(Not) Above The Law.

About five years ago when Myspace was still slightly relevant, I attempted to keep a blog there.  True to my form, I used it as my own personal soap box to vent about injustice and unrest in the corporate world.  Five years ago, this lead my crack team of managers to have a talk with me about the content of my blog.

In case you are unaware, there is this nifty little document called, "The U.S. Constitution."  Within this official document there lies a set of amendments which grant further rights that were later deemed pertinent.   This is called, "The Bill of Rights."  The First Amendment protects us against any consequences for having an opinion and sharing said opinion with whomever will listen.  Allow me to type this verbatim for you fine folks at home.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Now there are the obvious exclusions to the First Amendment.  Libel, slander, defamation, etc.  Basically, if my freedom of speech directly affects any of your basic rights then I am no longer protected.  That being said, it is extremely difficult to prove that mere words greatly impact any of your rights.

Okay, now that the history lesson is over.....

It's become a common practice for employers to look over your social networking sites to determine if you are a candidate worthy of working for them.  To an extent, I can see why this would be beneficial.  If you have an applicant selling stolen shit on Ebay from their previous employer, probably not someone you want working for you.  But, for the most part, what people say on those sites is unimportant and not an accurate or complete depiction of their character.

That being said, my job has once again felt entitled to tell employees that their social networking sites are being watched and content they deem inappropriate will be dealt with accordingly.

A few entries ago I mentioned how the company I work for thinks their law lives outside the normal every day laws we all must abide.  At that time, my store wasn't really the culprit.  This time they are attempting to cross a line by which I don't think they fully understand the potential repercussions they face.  If you think you have financial problems now, imagine how much your company will take a hit when they not only have to pay employees unemployment but also settlements from civil rights suits.

To my management staff: I will not be censored! Firstly, in no way have I directly mentioned the name of the company I work for.  I cannot be held responsible for the impeccable deductive skills of my readers!  You guys really are very smart.  :)

Secondly, it's a fucking blog.  Realistically how much damage can I do? The majority of my stories center around funny anecdotal tales of our customers.  Anyone who does a general Google Blog search with the company name can find a plethora of customer horror stories in dealing with the store which is far more detrimental to the business than some employee pointing out managerial flaws.

My blog is funny and until people stop reading, I will not stop posting. With that, I leave you with a, "Booyah!"