I've had my share of problems like that, though most of them have been fairly minor. The worst of my gaffes was when I sent info about a concert out on the off-topic email list at work, along with a link to a site with more info. I didn't see anything questionable about the flyer for the show, which simply depicted a couple of soldiers crouched in a bunker, but the HR woman sure did. Shortly after sending the email, she publically replied to the list (seen by the entire company, which was and still is a very powerful advertising agency) basically saying that I was promoting Nazi propaganda at work and that such things were not acceptable. I couldn't figure out what the hell she was talking about, so I sent a fairly curt email back asking her to elaborate.
"The style of their helmets matches those worn by the Nazi's and it's not appreciated here." is the response I received back.
I lost my job a week or so later, shortly after enduring an office party where everyone seemed to recognize me as the guy who sent the questionable email. Nobody seemed to have a problem with it, but that didn't seem to matter, considering who had complained. I was fired under the guise of not working quickly enough, but I've always questioned why my boss offered to be a job reference and allowed me to download some things from the company server after I'd left if that were true. I almost came to tears when I was told, though :p
28 Aug 2008, 8:38 pm
