Social Media Spies

This morning I was dismissed from the site that I had been writing for.  The reason was an ill-worded criticism on Facebook of one of my fellow writers (which was promptly deleted by them).

My initial reaction was: if you can't take it, don't dish it.  Writers of all kinds frequently have to endure criticism, even verbal abuse.  However if I criticize someone, the intent is to show a person how to become better.  But perhaps what I said was the proverbial straw in this particular instance.  I don't know.

What really got me angry though was the fact that the person wasn't even professional enough to contact me directly first to discuss the problem.  And deleting my comments?  I'm sorry that the truth hurts, but deleting it doesn't make it go away.  Make yourself better instead of taking it out on everyone else.

But then again, it's hard to find a real professional these days.  Especially among the 18-25 crowd.

After thinking about it for a while I realized that the whole thing stemmed from someone watching my Facebook feed.  I should have known better, since employers are able to fire people who express unedited opinions about their jobs on social media.  However it's my personal opinion, rightly or wrongly, that this shouldn't be allowed.  In fact, several states in the U.S. have made it illegal for companies to fire people for what they say online.

I did apologize for my comments and wish them well.  And I've learned a valuable lesson in the process.  But they haven't beaten me.  Not by a long shot.