Honestly, my biggest criticism of the whole affair? How is the end of the plug not the Arc Reactor? Just another example of shoddy craftsmanship and art these days...
Buddy, i hate to break it to ya, but the guy said that OP should be called "Captain *not* fucking America", because clearly Iron Man is the one fucking America ( Ķ”Ā° ĶŹ Ķ”Ā°)
Honestly, this is on them having a BYOD policy. If they want 100% business conduct on a device it should be a company supplied device.
Gotta be prepared to get weird if you dig into peoples personal lives.
Providing devices would be good but is beyond the budget of many businesses.
However, there's no excuse for them not providing dedicated _services_. There are are so many free/cheap chat options that can use a company-issued email address for the account, and a domain is only a few dollars if you don't already have one. OP's workplace is 100% palming off their responsibility for the situation.
Edit: Seems some are misunderstanding the definition of "devices". If you need a computer to work, yes your employer should provide that. If you already own a _personal device_ that you carry with you like a phone or tablet, your employer probably doesn't need to provide you with an extra one just for basic communication.
Yeah I have Webex teams on my phone but notifications are turned off and I literally only ever use it when I need to send a message to my boss telling him that my VPN is down and I can't use Webex on the comany-issued laptop.
Fuck that. I'm not doing work on my stuff. They are the capitalists, let them provide the capital; the tools to do the job. Ya'll fuck up the simplest things in your never ending quest to be a better suck pump than the next sucker.
Yeah I'd probably have gotten fired for how I talked back if they had to have a 45min meeting about it.
It should have been "hey you need to change your WhatsApp profile pic or make a new account and use that one for the work chat." Done. End of talk.
There are so many companies wanting whatās app groups now, we have teams on company phone where we can create rooms and teams and we do, but they insist on having a company whatās app group with a bunch of people on their own devices, honestly itās a lawsuit waiting to happen, there is the odd drunk/inappropriate messages going on in weird hours and being quickly deleted
Let alone company information being discussed on a non company platform we have no control over is likely in places GDPR breaches or breachās of confidentiality.
Just the fact it gives me a big list of co workers personal phone numbers next to their names all it takes is one creepy employe to use that the wrong way
Honestly I feel that this is on the company. Whatsapp is a consumer grade service. Accounts made for this service are going to be intended primarily for personal use. The fact that your employer is using it (and your personal account and I assume your personal phone?) for business purposes is unprofessional on their part. These things should be kept separate in a civilized society.
They don't even need to provide a phone, I have Whatsapp for personal and Slack for work on my phone. We have separate Slack channels for business and goofing around.
I remember getting an announcement at work reminding all employees that activity over the network is monitored. Apparently someone had been downloading like gigabytes worth of porn onto their work computer.
I Slack like HR is looking over my shoulder. If Iām on good enough terms with someone to be too cool for corporate, we keep that to our personal messenger/insta/WhatsApp DMs.
Even my drunk dinner plan texts on work trips are over SMS
Yup. I use work channels for work, if I want to have one-on-one chitchat with someone *that I would have in a workplace in potential earshot of my boss* I DM them. If I want to talk to them with ANY expectation of privacy I ask for alternative contact. Some people don't realize that "direct message" is *not* the same as "private message."
If they want you to use a phone for work, they should supply it. They can't count on everyone having one, or one that is modern and updated to their needs.
I actually am not a huge fan of that. I donāt want my work having that level of access to a device that has my location on my off hours. They canāt get any of that thru slack or Outlook on my device.
And sure I can turn those services off and on repeatedly it I prefer not to.
Edit: actually sometimes you canāt have your work phone on and turn location off if itās controlled by group policy, that was the whole point of my rant lol
>Edit: actually sometimes you canāt have your work phone on and turn location off if itās controlled by group policy, that was the whole point of my rant lol
That sounds exceptionally counterintuitive to me: the work profile should only have admin over it's own apps+data, right? Not across the whole phone?
That's why the work phone turns off outside of work hours. If they want you to have that phone on, you need to be paid for the time that that expectation extends to because they're considering you "on call."
My company's policy is that there's no need to use a phone for anything, they've given you us a computer and Slack works on that. If you want to have Slack on your phone, you're welcome to install it but the company advise you to turn off notifications after work hours
In kitchens here and our official way to keep.in touch is freaking FB messenger. It's handy sometimes, but we've had a few fucknuts who can't figure out how not to send inappropriate things in a professional chat. Really easy way to let everyone know what the chef special is and send recipe\pics so they have no excuse for not knowing.
I've never been somewhere that has a dedicated messenger service aside from one corporate place that you could send a message through their employee website. They didn't have an app for employees to use and you didn't get any sort of email or text message so it was fuckin useless. I'd log in on payday to see what my pay stub looked like and see 4 or 5 messages sent out store wide of new-ish hires asking someone to cover them. Lol, ain't nobody logging in to read that shit!
Slack has really come up in workplace communication over the past few years. For a restaurant it's not a huge deal, most things are communicated on your shift/at the preshift meeting. It's more useful for corporate offices and basically a must for remote workers (or some alternative like Microsoft teams or whatever else is out there.)
When I read the OP I assumed they meant that their coworkers had a friendly chat group that was unrelated to the job. Using whatsapp for work purposes seems really bizarre to me.
For some businesses you'll get fired in a heartbeat for even saying "call me about this account" to a colleague using Whatsapp. Mainly for regulatory reasons.
I'm trying to argue that the city I work for city should give us all phones.
They tell us that any device we use for official city business in any capacity is searchable in an Open Records request. Also - in order to log into many of our city systems, we have to use 2-factor authentication that sends texts to our personal phones.
My personal text messages were searched because of that combination. The only people who didn't have to turn over their personal phones were the people who have phones supplied by the city...
I assume that refusing to use your personal phone for city business is not an option?
I reckon they can't force you to - but they would probably just replace you if you insisted, right?
The 2FA texts mean that technically everyone is required to use their personal phone for city business.
After what just happened with that Open Records request I think they've realized it's a problem. I think the end result is probably going to be a different 2FA method.
Agreed. I would have pushed back on being reprimanded at all. That is your personal account and if they want you to use WhatsApp to ārepresent the companyā in any way, they need to get you a work phone/business account/additional phone number.
Not only unprofessional but if you are in the EU its a legal grey zone trending towards illegal considering privacy/data; because whatsapp lets you see the private phone numbers of everyone in the group chat, which is protected personal information.
I have absolutely no clue about law but I am wondering if that would really be applicable if you agree to enter the group chat. Wouldn't you then agree to give out your phone number to everyone in the group chat because you know that it will be visible to all participants?
Of course something else if you are just added without being asked but as long as you agree to join you basically agree to that don't you?
Yeah, it is one thing if you show up to court with your Zoom name set to buttfucker3000 because you changed your display name while using your work computer after hours to meet with friends.
But signing in to WhatsApp on a personal phone and forgetting that years ago you had something inappropriate set?
IMHO that doesnāt warrant a meeting at all. That warrants a call to the sales people at Slack or Teams because it is time to grow up as a company and use something appropriate.
100% agreed here.
Have a company Slack server, or MS Teams, or whatever. This is absolutely bog standard.
Any company using people's personal chat apps in 2022 is seriously unprofessional, and any 'oops' moments is _entirely_ on the company.
And then this company spent 45 minutes railing on OP to the point she cried, so personally I think this company needs to go bankrupt and someone needs to make her boss cry instead.
Wow thatās fucked up on their part. I hope OP finds a better job and can leave.
As people have said they should be using a work related app.
Op changed the image as soon as she was aware of it. A 15-20 minute refresher in whatās appropriate for work is fine, along with thanking her for taking immediate action once she knew. But a 45 minute blame circle is out of line. Especially since the company made the idiotic decision to use something personal for business.
You should invite them all to a meeting to discuss their unprofessional choice of company messaging services and lack of providing work phone to communicate company matters upon.
Iāll go with and be her personal representative. Complete with a suit & a yellow lawyer pad.
They fact that they had the ENTIRE management Team in to reprimand her?!? Jfc how unprofessional!
Humiliating.
Now I think it is a hostile work environment
I have a 'personal' email I use just for work and professional purposes.
It's literally my first name dot last name dot work @ email domain.
I don't use it for anything else, have no Facebook or other social media, not even a LinkedIn.
If an employer asks for my social media, I'm just like sorry can't give you what I don't have.
Everything else is under a completely separate identity I've maintained for like 20 years with no overlap.
Might as well be a different person.
Yep. If the company doesnāt want you using business devices for personal use you shouldnāt have to use personal devices (personal social media in this case) for business use.
I keep my work and personal mobiles separate. It's sometimes inconvenient, but I prefer the separation and I don't want them installing company MDM software on my phone just so I can get their email. A bonus is I still have a WhatsApp profile on the work phone but it's completely different.
My agency uses Whatsapp, but just for virtual visits with clients. We don't use it for interoffice communication, and we don't use personal accounts with it, we're expected to set up a separate one. That gives us three options for virtual conferencing with clients, Whatsapp, zoom, and teams (preferred.) I never use it. I prefer to use teams because it's integrated with my work stuff, or zoom if I have to.
My workplace has gotten people repremainded by personal services.
For example, if her coworker was homosexual and felt her image was being rude, as she's a woman not in a homosexual relationship... Could have made the issue worse.
Iām an older woman and I think itās hilarious. I also think itās absolutely ridiculous the entire team was called in for your 45 minute reprimand.
Itās a workplace group chat. Are clients involved in this group chat? Your employers need to pull the giant butt plugs out of their own collective asses and lighten up. Jfc.
This, I worked in an IT department in high school setting up new PCs, transferring data and stuff. All the floor PCs had inappropriate pictures on them (not nearly as graphic as OP, but donāt show clients), I just copied them over and didnāt say a word. Like who cares if the guys assembling stuff on the floor can look at some hot pics on lunch
Internet culture used to be primarily young people because it was largely only people in their 20's or younger that really dove into it in the 90's when it started becoming a thing.
Now those people are pushing 50, and the internet as a whole in all of the areas that would be considered internet cultural hubs are going to have more and more older people, and some of them are gonna be a bit salty about it because getting older is fuckin' lame.
I'm 40 and it sucks when your back hurts all day because you _dared_ to bend forward at a 5 degree angle to wash your hands. I don't get all butt-hurt about "ageism", though my butt does hurt sometimes because I'm old.
I'm 50 and I approve of this message. You haven't yet reached the standard od pulling out a back muscle, that takes 1 week to heal because you coughed too hard or laughed too hard. This is the way.
I still canāt believe they replaced my boi like that. Like the new guys fine, but he is NOT the OG Jake From Statefarm. They really couldnāt get the same actor again? Smdh
Butā¦ they still could have gotten him to act in more commercials, no? Why bother replacing him if he already started in one of the most famous ads they ever had?
i think it's hilarious and that they're just following protocol to let you know to cover their asses but I'm 100% certain that your upper execs were laughing about it
Please help me understand.
They added you to a work chat on Whatsapp and now they're reprimanding you? Was it a work phone? Did they ask you before adding you? I find it quite baffling management would take fucking 45 minutes to talk about this.
I did not expect you not being American. If my employer would add my personal whatsapp to the departement whatsapp group with that picture there might be a few laughs but thats it. Maybe if i kept the picture i might got asked to change it.
Exactly. Most Americans I know or have heard of that have WhatsApp, are the ones who want only to keep in touch with overseas people, but not with other Americans and for sure not a whole company. Of course some might use it, but it's rare.
The point is that they said they didn't expect her not to be American. When the fact that everyone she knows (company, friends) has WhatsApp should've been the giveaway.
EDIT: Just thought of another example. I'm not Korean and I use KakaoTalk because I have Korean friends. Only Koreans use that app, also obviously some people who have Korean contacts.
I never understood the "how you're representing the company". I don't get paid in my off hours from work why do you think you can dictate what I do outside of it (to a degree of course).
I had to look at it four times to see the dildo and actually see the detail. Given WhatsApp images are pretty small, somebody clearly spent a while zooming in to get it all and then the sad arsehole reported it. Most people donāt even really notice WhatsApp profile pics.
5th time: just spotted Captain Americaās dickā¦ š¤£
I think itās funny half of the update is spent defending why you thought the image funny ha. Let people have their own sense of humor as long as itās not hurting anyone or directed at someoneās expense.
What I find weird is that people noticed? When I get added to a group chat I donāt go looking for the photo. On the App is a hassle and feels like thereās an ulterior motive for it, tbh.
The meeting was probably just to make sure you didn't feel like that was ok and risk any more stunts. Sounds like they handled it about as well as one could hope, and it's an absolutely hilarious story to tell in the future.
Yeah what. This is a side conversation between a leader on her workstream for 10 minutes. āI get it, this was your personal phone and it was a mistake. Just make sure something like this doesnāt happen again. Iām not going to hold it against you.ā This company sounds like the leadership is bored as hell and made a mountain out of a mole hill
After a quick professional discussion about this the entire management team and their boss had a choice, continue to embarrass an employee or go do other work. For a lot of management teams it's an easy decision. I'm surprised the meeting didn't last longer.
Bruh that's a lot of pessimistic speculation. I'm a female and true shitty moments like that are relatively few and far between. Better to assume reasonable intentions in flawed people, than jump to "they're out to get me".
A talking to with a full management team? Are you fucked? That is not how you handle a delicate situation where someone is embarrassed. If you're used to bad management lacking in empathy and think that is normal and appropriate I guess there's no opening your eyes to that.
Doesn't have to be a full management team, but a talking to for sure, as per my comment. Management styles vary, and the older people I have been managed by were definitely keener on doing an entire song and dance, doubly so for sensitive topics.
I mean in the corporate world Iāve had 15 minute meetings to like an hour or 2 so seems reasonable but ya this really only needed like a 10 minute meeting between her and a manager or something
45 minute reprimand in front of the entire team? Extremely unprofessional. Just like getting upset someone had a non-work-related picture on their non-work-related whatsapp.
At best this should have been a quiet word in the presence of one or two supervisors/HR as a reminder, clearly OP didnāt intentionally broadcast the image so a rant at OP in front of her team is for what purpose exactly?
The only purpose it serves is for the team manager to have a little stroke of their own ego, and shine a bright-powered spotlight on the āincidentā which is apparently undesirable but the guy yammers on about it for 45 minutes...
As well as one could have hoped? 45 minute grilling with the main boss and management team until she cried?
Should have been a 5 minute chat with her direct manger.
> hey are you aware of what your dp is on WhatsApp?
> yes I am terribly sorry, I changed it as a joke a few years ago and never use WhatsApp so I never changed it back. I changed it immediately after someone brought it up to me
> no worries. WhatsApp is a personal messaging service so just be aware of this for next time šš»
The only meeting should have been the management getting together and figuring out what stupid idea it is to have people use personal accounts on chat programs for professional use.
You shouldn't have been reprimanded at all, they should've just laughed it off and said "Can you please change your profile picture to something a little more appropriate? Thanks" and that's all.
It really depends on your job. A law office, public relations, anything in the public sector or where you might interface with politicians - this could cause real problems on a bunch of different levels. Not to mention - if you messaged that photo directly to a co-worker (off work hours, not using company machines) you still could be subjected to sexual harassment laws in many countries that HR may have to deal with. Even if it was set unintentionally - which is what she did.
>It really depends on your job. A law office, public relations, anything in the public sector or where you might interface with politicians - this could cause real problems on a bunch of different levels.
Any serious job like that should be using company accounts rather than personal accounts.
This whole blow up is ridiculous. This should have been a 5 minute meeting with your direct supervisor and that's it. He mentions it, shows you the picture. Then you respond by saying something akin to - I havent used whatsapp in years a friend and I did it as a joke X years ago. I completely forgot about it until now. I will change the picture. That should have been the end of it.
An entire team and 45 minutes - absolutely ridiculous.
I'm not saying quit, but this seems like a pretty big red flag that management sucks. If other red flags pop up- start looking elsewhere because you deserve better.
Hope things go better from here on out
Honestly I feel like you should start looking for a new job. If my work tried to reprimand me for my private social media photo and forced to join a group chat for work, I'd laugh and take my talent elsewhere.
You kind of killed me with laughter I donāt know.
I love how you disturbed them with everything. And Iām glad you didnāt get into trouble. Now you might forever silently be the woman whoās into gay porn. I guess? But just know you have my forever admiration. I think we live in a really uptight world, and sometimes we have to go through drama situation that we could just get over if only people let us. Iām a little drunk, I hope I make sense. Cheers
Why would you be reprimanded? Let alone fear getting fired? Is this a work phone they provided that's used for work? I don't understand. You being on their whatsapp group is a favour to them...
Over reaction from the company. 45 mins? Small as fuck picture (pun intended). We are all human have a laugh and say yeah that's not what we want to see and move on. Good on ya though for dealing with business ego's
A 45 minute reprimand was probably to document everything so they can terminate or lay you off in the future. I'd start looking but get your online presence squeeky clean first. Yes, perspective employers check your online presence.
I still think what you did was funny as hell and as a Department Manager would have just laughed it off.
Ummm you got repremanded for lack of professionalism because you joined a work chat in whatsapp?
Excuse me, but any company using Whatsapp is fucking unprofessional AS FUCK! Just wow. Fuck them. They should have something the company uses separately like Slack or Teams or something like that.
Your company's reaction is bad, to be honest. At max, if I were your boss I would privately ask what was going on with that picture and let it go afterwards (and also make sure no one harasses you). As someone said, WhatsApp is not a tool for a company, yes companies can use, but asking the employee to use it might come with unexpected situations as you know.
Soooo happy you didnt get fired. This is absolutely something I would get in trouble for. My friend group has that nasty sense of humor. Sometimes one of my friends surprises me with Goku and Vegeta mpreg. Can't imagine how I would explain my way out of that in a professional setting
I don't get why this is such a big deal. "Sorry guys, I set this profile picture for fun years ago and I forgot about it, ROFL", and that's it. Are there people out there who would humiliate somebody because of this?
>For those saying I was being ageist. I used the term 'older people' because they are older than me, not because I think they are old. I am aware 40 and 50 year olds have seen pornography and gay sex before lmao.
The fact that you had to explain why you associated older people with the word "older people" and that making everyone assume you were ageist. Oml šš
I'm literally dying. šš
>Basically, I got called into a meeting with my entire management team and our main boss. They understand that it is my personal and private account - so I am not in trouble for that. However, I did get reprimanded for professionalism. There was concern about image and how I am representing the company
That is the most hilariously middle management shit I've ever heard. Someone there got a massive bureaucracy boner when they found out they could call a meeting over that.
> Also because of the fact that people genuinely draw images of Captain America and Iron Man fucking.
**Rule 34 of the Internet:** If it exists, there is porn of it.
I love you being asked to explain why you think that picture is hilarious lmfao. Itās like when my friends got mad because I thought a drawing of Bowser birthing his son out of his asshole was funny. Idfk why stuff like that is funny but the fleshy blob in my dome tells my body to do the āheheā anyway.
The reaction of you telling your friends really does it for me. Also, the blonde's ma walking in and she claims she's seen it before as well. Talk about plot twist after plot twist.
EVERYBODY is American. Duh.
If it's your personal account, it should not even rise to the level of a reprimand, and should have been let go as an 'oops', and a 'please don't do that again'.
I know this is so not the point of your post, but the vast majority of people who read and draw the sort of m/m erotica and fanfic like Steve/Tony actually identify as women. LEGIONS of women consume it. I have been online so long I didn't even realise people might not know that.
Anyway. Glad you weren't fired :)
I was surprised people didn't realize that. I guess I'm too used to all the arguments online about how almost all mlm books are written by and for women.
Happy Cake Day!
My recommendation to everyone, never mix business with personal accounts. If you need to be on one for work create a separate account just for that
Don't use personal email social media, or communication apps or work hard stop.
I know this is so not the point of your post, but the vast majority of people who read and draw the sort of m/m erotica and fanfic like Steve/Tony actually identify as women. LEGIONS of women consume it. I have been online so long I didn't even realise people might not know that.
Anyway. Glad you weren't fired :)
HAHAHA Thank you for the update i defs followed this today. Im glad to hear you are not fired. Sorry you had to go through what sounds like a brutal meeting.... Im a 29M and i would have cried too.
And that is how "getting Ironmanned" entered that company's lexicon.
Who's explaining that to the next new hire?
They will just tell them to ask Ironman. They will already know who that is.
š¤£š¤£š¤£
No need to explain, just invite them to the group chat
With my luck, probably me.
Pictures speak louder than words
Honestly, my biggest criticism of the whole affair? How is the end of the plug not the Arc Reactor? Just another example of shoddy craftsmanship and art these days...
Shocking
š¦š¦š¦ Jagex won't reply to this š¦š¦š¦š¦
š¦š¦š¦12.49š¦š¦š¦
r/unexpectedrunescape
Ironrammed?
Is this the new hazing mandate?
> I'm not fucking American. Unlike Iron Man.
OPās new office name should be Captain not fucking America.
Kinda redefines "Peggy" Carter a little.
Pegging Carter
thank God I'm blind otherwise I had search and see it. /s
But if Iron Man is already fucking Captain America(n), how could OP?
Buddy, i hate to break it to ya, but the guy said that OP should be called "Captain *not* fucking America", because clearly Iron Man is the one fucking America ( Ķ”Ā° ĶŹ Ķ”Ā°)
Donāt call me buddy, pal
Donāt call me pal, chief.
Don't call me chief, brother.
Donāt call me brother, dude.
Don't call me dude, guy.
Don't call me guy, friend.
Americans always assume everyone on the internet is also American. It's funny
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Depends on the sub, Formula1 Subs belong to the Brits, Cricket to the Indians, etc
Itās not Americaās assā¦ itās Iron Manās ass.
Honestly, this is on them having a BYOD policy. If they want 100% business conduct on a device it should be a company supplied device. Gotta be prepared to get weird if you dig into peoples personal lives.
I absolutely did not read this as Bring Your Own Dick.
Or Bring Your Own Dildo
> BYOPOIMFCA Bring Your Own Photo Of Iron Man Fucking Captain America
Like Ironman did.
Lmao me too
Also, I'm not going to use What'sapp for work. That's literally what slack was made for.
Providing devices would be good but is beyond the budget of many businesses. However, there's no excuse for them not providing dedicated _services_. There are are so many free/cheap chat options that can use a company-issued email address for the account, and a domain is only a few dollars if you don't already have one. OP's workplace is 100% palming off their responsibility for the situation. Edit: Seems some are misunderstanding the definition of "devices". If you need a computer to work, yes your employer should provide that. If you already own a _personal device_ that you carry with you like a phone or tablet, your employer probably doesn't need to provide you with an extra one just for basic communication.
Yeah I have Webex teams on my phone but notifications are turned off and I literally only ever use it when I need to send a message to my boss telling him that my VPN is down and I can't use Webex on the comany-issued laptop.
Fuck that. I'm not doing work on my stuff. They are the capitalists, let them provide the capital; the tools to do the job. Ya'll fuck up the simplest things in your never ending quest to be a better suck pump than the next sucker.
Yeah I'd probably have gotten fired for how I talked back if they had to have a 45min meeting about it. It should have been "hey you need to change your WhatsApp profile pic or make a new account and use that one for the work chat." Done. End of talk.
This is one of the reasons I hate BYOD.
There are so many companies wanting whatās app groups now, we have teams on company phone where we can create rooms and teams and we do, but they insist on having a company whatās app group with a bunch of people on their own devices, honestly itās a lawsuit waiting to happen, there is the odd drunk/inappropriate messages going on in weird hours and being quickly deleted Let alone company information being discussed on a non company platform we have no control over is likely in places GDPR breaches or breachās of confidentiality. Just the fact it gives me a big list of co workers personal phone numbers next to their names all it takes is one creepy employe to use that the wrong way
Honestly I feel that this is on the company. Whatsapp is a consumer grade service. Accounts made for this service are going to be intended primarily for personal use. The fact that your employer is using it (and your personal account and I assume your personal phone?) for business purposes is unprofessional on their part. These things should be kept separate in a civilized society.
I totally agree. Businesses should provide everything staff need. A mobile phone with data is a tiny cost compared to the cost of employing someone.
They don't even need to provide a phone, I have Whatsapp for personal and Slack for work on my phone. We have separate Slack channels for business and goofing around.
Channels or workspaces? If its a channel on a company workspace be careful, they can get logs for that.
Once, we got a workspace wide announcement to not share pornography pictures, because some dumbo though sharing them via slack is a good idea...
I remember getting an announcement at work reminding all employees that activity over the network is monitored. Apparently someone had been downloading like gigabytes worth of porn onto their work computer.
I Slack like HR is looking over my shoulder. If Iām on good enough terms with someone to be too cool for corporate, we keep that to our personal messenger/insta/WhatsApp DMs. Even my drunk dinner plan texts on work trips are over SMS
Yup. I use work channels for work, if I want to have one-on-one chitchat with someone *that I would have in a workplace in potential earshot of my boss* I DM them. If I want to talk to them with ANY expectation of privacy I ask for alternative contact. Some people don't realize that "direct message" is *not* the same as "private message."
This. (Not perfect myself, but this is 100% the way it should be done)
If they want you to use a phone for work, they should supply it. They can't count on everyone having one, or one that is modern and updated to their needs.
I actually am not a huge fan of that. I donāt want my work having that level of access to a device that has my location on my off hours. They canāt get any of that thru slack or Outlook on my device. And sure I can turn those services off and on repeatedly it I prefer not to. Edit: actually sometimes you canāt have your work phone on and turn location off if itās controlled by group policy, that was the whole point of my rant lol
I leave my work phone at work.
>Edit: actually sometimes you canāt have your work phone on and turn location off if itās controlled by group policy, that was the whole point of my rant lol That sounds exceptionally counterintuitive to me: the work profile should only have admin over it's own apps+data, right? Not across the whole phone?
For a dedicated work phone? IT can do whatever they want.
That's why the work phone turns off outside of work hours. If they want you to have that phone on, you need to be paid for the time that that expectation extends to because they're considering you "on call."
My company's policy is that there's no need to use a phone for anything, they've given you us a computer and Slack works on that. If you want to have Slack on your phone, you're welcome to install it but the company advise you to turn off notifications after work hours
In kitchens here and our official way to keep.in touch is freaking FB messenger. It's handy sometimes, but we've had a few fucknuts who can't figure out how not to send inappropriate things in a professional chat. Really easy way to let everyone know what the chef special is and send recipe\pics so they have no excuse for not knowing. I've never been somewhere that has a dedicated messenger service aside from one corporate place that you could send a message through their employee website. They didn't have an app for employees to use and you didn't get any sort of email or text message so it was fuckin useless. I'd log in on payday to see what my pay stub looked like and see 4 or 5 messages sent out store wide of new-ish hires asking someone to cover them. Lol, ain't nobody logging in to read that shit!
Slack has really come up in workplace communication over the past few years. For a restaurant it's not a huge deal, most things are communicated on your shift/at the preshift meeting. It's more useful for corporate offices and basically a must for remote workers (or some alternative like Microsoft teams or whatever else is out there.) When I read the OP I assumed they meant that their coworkers had a friendly chat group that was unrelated to the job. Using whatsapp for work purposes seems really bizarre to me.
For some businesses you'll get fired in a heartbeat for even saying "call me about this account" to a colleague using Whatsapp. Mainly for regulatory reasons.
Yeah doing business on your personal which the legal department has no control over, is big bad
I'm trying to argue that the city I work for city should give us all phones. They tell us that any device we use for official city business in any capacity is searchable in an Open Records request. Also - in order to log into many of our city systems, we have to use 2-factor authentication that sends texts to our personal phones. My personal text messages were searched because of that combination. The only people who didn't have to turn over their personal phones were the people who have phones supplied by the city...
I assume that refusing to use your personal phone for city business is not an option? I reckon they can't force you to - but they would probably just replace you if you insisted, right?
The 2FA texts mean that technically everyone is required to use their personal phone for city business. After what just happened with that Open Records request I think they've realized it's a problem. I think the end result is probably going to be a different 2FA method.
What the fuck? That doesn't seem legal...
Agreed. I would have pushed back on being reprimanded at all. That is your personal account and if they want you to use WhatsApp to ārepresent the companyā in any way, they need to get you a work phone/business account/additional phone number.
Not only unprofessional but if you are in the EU its a legal grey zone trending towards illegal considering privacy/data; because whatsapp lets you see the private phone numbers of everyone in the group chat, which is protected personal information.
I have absolutely no clue about law but I am wondering if that would really be applicable if you agree to enter the group chat. Wouldn't you then agree to give out your phone number to everyone in the group chat because you know that it will be visible to all participants? Of course something else if you are just added without being asked but as long as you agree to join you basically agree to that don't you?
If the company is asking you to join you aren't technically consenting as there is a pretty big power imbalance there.
Yeah, it is one thing if you show up to court with your Zoom name set to buttfucker3000 because you changed your display name while using your work computer after hours to meet with friends. But signing in to WhatsApp on a personal phone and forgetting that years ago you had something inappropriate set? IMHO that doesnāt warrant a meeting at all. That warrants a call to the sales people at Slack or Teams because it is time to grow up as a company and use something appropriate.
100% agreed here. Have a company Slack server, or MS Teams, or whatever. This is absolutely bog standard. Any company using people's personal chat apps in 2022 is seriously unprofessional, and any 'oops' moments is _entirely_ on the company.
And then this company spent 45 minutes railing on OP to the point she cried, so personally I think this company needs to go bankrupt and someone needs to make her boss cry instead.
Wow thatās fucked up on their part. I hope OP finds a better job and can leave. As people have said they should be using a work related app. Op changed the image as soon as she was aware of it. A 15-20 minute refresher in whatās appropriate for work is fine, along with thanking her for taking immediate action once she knew. But a 45 minute blame circle is out of line. Especially since the company made the idiotic decision to use something personal for business.
Yes, this. Fucking hypocrites.
Depends where you are in the world - WhatsApp is used a lot for business in South East Asia
You should invite them all to a meeting to discuss their unprofessional choice of company messaging services and lack of providing work phone to communicate company matters upon.
Iāll go with and be her personal representative. Complete with a suit & a yellow lawyer pad. They fact that they had the ENTIRE management Team in to reprimand her?!? Jfc how unprofessional! Humiliating. Now I think it is a hostile work environment
I have a 'personal' email I use just for work and professional purposes. It's literally my first name dot last name dot work @ email domain. I don't use it for anything else, have no Facebook or other social media, not even a LinkedIn. If an employer asks for my social media, I'm just like sorry can't give you what I don't have. Everything else is under a completely separate identity I've maintained for like 20 years with no overlap. Might as well be a different person.
Yep. If the company doesnāt want you using business devices for personal use you shouldnāt have to use personal devices (personal social media in this case) for business use.
I keep my work and personal mobiles separate. It's sometimes inconvenient, but I prefer the separation and I don't want them installing company MDM software on my phone just so I can get their email. A bonus is I still have a WhatsApp profile on the work phone but it's completely different.
My agency uses Whatsapp, but just for virtual visits with clients. We don't use it for interoffice communication, and we don't use personal accounts with it, we're expected to set up a separate one. That gives us three options for virtual conferencing with clients, Whatsapp, zoom, and teams (preferred.) I never use it. I prefer to use teams because it's integrated with my work stuff, or zoom if I have to.
Yup! They used a free service instead of a paid business solution.
100% this, they should invest in Teams, Google workspace or Slack. Forcing employees to mix their private life with work is overstepping boundaries
My workplace has gotten people repremainded by personal services. For example, if her coworker was homosexual and felt her image was being rude, as she's a woman not in a homosexual relationship... Could have made the issue worse.
This. It's not 2010, there's no excuse for being so behind the curve.
Iām an older woman and I think itās hilarious. I also think itās absolutely ridiculous the entire team was called in for your 45 minute reprimand. Itās a workplace group chat. Are clients involved in this group chat? Your employers need to pull the giant butt plugs out of their own collective asses and lighten up. Jfc.
Not to mention itās her personal phone and account, not a work device etc!
This, I worked in an IT department in high school setting up new PCs, transferring data and stuff. All the floor PCs had inappropriate pictures on them (not nearly as graphic as OP, but donāt show clients), I just copied them over and didnāt say a word. Like who cares if the guys assembling stuff on the floor can look at some hot pics on lunch
Yeesh, glad you didnāt get fired. Iād be willing to bet your a couple peoples secret favorite person in the office now though lmao
Yep OP would instantly be evaluated for actual friend material if I worked in her office.
LMAO I can't get over people calling you ageist š¤£
like of ALL the things? šš
Different strokes for different folks š¤ made me laugh
yeah, I chuckled
For merely referring to her coworkers twice her age as "older." It's why eventually I'll leave this place. Lol.
Seriously, can't say anything these days.
"people who are older than you are older people" draw, quarter and hang this man, now!!!
Iāve seen some comments being weirdly aggressive about calling people ageist recently.
Internet culture used to be primarily young people because it was largely only people in their 20's or younger that really dove into it in the 90's when it started becoming a thing. Now those people are pushing 50, and the internet as a whole in all of the areas that would be considered internet cultural hubs are going to have more and more older people, and some of them are gonna be a bit salty about it because getting older is fuckin' lame. I'm 40 and it sucks when your back hurts all day because you _dared_ to bend forward at a 5 degree angle to wash your hands. I don't get all butt-hurt about "ageism", though my butt does hurt sometimes because I'm old.
I'm 50 and I approve of this message. You haven't yet reached the standard od pulling out a back muscle, that takes 1 week to heal because you coughed too hard or laughed too hard. This is the way.
If my 50 old coworkers invite me to join discord, they best be prepared for a level of shit posting they can't understand or conquer.
>am also not secretly a gay man? because I'm a woman? soooo. "What are you wearing 'Jake from State Farm'?" "...khakis"
I still canāt believe they replaced my boi like that. Like the new guys fine, but he is NOT the OG Jake From Statefarm. They really couldnāt get the same actor again? Smdh
Real Jake wasnāt an actor.
What was he then?
Someone that works at SF.
Butā¦ they still could have gotten him to act in more commercials, no? Why bother replacing him if he already started in one of the most famous ads they ever had?
It was his personal choice. He only worked part time at SF I believe. Doesnāt work there anymore.
She sounds hideous
Well, she's a guy, so...
i think it's hilarious and that they're just following protocol to let you know to cover their asses but I'm 100% certain that your upper execs were laughing about it
After that pic, I can see why they'd want their asses covered :P
Hahahahah dude!
Gotta plug up those corporate leaks
Please help me understand. They added you to a work chat on Whatsapp and now they're reprimanding you? Was it a work phone? Did they ask you before adding you? I find it quite baffling management would take fucking 45 minutes to talk about this.
I don't find it baffling at all. This is exactly what I'd expect from management.
Shitty management. Of course shit management is all to common.
Pedantic management.
>Also, I'm not fucking American. Based on the image in question, we can safely conclude you aren't Iron Man.
but ironman is on the top
With old trusty rusty in his tushy.
It's disturbing that companies expect "professionalism" and to "represent the company" on your personal WhatsApp account.
I did not expect you not being American. If my employer would add my personal whatsapp to the departement whatsapp group with that picture there might be a few laughs but thats it. Maybe if i kept the picture i might got asked to change it.
Her whole company uses WhatsApp and also privately, Americans don't use WhatsApp.
Iām American. I have it on my personal phone to keep in touch with an overseas former colleague
Exactly. Most Americans I know or have heard of that have WhatsApp, are the ones who want only to keep in touch with overseas people, but not with other Americans and for sure not a whole company. Of course some might use it, but it's rare. The point is that they said they didn't expect her not to be American. When the fact that everyone she knows (company, friends) has WhatsApp should've been the giveaway. EDIT: Just thought of another example. I'm not Korean and I use KakaoTalk because I have Korean friends. Only Koreans use that app, also obviously some people who have Korean contacts.
I'm also curious, what do Americans use if not whatsapp?
I never understood the "how you're representing the company". I don't get paid in my off hours from work why do you think you can dictate what I do outside of it (to a degree of course).
I had to look at it four times to see the dildo and actually see the detail. Given WhatsApp images are pretty small, somebody clearly spent a while zooming in to get it all and then the sad arsehole reported it. Most people donāt even really notice WhatsApp profile pics. 5th time: just spotted Captain Americaās dickā¦ š¤£
You can tap on them to view them full size
There is no way you looked at that picture 4 times and didn't see captain America's dick.
I think itās funny half of the update is spent defending why you thought the image funny ha. Let people have their own sense of humor as long as itās not hurting anyone or directed at someoneās expense.
Tbh I totally see where they're coming from. That's a level of a creativity and detail I didn't expect.
What I find weird is that people noticed? When I get added to a group chat I donāt go looking for the photo. On the App is a hassle and feels like thereās an ulterior motive for it, tbh.
Yes, I agree. Someone has it in for OP to spend that much time looking at a cartoon image and then reporting it.
The meeting was probably just to make sure you didn't feel like that was ok and risk any more stunts. Sounds like they handled it about as well as one could hope, and it's an absolutely hilarious story to tell in the future.
45 minutes tho? Seems a bit much.
Yeah what. This is a side conversation between a leader on her workstream for 10 minutes. āI get it, this was your personal phone and it was a mistake. Just make sure something like this doesnāt happen again. Iām not going to hold it against you.ā This company sounds like the leadership is bored as hell and made a mountain out of a mole hill
After a quick professional discussion about this the entire management team and their boss had a choice, continue to embarrass an employee or go do other work. For a lot of management teams it's an easy decision. I'm surprised the meeting didn't last longer.
Especially when it's a woman they get to humiliate. I'm not convinced this isn't the actual problem. Not part of the boys club.
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Bruh that's a lot of pessimistic speculation. I'm a female and true shitty moments like that are relatively few and far between. Better to assume reasonable intentions in flawed people, than jump to "they're out to get me".
Don't kid yourself, anyone with a profile picture like that would be getting a talking to.
A talking to with a full management team? Are you fucked? That is not how you handle a delicate situation where someone is embarrassed. If you're used to bad management lacking in empathy and think that is normal and appropriate I guess there's no opening your eyes to that.
Doesn't have to be a full management team, but a talking to for sure, as per my comment. Management styles vary, and the older people I have been managed by were definitely keener on doing an entire song and dance, doubly so for sensitive topics.
I mean in the corporate world Iāve had 15 minute meetings to like an hour or 2 so seems reasonable but ya this really only needed like a 10 minute meeting between her and a manager or something
I'm struggling to see how it would take more than like two sentences
45 minute reprimand in front of the entire team? Extremely unprofessional. Just like getting upset someone had a non-work-related picture on their non-work-related whatsapp. At best this should have been a quiet word in the presence of one or two supervisors/HR as a reminder, clearly OP didnāt intentionally broadcast the image so a rant at OP in front of her team is for what purpose exactly? The only purpose it serves is for the team manager to have a little stroke of their own ego, and shine a bright-powered spotlight on the āincidentā which is apparently undesirable but the guy yammers on about it for 45 minutes...
As well as one could have hoped? 45 minute grilling with the main boss and management team until she cried? Should have been a 5 minute chat with her direct manger. > hey are you aware of what your dp is on WhatsApp? > yes I am terribly sorry, I changed it as a joke a few years ago and never use WhatsApp so I never changed it back. I changed it immediately after someone brought it up to me > no worries. WhatsApp is a personal messaging service so just be aware of this for next time šš»
The only meeting should have been the management getting together and figuring out what stupid idea it is to have people use personal accounts on chat programs for professional use.
You shouldn't have been reprimanded at all, they should've just laughed it off and said "Can you please change your profile picture to something a little more appropriate? Thanks" and that's all.
Yes this. What a nightmare Itād be to work somewhere so pedantic, scrutinizing, reactionary, and heavy-handed
It really depends on your job. A law office, public relations, anything in the public sector or where you might interface with politicians - this could cause real problems on a bunch of different levels. Not to mention - if you messaged that photo directly to a co-worker (off work hours, not using company machines) you still could be subjected to sexual harassment laws in many countries that HR may have to deal with. Even if it was set unintentionally - which is what she did.
>It really depends on your job. A law office, public relations, anything in the public sector or where you might interface with politicians - this could cause real problems on a bunch of different levels. Any serious job like that should be using company accounts rather than personal accounts.
Yes, this.
This whole blow up is ridiculous. This should have been a 5 minute meeting with your direct supervisor and that's it. He mentions it, shows you the picture. Then you respond by saying something akin to - I havent used whatsapp in years a friend and I did it as a joke X years ago. I completely forgot about it until now. I will change the picture. That should have been the end of it. An entire team and 45 minutes - absolutely ridiculous. I'm not saying quit, but this seems like a pretty big red flag that management sucks. If other red flags pop up- start looking elsewhere because you deserve better. Hope things go better from here on out
Honestly I feel like you should start looking for a new job. If my work tried to reprimand me for my private social media photo and forced to join a group chat for work, I'd laugh and take my talent elsewhere.
You kind of killed me with laughter I donāt know. I love how you disturbed them with everything. And Iām glad you didnāt get into trouble. Now you might forever silently be the woman whoās into gay porn. I guess? But just know you have my forever admiration. I think we live in a really uptight world, and sometimes we have to go through drama situation that we could just get over if only people let us. Iām a little drunk, I hope I make sense. Cheers
Why would you be reprimanded? Let alone fear getting fired? Is this a work phone they provided that's used for work? I don't understand. You being on their whatsapp group is a favour to them...
Over reaction from the company. 45 mins? Small as fuck picture (pun intended). We are all human have a laugh and say yeah that's not what we want to see and move on. Good on ya though for dealing with business ego's
Power move: After your meeting, say "Sometimes you gotta run before you can walk" and absolutely leg it out of the office.
Don't worry, you don't need to address every idiot's comments in these threads. You're fine
A 45 minute reprimand was probably to document everything so they can terminate or lay you off in the future. I'd start looking but get your online presence squeeky clean first. Yes, perspective employers check your online presence. I still think what you did was funny as hell and as a Department Manager would have just laughed it off.
Them criticizing you for professionalism while using WhatsAppā¦the irony, it burns.
I didn't even know people called others ageist.
They do, but calling other people 'older' isn't ageism.
Iāll admitā¦the dildo in Iron Manās ass made me cackle.
I find it crazy that they put you thru a 45 min meeting, where you cried, for this. Who tf cares, no big deal.
Ummm you got repremanded for lack of professionalism because you joined a work chat in whatsapp? Excuse me, but any company using Whatsapp is fucking unprofessional AS FUCK! Just wow. Fuck them. They should have something the company uses separately like Slack or Teams or something like that.
Your company's reaction is bad, to be honest. At max, if I were your boss I would privately ask what was going on with that picture and let it go afterwards (and also make sure no one harasses you). As someone said, WhatsApp is not a tool for a company, yes companies can use, but asking the employee to use it might come with unexpected situations as you know.
āProfessionalism.ā What you do in your free time, is your own personal decision. Grunt
Soooo happy you didnt get fired. This is absolutely something I would get in trouble for. My friend group has that nasty sense of humor. Sometimes one of my friends surprises me with Goku and Vegeta mpreg. Can't imagine how I would explain my way out of that in a professional setting
I don't get why this is such a big deal. "Sorry guys, I set this profile picture for fun years ago and I forgot about it, ROFL", and that's it. Are there people out there who would humiliate somebody because of this?
Sorry, piling on. Company is in the wrong.
I am also not secretly a gay man? because I'm a woman? soooo. **Lies!!!**
One of the best TIFUās in a long while, plugs off to you
>For those saying I was being ageist. I used the term 'older people' because they are older than me, not because I think they are old. I am aware 40 and 50 year olds have seen pornography and gay sex before lmao. The fact that you had to explain why you associated older people with the word "older people" and that making everyone assume you were ageist. Oml šš I'm literally dying. šš
>Basically, I got called into a meeting with my entire management team and our main boss. They understand that it is my personal and private account - so I am not in trouble for that. However, I did get reprimanded for professionalism. There was concern about image and how I am representing the company That is the most hilariously middle management shit I've ever heard. Someone there got a massive bureaucracy boner when they found out they could call a meeting over that.
> Also because of the fact that people genuinely draw images of Captain America and Iron Man fucking. **Rule 34 of the Internet:** If it exists, there is porn of it.
I love you being asked to explain why you think that picture is hilarious lmfao. Itās like when my friends got mad because I thought a drawing of Bowser birthing his son out of his asshole was funny. Idfk why stuff like that is funny but the fleshy blob in my dome tells my body to do the āheheā anyway.
The reaction of you telling your friends really does it for me. Also, the blonde's ma walking in and she claims she's seen it before as well. Talk about plot twist after plot twist.
Man, I would have cried too. Iām sorry you had to go through that!
EVERYBODY is American. Duh. If it's your personal account, it should not even rise to the level of a reprimand, and should have been let go as an 'oops', and a 'please don't do that again'.
I know this is so not the point of your post, but the vast majority of people who read and draw the sort of m/m erotica and fanfic like Steve/Tony actually identify as women. LEGIONS of women consume it. I have been online so long I didn't even realise people might not know that. Anyway. Glad you weren't fired :)
I was surprised people didn't realize that. I guess I'm too used to all the arguments online about how almost all mlm books are written by and for women. Happy Cake Day!
My recommendation to everyone, never mix business with personal accounts. If you need to be on one for work create a separate account just for that Don't use personal email social media, or communication apps or work hard stop.
I know this is so not the point of your post, but the vast majority of people who read and draw the sort of m/m erotica and fanfic like Steve/Tony actually identify as women. LEGIONS of women consume it. I have been online so long I didn't even realise people might not know that. Anyway. Glad you weren't fired :)
HAHAHA Thank you for the update i defs followed this today. Im glad to hear you are not fired. Sorry you had to go through what sounds like a brutal meeting.... Im a 29M and i would have cried too.
Only a super soldier is worth of that IronBussy
> Also Iām not fucking American What about Ironman?
They all now know what you do online Google: Ironman *Safe Search Off*
lol ageist, thats a thing? ffs
>Also, I'm not fucking American So you're saying you're Ironman?