Nannies gone wild?
One of the more interesting things I read today was about a nanny who was fired because of things her employer read in her blog. Said employer is a journalist for the New York Times, and published an article about how horrified she was at her nanny's "secret life". Looking at things from the nanny's point of view, however, it seems to me that this journalist was completely over-reacting and needs to understand that her nanny can have a life and that this life needn't affect her job performance (which I don't think it was, to be honest). The nanny's blog is here, and she has written a response to the NYT article.
I've read all of this with a combined feeling of intrigue and horror. It causes me to wonder, how do people view me based on what I've written in this silly little blog? And how does that view change between people who know me in the flesh versus people who "know" me solely based on this blog? I don't think that my blog contains any startling revelations about who I am or what I do. I think the overall picture is that I'm a wannabe artist who has bad luck with burglars. Other than that, not too much excitement here. But one never can tell how other people will interpret one's writing. I certainly hope that my employers wouldn't think me a bad influence on their children based on something stupid and trivial like a blog. Though ultimately, I think that would just make them look stupid in the long run. But hey, you never know.
Blogging is a dangerous business these days. There are always the stories of people being fired for blogging at work or giving away company secrets, but this takes it to a whole new level. An even sadder level. It reminds me of high school, when everyone had online diaries in which they gossiped about everyone else. When this gossip hit the halls of school, it was an absolute nightmare. The he-said-she-said was ruthless and destructive. I'm glad that I'm beyond that phase; I'm just hoping it doesn't make a recurrence.
In the meantime, this cheered me up significantly, as it's completely ridiculous. Try to resist watching it more that once, I dare you.
2 comments:
heather from dooce got fired from her old job for writing about it in her blog. there was no naming of names, no company name mentioned- just generalizations about her boss and co-workers.
now, she mostly writes about raising her daughter, beating post-partum depression, recovering from a childhood of mormonism, and poop.
yeah, some people at work found out about my blog once. they were quite amused. my boss said i wrote some funny things/quotes that people said. shortly, after. i changed the address, and keep it low key. they weren't out to fire me, but i was concerned of their interest in my personal life.
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