[pic]
We’ve heard several stories about how our users are being assaulted by their employers.
So, we start a blog that most people visit during the work day, and, suddenly we start hearing stories about how certain employers are silencing their employees and punishing them for writing certain things on this blog. We are aware of at least 2 instances where this has happened. While I certainly wouldn’t want my employees to write snarky stuff about my business, it is the world we live in.
If you are guilty, employers, I’m shaking my finger at you.
If you think you can control discussion about your business, think again. cVillain is an open forum or people to talk about businesses, venues, gossip and all things Charlottesville. The sad thing is you should be using this blog and the commentary to improve your business, not to hide things. Additionally, you are probably setting yourself up for a much bigger brouhaha in the event that your reprimanding comes out into the open.
Trust me, let your employees be free and learn from what they say.
Popularity: 3% [?]
Tagged as: Blogs, Central Virginia, Charlottesville, Questions
Lilith does not stand behind this post.
on top or in front?
On top. I’m crushing it under my stiletto heel.
Will she allow herself to be tied to it?
The answer is yes*. But I think they’re coming around to see things from your perspective.
If nay nay was still around she could perhaps tell a cautionary tale or two, but sadly I think she’s been given a talking to.
*I think I hold the record for being the shortest term employee ever at the business in question, and it was part time as well, so posting didn’t take food out of my mouth.
I caught myself posting on here and gave myself a disciplinary meeting. Things got out of hand, tempers flared and I ended up firing myself. It was a crap job anyway… I didn’t even give myself a Xmas bonus this year. Tight Bitch.
I find myself doing a lot of self-censoring, just in case. I REALLY had to reign it in during a certain discussion of local employers, yesterday. Not sayin’ a word. Nope. Not me. Nuh-uh.
ThatGrrl, does your elevator go four floors too?
Hipster, I can neither confirm nor deny. The eyes. They are watching. It burns!
the beatings will continue until morale improves.
work will set you free.
Ooops, sorry lillith. should have phrased that differently…. that is unless you’re one of thoooose girls.
I’m getting good at blockquotes, maybe its time to learn italics? bold?
Am I slow? I don’t get it!
see comment #4
You’re not slow, I’m just not funny
Ohhh. “The answer is yes” went to the post title question, not to the question of whether I’ll let myself be tied to something. The answer to that is no.
*tear*
I’ll just assume you’ve got some weird rope allergy, and that handcuffs are another story
I’m more into Velcro and Silly Tacky. Is that awkward?
Yeah, “Tender Tethers” > handcuffs. Less bruising that way.
I guess it would on what position you’ve been tethered in? Hell I’d settle for being tied up with twist-ties or paper towels.
So Thor, I then pose the hypothetical question:
As an employer and as a participant and with the notion:
“If you think you can control discussion about your business, think again. cVillain is an open forum or people to talk about businesses, venues, gossip and all things Charlottesville.â€
Am I ok to further my own (best in town, wink wink) real estate closing company and our (excellent) services, just as it is allowable for my employees to hypothetically gossip about their position and conditions….Or is that off limits?…where do we draw the line?
I would suggest that it would be little double standards if you encourage rancid slanted opinion, and can’t allow self promotion on the other side of the scale.
As an employer, I am fortunate to have employees that don’t test our company policies, as they are set forth. They mainly pertain to things I find to be of imperative importance, such as fraud protection practices etc, and we don’t have silly rules about what you can and can’t do with your computer and the internet, because I trust that my people will work diligently because they feel a sense of responsibility for the health of the company. I do know that many companies restrict access to certain websites, for the financial interest of the company. And if I found that that would be necessary at any given time, I see it as my privilege to do so, discouraging not only what could be harmful unsubstantiated and subjective gripes that may be harmful to my business but also because surfing during business hours cost companies across the US big time. For example a Challenger, Gray & Christmas study found that, during the football season, productivity losses for U.S. businesses related to Fantasyfootball.com could add up to $275 million to $435 million weekly. It might be on a different scale for me, but to put things in perspective, it can certainly be the difference between being in business or not when times are tough, as salary presents the biggest post on most employers’ budgets, and every hour “wastedâ€/not worked is at a loss.
Be careful with spreading untruths, I was confronted about the butcher that had been on the Cvillain “chopping board†last week, and they had clearly suffered over the negative “press†they had gotten. Mean spirited, untrue and unsubstantiated gossip can cause people to loose revenue and business’ to go under, people loosing their jobs, and loosing their health coverage for themselves and their children as well as loosing their homes and hope.
Just be thoughtful.
…and how do you do those darn quote things?
So you are saying that while someone is at work, being paid to do work on the bosses computer, chair, desk, office then the boss does not have the right to say- “Get back to work…” or to expect that person to be a representative of the employer in, at a minimum a non-negative way.
Hey- if you want to kill your job, just quit and do not take others down with you. Or wait, you do not have the talent, work ethic or guts to start your own business and prefer to just hand out “advice.”
Like Momma always said, don’t bite the hand that feeds you.
Blah, blah, blah. You know what’s productive? Employees who feel empowered, not babysat. I only supervise a small staff, but they benefit from the policy I learned from my favorite boss: It doesn’t matter when you work as long as the work gets done. If they want to goof off for an hour during the day, that’s fine with me because they’ll take work home with them at night (evidenced by the emails I get at odd hours and on holidays).
As for that butcher bit, “negative press” is a bit much.
twoOfour, google ‘html’ and ‘blockquotes’, I’m learning you can do italics, bold, underline, strike-through, etc. the same way
I think I am quite familiar with “Productive” and “Empowerment” and I don’t employ people who needs babysitting. I respect my employees and their families enough to let them be off when they are off the clock. In return they work for the company during business hours. Goofing is fine when you are not paying for it. Gossip is great when you are not being hurt.
And by the by, the butcher comment was merely an example of how potent a vehicle of information this forum is and how rampantly information does spread. Considering that words for some can be consequences for others. Small privately owned companies build a business one customer at a time. Of course I am all for exposing “rotten apples†and interesting stories, and I appreciate the almost real time local news you can enjoy at Cvillain. But the information here is not subject to the more stringent checks and balances you expect from news print, so I urge people to be critical, careful and responsible. What is wrong with that?
I respect them enough to let them work when they know they’re most productive.
One of my staffers is an early riser. Instead of making him keep the same hours as the rest of us, he comes in before most of us and leaves in the early afternoon. All of his work gets done and he’s happy. When he brings his time sheet to me, he has the same number of hours as everyone else.
That’s just one example, but there are others. I’d be foolish if I made people sit at their desks when they aren’t at their peak.
Upstart that may work very well for you, I am in a business where our hours are dictated by banking hours and our clients schedules. I none the less let my employees plan their individual 8 hour workday between 7AM and 6PM to fit with their needs and desires, and I have on a few occasions even sent people home with paid time off because we were slow. My issue is not with the necessary downtime or breaks we humans need and should be allowed, it is the notion that employers should accept negative gossip posted publicly, and done during business hours to top it off.
A good friend of mine (not homeless oscar) had several very detrimental things happen to him when shit that he wrote on this site was relayed to important parties not by regular posters (who are mostly cool), but by lurkers. He is saddened that one more opportunity to be freely expressed has evaporated, and is very reluctant to come back. This is such a bitchy town. You cannot even imagine.
The moral: Protect your anonymity like it was your life, and beware the invisible ones.
Homelessoscar’sfriend,
That sucks. The stuff that gets posted mostly has a shelf life of about 15 minutes, for anyone to get in actual trouble is almost unfathomable. Tell your friend (even if it is homeless oscar) to pick out a new username, set up a junk e-mail that he can login under that noone can trace back to him, and come on back. If your friend is who I think he is, he’s missed around here. That goes for nay nay too!
yes, floozy fired me.
Way to handle what could have been yet another “ugly comments” scene hipster-doofus.
Back to the subject at hand. Worksmerk an occasional reading of an article and a post here and there never hurt anyone’s productivity. Such actions should be promoted: Happy employees=loyal employees.
Hear him, hear him. H-D hits the bullseye. The reason I am a cVillain addict is BECAUSE people are so forthcoming about their lives, jobs, pursuits, etc. I feel like I know the villains and villainettes better than a lot of people in my physical world. If everyone goes away or redacts their posts for fear of recrimination, things are going to get quiet. I already miss Nay Nay and B-Yo.
Minty, if I was a vehement opponent of a little leisure I would have posted my muffin comment at 1:41PM today.
Everything within reasonable limits.
On the other hand online libel has been successfully adjudicated, so if you weren’t going to say it to your boss’ face you may want to reconsider posting it online.
Hey wait a second, how did I become the party pooper?
Is B-Yo under gag-order? Why he is always drumming up business for escafe? That would be really counter productive…I should hire him to do my marketing….
I’d like to think that everyone here can be free to say whatever they feel, regardless of how closely they keep their anonymity. I’m not being particularly anonymous because I don’t care if someone from this site exposes my…well…libertarianism to my employer. However, there are always rotten apples–generally the nameless lurkers–how feel like they have to cause shit. I got in trouble for some things back in my sophomore year of college that were fairly inconsequential. I was in ROTC at the time, and was a regular poster on a forum for a computer game (yes, I am a nerd), and someone took issue about an offhand comment I made in a thread about the war on drugs. This person did some digging, found out who I was, and got me in trouble with the colonel of the detachment. Not fun. It ultimately led me to quit ROTC, which probably wasn’t a bad thing, so I’m not really military material anyway.
It would be nice if, when one of us sees another digging themselves in a hole on here, someone reached down and helped them out of it. Pouring gas in and striking a match may create more drama but it also makes all of us more likely to post something we may regret. If you’ve got beliefs or opinions that differ from everyone else’s, thats great and you should feel free to post them here without recrimination, but to take an outrageous position or offend people simply to start a fight should be avoided.
Got it all you fucktards?
2OH4, I’m not saying you’re the wet blanket. I kind of agree with you and Danpri that it’s pretty cheeky to slag your employer on company time, even if it is a pretty inconspicuous blog.
And my fear isn’t that people won’t comment during the work day, but they won’t comment at all. If there are invisible trolls out there who are going to call people on the carpet, the discourse will become a lot less frank (and frankly, less interesting).
So. We still on for the purple party on New Years Eve? Apparently you’re buying the cupcakes…
Ethan I second that!
I have been working on a remix from a website that Peter Gabriel runs, you download a package with the components to a song and piece them back together, the one I was working on was call if I had it my way (i’d tear that building down) it is a song critical of the presidency, needless to say. Well in my version I took some bush quote samples and pieced them together to something I suspct would land me in trouble with the secret service, and I have not yet dared to upload my remix, because even if I did it anonymously, they’d find me, and I can’t believe that we think we have freedom of speach. I say let celebrate, and curse and love, bitch and whine, and dare to say what is on our minds, while we still can. We will just have to suck it up when we get in trouble.
B’yo isn’t always drumming up business for escafe, I’ve never heard him talk about their food, drink prices, etc. he drums up business for the show that he puts on twice a week, and I for one have encouraged him to do it all the time. This town has bars where you can go stand around and act cool, of those there are plenty. What Escafe does a couple of nights a week, and what OXO does on the weekend fills a niche for people who want something a little different (X-lounge with theme parties…)and should be encouraged. It takes balls to stand up there and do what he does and I give him loads of credit. If he wants to remind people that he’ll be working a certain night, whats the harm? And in exchange we get his wit and wisdom? Where’s the problem?
I think I love you H-D
that could be a problem for your hubby….
Well H-D, that’s exactly what I was saying, b-yo is doing a great job, what happened to him?
I am a huge fan too, and I even coerced him into helping me get back into DJ’ing. I actually get up and dance when he is spinning, which is a big deal for an old lady like me.
Minty, we are on the exact same pageola, nuff said.
Minty, Purple Party is OON, yes I’ll be serving cupcakes. Are you keeping track of attendance?
H-D, well from a distance then….*sigh*
Yes. That, and what type of underpants everyone is wearing.
Minty, excellent, I will want a neat and maticulate written account at the end of the night.
Screw this… you guys need cheering up. Go to elfyourself.com and upload a pic of you or someone and watch your elf-self dance around. Its brill!
Caroline… fired you? I hear you are WAY to good at your ‘job’ to be fired
204: Maticulate? Is that the hybrid adjective of articulate and meticulous? I shall add it to the cVillainisms list. And don’t worry, when it comes to underwear, I’m very thorough with such matters!
are we talkin’ restraining order distance?
Those cupcakes you’re serving… they’re not the leftovers from what you bought today I hope?
I can’t even imagine what ‘yo posted that could be considered negative or harmful to his employer (I’m guessing his day-job, not the cafeteria)… wait..maybe just calling Escafe ‘the cafeteria’? Cant be.
I don’t even know who his day-job is for?… anyone?
No more beer for me…..Sigh, I tried to thaw my seriousness with a couple of coronas, hance the new word…Yeah go ahead and add it…I am not quite sure of the usage though….Is it possibly like a really severe pronounciation?
I know the answer, H-D, but it’s probably best to ask him in person.
H-D sure, remind me how many feet again….?
*sulks*
I guess I can recycle them now where you blew my nifty idea wide open here on the internets, now can I!…..I guess, they have a visit from me over at that Feast place before new years….
That should have been a can’t
I’m not applying for one if you’re not…
H-D, well that is mighty nice of you, I am so tired of all them cops showin’ up at my doorstep all the time….
may I say i like them nice fancy blockquotes of your, and bold too? very nice
flooze, I am good, huh….you already want me back??
Did ‘yo’s car insurance not cover accidents with wildlife, so he told them he’d mowed down a couple of hookers, and then they read that post?
Insurance fraud is a big deal, mister! Just ask Dennis Haysbert.
and mowing down hookers? not so big a deal?
We should have a little mini-get together tonight down at the cafeteria to cheer up ‘yo… anyone in?
Oh, hookers! I thought you said HOKIES.
Ba-dum-bum! Hey, we’re havin’ a lot of fun here tonight, folks. . . Thanks for joining us. . .
I think its down to just us, minty. Who’s gonna turn off the lights?
I’d like to run down to Escafe and have some waffles with Dj ESC too. I will go if you go, but I won’t dance unless TwoOFour goes. . .
Not if they’re in wheelchairs
Is b yo spinning tonight??
I’m in! You guys in?
Three makes it a cVillain quorum
I’m in. what time?
are we overthrowing lilith and thor?
second question, are we allowed to plan outing without a chaperone?
fuck it, lets do it and get permission later
wouldn’t hurt to have a female or two along, just in case its gayer than usual night
you two make such a cute couple, try and behave tonight out there, and don’t forget to wear your scarf!
They can come too if they’re worried about the kids needing adult supervision! 11-ish, and don’t forget to wear your big girl panties!!
sheeeeeit mother fucker. the’re too busy drinking elite wine at restaurants I can’t afford. 10:45 too early?
you two do make a cute couple….I’m already in my jammies, have fun!
I always wear big girl panties … I mean uhhh … I always … ahh shit! I’ll shut up now.
10:45 works for me!
and I have to catch up on britney’s lil sister being knocked up on perezhilton…..
I think we’re a threesome now. Sure you don’t wanna come???
I’ll e-mail floozy and two0four, anyone else?
minty, wanna e-mail maude and see if she’s up for it?
I don’t have it. The invite is open, villainettes. . .
I love that she’s knocked up. What a family!! Do you think she’ll lose custody before the water breaks? I betch ya
I’ll send it to you
I think you’re right silmoooooooooo! see you at the christmas teahaus show on friday?
TheUpstart is out on the town, but she’s at Orbit. We should kidnap her!
Oh, that came out all wrong. . .
Damn it! I’ll be livin’ large at the Scranton, PA Holiday Inn on Friday night. En route to family in Maine. Whatchadoin 12/31
if anything, Hackensaw Boys reunion….you?
dunno yet Zinc is on the list but I could do some dancin. that said it’s been a long while since I saw the boys. hmmmm
well you kids be safe out there, nighty-nite.
bye sweetie
H-D: done, done and done
Aw’right! Time to go drink me sum Bud Lights and take a wide stance! Yeehaw! B-yo, I wish I could quit you!
You folks have been great tonight. . . the Thompson Twins come on next. . . enjoy the show.
took care of mine as well, we’ll see who shows up. Should one of us give thor or lilith a heads-up?
e-mailed Thor. done
Okay. Let’s just tip this over into triple digits, annnnnnnddddd. . .
Minty clear.
on my way, over and out!
TwoOFour, seriously? What is this, five hours to go from cougar to kitten? I’m not used to this from you. You had amazing conviction to start out with. I wish you’d stay with it.
“I respect my employees and their families enough to let them be off when they are off the clock. In return they work for the company during business hours. Goofing is fine when you are not paying for it.”
“Hey wait a second, how did I become the party pooper?”
“Is B-Yo under gag-order? Why he is always drumming up business for escafe?”
“I think I love you H-D”
“Well H-D, that’s exactly what I was saying, b-yo is doing a great job, what happened to him? …Minty, we are on the exact same pageola, nuff said ;)”
Live and let live. What works for me doesn’t work for you. I promise.
What’s funny is that while post counts keep going up on threads on this site, it’s still the same five people posting everything. I think some of you people should get AIM and spare the boards the common banter.
because, because, ummm, the BOARDS. . . they’re here, ladies and gentlemen, to serve the . . .
i fell asleep.
to serve the common good, probably.
Ethan’s right. It sounded like Charlie Brown’s parents there for a while.
wwwwaaaa,wa-wa-wa-waa.
That is the sound of Charlie Brown’s parents… This is the sound of drunk posting. minty, h-d, SS: thanks for the invite and the warm welcome. excellent evening. I arrived safe at home. Hope to see you guys again soon, perhaps after holidays?
B Yo, if you’re reading: thanks for the tunes. best I’ve heard in Cville so far!
Yo Ethan: Suck it!
Hey Maude - Right back at you. Glad you made it back safe. It was great spending time with you.
Mintyfresh back in the Chateau de Menthe. Excellent evening, and I thank Maude for accepting my challenge. B-yo’s set list did not disappoint and it was a fine evening at the cafeteria. Stay classy, San Diego.
Ethan: Stairs?
What? Ethan, goddamn you, you don’t want to know what my drink order looked like and what silly exhortations passing for witty banter we traded at Escafe? Fawk!
I apologize, CVillians. This is what TUI looks like.
silly exhortations… yes, indeed. there were a few of those in between my hiccups…..
There were no hiccups noticed maude. You are one solid villain. Too right
speak for yourself… minty heard a chorus of hiccups. I’m like a damn andy capp over here.
True dat. A preponderance of hiccups.
I am apparently the last villain in for the night… thank you all for attending, those who have posted and those who shall remain nameless. Good to hear everyone home safe. B ‘yo, thank you for not bringing any ‘Slayer’, perhaps next time?
nighty night.
if there are repercussions for an impromptu get-togehter I should bear them alone, and am willing to submit to whatever punishment Thor or lilith should wish to impose.
Wake up! I’m Clark Throckmorton’s blind baby goat and it’s time to milk me.
Colfer… do you realize just how utterly bizarre #117 is going to appear to anyone that has not stayed up to date on the board lately. LMAO
Ethan…. you are just a ray of sunshine in our everyday lives, and I light a daily ‘Thank You for Sending Him to Us’ candle in front of the famous statue of St.Fuckwit at the Church of Miserable Bastards.
floozy, I truly love you….oh wait maybe I should IM you……thanks for the tip ethan.
Wow… ok let me see if I can address everyone’s comments:
TwooFour (20) - We don’t spread anything with an intent to harm businesses. We create a platform where people can discuss whatever they want. I don’t think it’s a double standard to say we are allowed to say negative things about places and not let those same businesses publish advertorials. They can purchase advertising on this site if they want to promote themselves, but we draw a strict line between opinion/editorial and advertising dollars. If we didn’t do this, we wouldn’t have a robust community. We don’t moderate any commentary, so business owners are welcome to voice in on the discussion. Sure, it’s going to be more raw that a publication with a traditional editorial oversight, but that’s the point. As for the butcher, nothing in that article was untrue. It was negative, but as the community quickly pointed out there is a problem with the way food items are formally labeled organic.
danpri (22) - I agree. People have to make the decision about what they say, but if someone has a personal opinion and they express it off hours and their employer comes on here and uses our information to finger out that employee, that’s messed up.
upstart (23) - I appreciate managers like you. I think that employees are much more productive when they are free to get their shit done when they want to.
danpri (22) - I agree. People have to make the decision about what they say, but if someone has a personal opinion and they express it off hours and their employer comes on here and uses our information to finger out that employee, that’s messed up.
Sorry, but welcome to the internet. If people haven’t learned by now that what you post in public can come back to haunt you, I don’t know what to say.
Damnit, I can’t believe that I missed out on the outing last night….Fawk. Lilith, yeah the Coronas got the better of my anger…That and the guys were being cute. Ethan you are just jealous you missed out
i have never felt more welcome to the internet than i do at this site.
Parlie:
That’s touching. Now get back to work.
mintyfresh: Best quip du jour, nice.
Lilith i didn’t get the
??
Thor…
Speak you personal opinion all you wish, but if your rent and grocery money if from the job that I pay you to represent my interests then you better make sure that you do NOT damage my interests should you wish to keep that job.
The forum for discussing issues related to work is in the office of the boss, not the general public. Anything less gets you a pink slip, and a tough job search in a tight market where everyone knows everyone else.
Like the sign says, “lead, follow, or get out of the way.”
Oh, and all my ex employees come back continually to say hello. Not an enemy in the lot.
As in, my approach to work is closer to Upstart’s, and it doesn’t work for you. (Even if you softened, and I understand the Corona factor!)
“Live and let live” seems pretty self-explanatory to me. That’s why I didn’t like this post. It jeopardizes the few thousand readers who come to this site for respite from the predictibility, seriousness, and lack of social interaction of their jobs.
Why draw attention to benign readership or call out those who’ve felt consequences of more active participation? (Sorry Thor, but.)
A friend of mine wanted to post to say thank all you lot for showing up at the cafeteria last night. He really needed that show of support and hope you all had a good time, and he will be there when you need him.
because we love the carnage.
As the only one on here who has actually been told ‘never to come back’ by a former employer based on what I’ve written on here, I’d like to add that that same former employer just this week invited me to their Christmas party! It was completely unexpected, and very nice of them to do so. I’ve never posted anything that I didn’t think was a suggestion of how to make that business better, and I care about and miss all the people who work there. I couldn’t make it to the party, but to all of you, Happy Holidays, and I wish you the best for the new year.
As each of us individually comes to terms with how much or little anonymity we desire, and how much restraint we wish to exert over what we post, its important to remember that each business mentioned on here must do the same thing with regards to how they react to posts or comments, whether to join in the discussion, how to treat villainous employees, etc. and that this is a process that takes time. What evolves eventually may be very different from positions taken initially, and hopefully, particularly at this time of year we can all exercise a little tolerance, compassion, and good cheer.
Oh, by the way, since Think Secret just sold out to Apple to stop doing gossip, we figured we would put out our buyout price.
We would take $1 million ( in non-sequential, unmarked notes) to stop blogging about Charlottesville gossip.
http://www.thinksecret.com/news/settlement.html
danpri - people have to make choices. end of story. it’s not our job to make decisions for people, but we don’t like employers who stalk their employees on this site.
colfer, I think you’ve milked that goat enough
Danpri has a point, though. Don’t p* in the well. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. I mean, they make up these “common sense” adages for a reason.
I hardly think reading a public website constitutes stalking.
But as a small, family business owner, your relationship with your employees is like any other relationship in life. If my “best” friend were gossiping about me on this or any other site, it would certainly make me question whether I wanted to continue that relationship. I’m not saying that as a boss, or a friend, you should have control over what people say or do, but you also get to make choices about what kind of behaviors and actions you are willing to tolerate if the relationship is to remain viable for both parties.
My one boss just laughs and shakes her head when she sees me post here. My other boss had blocked this blog so that I can no longer goof off at work.
H-D:
It’s too bad you missed the party. Santa gave out $$ and panties and I drank a bunch of eggnog and posed with the Bud Light truck.
P.S.
Come see Sarah White at Teahouse tomorrow night!!!
I can only imagine who wound up on the naughty and nice lists…
fag
(was that really necessary? The smiley, I mean. The smart-ass comment was, of course, absolutely necessary)
[…] response to our recent “Does your employer reprimand you for writing on (or reading) cVillain?” I thought it would be a good idea to let you know some run arounds for participating, […]
I sooooo got busted for using hidemyass.com today. Security breach anyone? Thanks a lot geeks.