Facebook posts get day care worker fired before job begins, add 12 days to paratrooper's enlistment
Two recent stories illustrate yet again how social media posts can land employees in deep trouble with their employers.
A single mom in Texas was happy to have a new job, but couldn’t resist posting on Facebook that “I absolutely hate working at day care.”
That got Kaitlyn Walls fired before she even started her first day on the job, after operators of the Dallas area day care center that had hired her got wind of the social media comment, reports CBS DFW.
“It really was a big mistake,” the 27-year-old said. “I don’t hate children. I have my own…I love her.”
Meanwhile, Spc. Matthew Tattersall wanted his final jump as a U.S. Army paratrooper earlier this month to be memorable, and it was. He carried with him, in a plastic water bottle with air holes, a pet Siamese fighting fish and took a selfie of himself and the fish, Willy Makeit, shortly before both safely landed.
The photo went viral on a military community Facebook page, U.S. Army W.T.F.! Moments, and caught the attention of officials at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. That resulted in a 12-day extension of Tattersall’s enlistment, according to the Army Times and USA Today.
Tattersall, 23, who described himself to the military publication as “23 years stupid,” said he didn’t regret the jump but hadn’t considered beforehand the safety and professionalism issues it raised. He said he was sorry to have disrespected his unit and the Fort Bragg command.
“The picture got way more popular than I thought it would,” he told the Army Times. “I figured it’d get some likes, but I didn’t think it would be as big as it did.”
