean he wasn't on the clock. If he would have gone and robbed a bank in his uniform he would have gotten fired for the SAME thing. Bad publicity. It is a dog eat dog world. Survival of the fittest and this kid just couldn't hang.
29 - Heloise
If this state recognizes at-will hiring and firing then he doesn't have a blog to stand on. They have to give no reason at all none, zip.
But if it is otherwise and he signed a statement not to bitch about his boss, then his gaffe is cooked.
Heloise
30 - Mattie
When you post your opinions on the internet, it's not for just you anymore. You lose your privacy. That's how it goes. Maybe he shouldn't had been fired, but maybe he should also watch what he says. The Internet is used for all sorts of things these days--from searching for potential hiring candidates to personal pictures. The internet isn't personal. He should had known that. Private blog? There's virtually no such thing.
31 - silly puddy
i too had to work a long shift with a fever with no relief in sight. some managers are great about helping partners who are ill, but most don't care. seriously, it's not a great company. for the district managers and regional people on up, it's all about the money money money, but you sign on believing all the hype about being a partner and what a great job it is. i will say that the benefits are pretty good, and it's not easy to get benefits for 20 hours a week at another company, but they're not exactly affordable, so if you only work 20 hours a week, your check is devoured by health care costs if you take advantage of the benefits offered. this doesn't include co-pays and deductibles, which are probably comparable to most health plans, but still not exactly within reach of a $6.50/hour (texas) worker. i think starbucks tries to be "of the people" but it's definitely a corporation with shareholders to answer to, so you can't exactly be altruistic when you're trying to make money for your investors. i like the job, i mean it can be pretty stupid sometimes (the "just say yes" policy means partners often have to take abuse from customers), but it's easy work, except if you need to find someone to cover your shift because you're ill or you need a raise. not gonna happen...
32 - yvonne
I think that it was unfair for a six year employee to be fired .He wrote a blog so fucking what,what he wrote was confidential and was for family and friends they jus need to chill
33 - Brunelleschi
No one should ever post comments about work on line that they can not afford to be called out on when the boss finds out.
You have aright to do so, but you must always expect the boss to react.
34 - Ruvy
Brunelleschi is right. There is NO privacy on the internet. And employers may or may not have the "right" to check on a blog site, but it is a public record, not a private one. So all speech on it is public.
Any comment about an employer can be used as grounds to fire an employee when made in public.
35 - BEANBURNER
I worked for SBUX in a roasting plant. After 3 months I left. I got fed up with the constant barefaced lies from management and being around a bunch of mindless sheeple that acted like Zombies. I personally think Howard Shultz is one of the most evil people on the planet and it deeply saddens me to watch so called adults fall prey to what amounts to nickle and dime brainwashing for financial gain.
Shultz is a sociopath,totally void of any concience at all. He will fabricate layers upon layers of lies to cover his own mishandling of this small time company. The biggest example comes to mind when I go back and look at the cronology of events the past few years..He was on the board of directors. He smiled,patted Jim Donald on the back, and signed off on the dotted line for the building of the SC roasting plant. A few weeks later...Donald was gone and this evil evil man was saying he did not like the idea of building the extre plant......After working in that pig stye of a sweatshop with his looney goon mgt staff....I admit ...I don't like the idea of building the extra plant either. Hopefully his spies will pass this on to him and I do not care what his sheeple and butt kissers have to say about it....
36 - roger nowosielski
The following is a legal brief from Duke Law and Technology Review on Anti-Employer Blogging.
37 - roger nowosielski
The following is also of interest:
While the majority of blogs are politically oriented,16 an ever-rising number of blogs are dedicated to complaints about work and the boss.17 Specifically, blogs and message boards at sites such as F**kedCompany.com18 are dedicated to expressions of employee frustration about work and the boss.19 Indeed, F**kedCompany.com receives approximately 124,000 visits per week and actively encourages company insiders to out confidential information about their employers.20 These sites, sometimes referred to as "gripe sites,"21 can be very powerful.22