Seems like they could have saved themselves a good deal of money and headache by offering this guy a severance package ahead of his firing being made public.
Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
171–180 of 548 posts
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#172Lets be real about America's relationship with China. They are our enemies. Both parties seek to dominate the globe even if nobody is anxious to do so bullets and bombs. Both parties have values that can never be reconciled. How do you reconcile the notion that man ought to be free with a society that believes in lifelong servitude and a mans proper place under each others boots. A society that poisons its people and…
I agree with what you said, partly. And I agree that there are serious problems with chinese culture and government (at least, from my perspective). But, why should the US government be any better?
>But, why should the US government be any better?
Its foundational principles are superior.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#173Even if it wasn't an accident -- even if he saw the Tweet, and on behalf of Marriott and in full intention of broadcasting such, he clicked "Like" on this tweet, it's completely insane he would be fired for it. The tweet exhibits a positive sentiment. I would not expect most people to know that this sentiment matters to China. This is another example of China exerting influence on the open web, and it's shameful that…
> The tweet exhibits a positive sentiment
Not if you are the Chinese government... not at all.
> This is another example of China exerting influse on the open web
This has nothing to do with the open web, there is not censorship involved. This was Marriott's business relationship with China.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real story is he has no employment rights because he's in America and he's "at will." They can dismiss him because they don't like his lunch selection that day and he has no rights. That's at will employment. This type of situation plays out all over the country everyday.
Forcing employers to keep employees they don't like, for any reason beyond discrimination, isn't the answer. The better answer is, IMO, better social safety net so people making $14/hr don't end up on the streets just because their job goes away.
Denmark is famous for having a social safety net that makes sure laid-off employees have the skills to get a new job. It's a happy medium between excessive employee protections and lack of employee protections.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#175It may not look like it, but this is equivalent to accidentally pressing a missle button and it hit the country on the other side.
Yeah, Americans seem pretty indifferent on such issues, probably because they oppress others too well and don't get to hear such things themselves.
What if a major French company lists the Falklands under Argentina? What if open street map deletes Israel? What if Airbus "likes" a tweet from a middle eastern man that calls for the complete removal of US forces from Iraq? Things like that matter, and really piss off the involved parties, especially when they're at least technically correct (as in the case of Tibet being autonomous, but de-facto part of China).
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#176The meat of the story is that Omaha man worked for Marriott hotels on customer support. Their support system allows their agents to like tweets. The man appears to have inadvertently clicked like on a tweet while dealing with a large influx of support messages (due to a promo going on) thanking Marriott for listing Tibet as its own country which was a huge no-no due to Mariott's presence in China. Execs fire him as a…
The real story is he has no employment rights because he's in America and he's "at will." They can dismiss him because they don't like his lunch selection that day and he has no rights. That's at will employment. This type of situation plays out all over the country everyday.
In my opinion, there is a bigger problem with at will employment than being able to be fired at any time. If your employer wants to change your contract in almost any fashion, their continued employment of you is considered to be sufficient “consideration” for the change.
They want to put you on call? No extra pay required. Change you to the night shift? You still have a job, that’s sufficient.
It’s an employee rights disaster.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why many companies don’t hire many people in France http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/publications/14...
From what I've discussed with a lot of small businesses in France, workers-friendly laws are not an obstacle at all and unlike what you can see in the news, it plays almost no part in hiring (the laws are actually very reasonable and it all makes sense). The main obstacle is by far the high taxes.
This is incorrect. The French like to complain about their taxes, but it's not that different from California.
Employee protection regulation absolutely is problematic in France, because it over-protect relatively small groups at the expense of everyone else.
Small and medium-sized businesses are most affected by this. The transition from 40-ish people to 200-ish people is where the system really breaks down for French startups, because you are too big to benefit from the early-stage incentives, and not large enough to have political clout and bend the rules.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#178Even if it wasn't an accident -- even if he saw the Tweet, and on behalf of Marriott and in full intention of broadcasting such, he clicked "Like" on this tweet, it's completely insane he would be fired for it. The tweet exhibits a positive sentiment. I would not expect most people to know that this sentiment matters to China. This is another example of China exerting influence on the open web, and it's shameful that…
It is not that hard to imagine being fired by "clicking" likes, let's not oversimplify like this. Official tweeter accounts carry weights. Plus this is not about China at all, what if this is a Nazi tweet? An ISIS tweet? An anti-LGBT tweet? It's either the company's way of dealing with PR problems, or the employee's misconduct, but not about China.
A dictatorship like China raising the issue over Tibet is the equivalent of (an alternative universe) powerful Nazi Germany getting someone fired in the U.S. over liking a tweet about Jewish rights issue.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you were in China would you really find it insulting that Tibet is considered by some to be its own country? It was invaded, and I can’t really see any other way to characterise what happened.
As an American, I wouldn’t be offended if a Chinese person suggested that all non Native Americans should leave America. I wouldn’t think that would be reasonable, although I would acknowledge that we could do much more to help rectify the situation that still exists today. I would likewise be not offended (but might feel slightly uncomfortable) if someone told me that California, my home state, should be returned to…
I think more generally, and particularly on social media, we need to cease to take people "being offended" seriously. The world is full of professional offendees, taking offense at any small pretext and storming social medias in revenge. The idea that anyone can set an arbitrary line anywhere he wants (and often after the fact), pretending to be offended and demanding apologies or reparation is dangerous and unhealthy. Anyone who entertains these professional offendees is locking himself into a position of perpetual apologies and self-censorship.
The article does mention that twitter is blocked in China, and therefore that the social media storm is most likely not genuine.
Re: Omaha man ‘liked’ a tweet, then lost his job
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
From what I've discussed with a lot of small businesses in France, workers-friendly laws are not an obstacle at all and unlike what you can see in the news, it plays almost no part in hiring (the laws are actually very reasonable and it all makes sense). The main obstacle is by far the high taxes.
You might want to also talk to small businesses in France that deal with with unexpected setbacks -- from what I have observed, this usually ends up with a dead startup.
Not sure what your point is, if you have no money, you are screwed whatever the country.