The Linux Extremist

It’s been a while since we had a good “I got fired because of my blog” story. As I recall, the last major one was back in 2004, involving a blogger called the “Washingtonienne”. For those who don’t remember that tale, the Washingtonienne was a congressional stafferette, who by her own account wasn’t all that interested in politics; rather, she came to DC to be anally violated by the government in an atypical way. Instead of having a routine colonoscopy performed by the IRS, she apparently dedicated herself to being rectally invaded by as many of her co-workers as possible, some of whom, unbelievably, paid her for the privilege. She was so vile that probably hard core skanks would object to their label being used to describe her, as it would give her an elevation in status. The only people who were on her side were desperate blokes who wanted to sleep with her, and leftie radicals who hoped she would embarass some Republicans (and who also wanted to sleep with her). To make a long, nauseating story short, her blog was discovered, she was fired, and apparently she wrote a book, the most useful copy of which is probably serving as a doorstop in a New Orleans bordello.

The latest blog fracas, in contrast, is much more tame. An Englishwoman living in Paris, going by the handle of “Petite Anglaise”, was just fired by her employer because apparently her blog “damaged the reputation” of the firm and they had “lost trust” in her.

I took a look at her blog when the server finally let me through; it’s quite personal, and she was obviously careful to make only vague references to where she worked. Mostly it’s a well written account of what it’s like to be a single English mother in Paris; there are some charming references which indicate she’s not gone completely native, for example, she refers to her French ex as “Mr. Frog” and her child as “Tadpole”. However, as it’s chicklit, I found the blog pretty tedious as a whole. This is not the stuff that episodes of “24″ are made of.

As for the matter at hand, it appears that the most insulting thing she said about her employer was that her boss was very “old school” and implied that he was an upper class twit.

Implying things is not my style, so I’ll say what I think of her employer directly: if you’re reading this, strike the upper class, you’re a twit. You are dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb, my word, you are dumb. What on earth are you thinking? Were you thinking? You may as well write out a cheque and put “Our collective arses” on the amount line and hand it over to her.

Let me explain why I’m saying this: your firm is in France. Were you asleep when the students there rioted because the government suggested that maybe people under 26 can be fired with less than 2 years on the job? What makes you think you can sack this lady so easily?

The only way you might have had Petite Anglaise is on two charges, neither of which warrant dismissal. First, you could have nailed her on taking time off under false pretences; according to her blog, she apparently took half a day off citing nanny problems when she was actually out having fun. Second, you could have dragged her up by the ear for using work time to write on her blog. In fact, if you didn’t like her blog, you could have quietly taken her aside, disciplined her on both these counts, and told her to take it down. The affair would have ended with a whimper rather than a bang.

The fact that you didn’t show this much sense makes me wonder: are you totally blind as to what is going on with technology, and what usually happens with popular, sacked bloggers? Here’s a clue, since you haven’t got one: they usually turn the guns on their former employers, full force, and the employer is generally the one who looks bad. Whatever la Petite Anglaise said about your company is nothing compared to what is being said about your business now that she’s left the premises. It’s one thing for an accountancy firm to look heartless; that actually might be a positive if they handle companies in receivership. It’s quite another to look heartless and stupid.

Because you’ve sacked her, you lost all control of the situation. Random people like me have heard about it and think you’re a great lot of idiots. Firms connected to yours are probably wondering, if you handle something as routine as this so badly, what else are you doing wrong? “Dixon Wilson” is about to become a synonym for inane, foolish, antiquated and feckless. Articles about this affair are proliferating - a quick check on Google News this morning indicates there are some 109 articles on the subject. Overall, well done, you’ve committed Corporate Hara-Kiri, you dolts.

As for la Petite Anglaise herself, she’s now got her 15 minutes of fame. If she’s careful and not crass, she’ll be able to extend it. Better still, she’ll make money off of it, as indeed she will from the settlement she’s likely to receive. Perhaps she will continue to blog, write something other than a useful doorstop, and later (with a bit of luck, not too much later), she’ll be able to say that l’affaire de la Petite Anglaise ended for the best. For the sake of all of us bloggers, I hope so.

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