Want to get fired after 34 years? Here’s how
They say a picture tells a thousand words. Sometimes, that’s enough to get you fired.
Jeff had worked for 34 years as a service advisor in a car dealership in the Maritimes. He was 63 years old. One day, a woman was noticed in the parking lot by another employee and asked if she needed assistance. She wanted to get her low oil alert turned off. He tried but could not do it and brought her inside. She ended up sitting down at a desk next to Jeff’s and speaking to someone there. She remained in the area for about 15 minutes while a technician worked on her car and then left.
As part of his job, Jeff had been given an iPad with a camera function. As soon as this customer left he started showing other employees a video of the woman taken while she had been in the dealership. At least one of his female colleagues watched the video for about 15 seconds and then walked away in disgust.
Most of his male colleagues had the same reaction. They described Jeff as grinning and laughing at the video. He referred to the woman as a “new sports car with nice lines.” It turns out that Jeff had taken two videos while the customer was in the dealership as well as a still picture. Later in the day, he showed another employee a video of the woman on his cellphone. Jeff was quite proud of his use of technology and thought his video was quite funny. He joked about being able to see through the customer’s shirt.
One of Jeff’s female colleagues complained to management about Jeff’s behaviour and a few days later, he was terminated without notice for just cause.
When Jeff sued, he claimed that he only took the video because the woman was dressed like a prostitute and appeared to be drunk, speaking loudly. He said she approached the service desk area rapidly and in an overly-animated manner in a shockingly inappropriate state of dress. He said he took the video to protect the dealership from liability if the customer should make any accusations of inappropriate behaviour later.
The problem with Jeff’s defence was that nobody else agreed. No one else agreed with Jeff’s assessment that the customer was intoxicated. No one else commented on what the woman was wearing which is appropriate since it does not matter. Several indicated that there was nothing about the woman that suggested she was under the influence of anything and no alcohol was detected.
Jeff’s defence was blown out of the water. No one agreed with his assessment of the situation and his behaviour, bragging and joking about the video, did not fit with his defence.
To top it off, when Jeff met with management, he was not contrite. While he admitted to taking the video, he professed not to understand why it was a big deal and noted that there were security cameras in the building in any case.
I would pause to note that after 34 years of service, an employee has to do something quite horrendous to warrant a termination without any notice or pay in lieu of notice. Jeff managed to do it. He exposed his employer to liability in two ways: He created a toxic work environment for his colleagues; and exposed the dealership to a potential lawsuit from a customer that Jeff treated like a piece of meat.
These days, people are habituated to taking videos of all kinds of things and sharing them. Think twice and think hard, however, before you do that at work.