Posted on 08/04/2006 12:49:47 PM PDT by Hawkeye's Girl
LONDON (AFP) - A company has defended its decision to sack one of its staff by text message, claiming it was keeping in touch with youth culture.
Katy Tanner, a 21-year-old sales assistant, received the message while she was off work with a migraine, the South Wales Echo newspaper said Friday.
The text message said: "We will not require your services anymore...Thank you for your time with us."
"I don't think it's right to just text someone. At least they should have talked to me face to face," Tanner said.
"You're not allowed to text in sick, you have to phone. The fact that they texted me is a bit of double standards."
Several senior staff members at Blue Banana, a body-piercing and jewellery shop based in Cardiff, defended the decision.
But company director Jon Taylor added that an internal investigation was underway to see if "the ultimate action was ideal".
The retailer claims it tried to reach Tanner directly "five or six times" and passed on a message through her boyfriend before the text was sent.
And store director Ian Besbie added that the dismissal method was fair because texting was a part of "youth culture".
"We are a youth business and our staff are all part of the youth culture that uses SMS (text) messaging as a major means of communication," he said.
The company employs about 120 people in Britain, many of them aged under 21.
If they had really wanted to be in touch with youth culture, they should've texted: "all ur jobz are now belong to us. ph33r our mad biz skills"
Sales assistant Katy Tanner, 21, received the message from fashion retailer Blue Banana after working in its Cardiff store for eight weeks.
Another director Jon Taylor said bosses at the store were trying to contact Miss Tanner for an "extensive period" of around two days before the text was sent. They had also passed on a message via her boyfriend that she needed to contact them urgently.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,91059-1229768,00.html
Wouldn't this be the same as receiving a 'pink slip' from a company?
The only difference I can see it that her 'pink slip' was electronic and not paper.
I'm just ruminating over the pop culture significance of "we're not allowed to text in sick." Classic.
She got zotted. LOL!
LOL
what the papers don't say is how I couldnt answer the phone because i was off for ONE day (the friday) and i worked mon to fri, so no they wouldn't have been likely to see me on saturday really. the text message was from a number i didn't recognise, i did check with my friends at the shop because i didn't know if it was a hoax at first, because i have been having mallicious calls for months (another reason my phone is often switched off)
on the thursday i told the manager i wasn't happy with her making me work an extra half hour cleaning everyday without being paid. Said i wanted to see a copy of my contract - they first told me they were all at head office, then they told me that noone had a contract. the law says that you have to be given a copy of your contract, or a written statement of the particulars (hours of work etc) in the first 8 weeks.
basically i got fired because i refused to work for nothing.
never mind, cos i'm not planning on being a minimum wage slave again!
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