Poor Internet Public Relations
There is a story making the rounds of the internet about a man named Dave who ordered some gaming controllers. He paid for them and expected to receive a pre-order discount. Ocean Marketing's Public Relations representative, Paul Christofor, however, had bad news for him. Paul told Dave via email that he placed an order, the product had to be tweeked, and Dave should just "put on his big boy hat" and wait it out like every one else. Paul then suggested Dave cancel his order, as Paul could sell the controllers on Ebay for $150 easily. Paul then added, Have a good day, Dan."
Dave replied, upset and mentioned that Paul displayed poor public relations skills and said he wanted his controllers. He made it clear his name was Dave and called Paul a b--tch.
So, Paul responds with a rambling email that says he is 38, has been on the internet since Dave was sperm, and tells Dave he should grow up and do something more productive with his life than play online games. Dave forwards the email to an online comic strip artist, who Paul had mentioned. The comic strip artist said he will cancel Paul's booth at a popular gaming festival.
Paul responded with more beligerence. He referred to Dave as "Mike." Other online contacts learned of Paul's poor marketing skills and tweeted about it. Paul responded with more caustic comments to them. And, now, N-Control and Ocean marketing decline to respond to these events. See story.
The internet is not for the faint of heart.....
Such a requirement runs right into the Fair Labor Standards Act, which requires that an employee be paid for time actually worked.
Courts have only just started wrestling with the limits of online freedom in the workplace. A recent decision from the New Jersey Supreme Court provides some guidance. In the case of Stengart v. Loving Care Agency, the former employee left her job. She also left behind her employer issued laptop. On that laptop, she had sent various emails to her lawyer from a private non-work related Yahoo account. The account was password protected. But, the employer's experts were able to retrieve the password and review the emails to the lawyer.
We love our email. But, sometimes, email is our undoing. Ronda Templeton talks about email and its travails in this