Today is my last Friday, and next week will be my last Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I've been mulling over some things in my head regarding work stories- to blog, or not to blog? Pretty much everyone who blogs knows who Dooce is, and is familiar with her story. In short: she blogged about work, got fired for it, got press coverage for that, now she's one of the biggest bloggers out there and lives off her site. I've had some people who insist that I shouldn't blog about work, even long after my departure; I've had others who are eagerly awaiting my last day so that I can start up with the stories already.
So I'm reaching out to my readers...what do you guys think? I can't get fired because I'm going to be gone anyway...I know it's naive, but I don't think anyone I work with will be coming across my little blog...the stories I would be writing aren't terrible, but they do make certain people look maybe kind of unreasonable or maybe even a bit daft, BUT they're just the truth...and as for a reference letter, my work here is so unrelated to what I'll be doing post-grad, that I don't think I'll ever be coming back for any favours. My masters program has an internship, so I would expect that to be the only reference letter a future employer would consider valuable.
What a conundrum.
5 years ago
Hmm I can see where you're coming from. If it were me, I'd write about it but not put in specifics (names of people, the name of the company, etc.) and try not to rip into anyone or anything too harshly. The world is so interconnected these days, you never know if something you put out there in writing at one time could come back and bite you later. Plus what if your prospective employer finds this blog and thinks that here is a person who is disloyal to her company/employer and might misrepresent them in a negative light to the public? If there are candid, funny, lighthearted stories it could work, but in any case it's better to take the diplomatic route.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to your hilarious take on T-man's ridiculous antics. Please write about them - you would be doing the world a disfavour by not. You can always omit the specific names, or make up really cool pseudonyms, might be half the fun?
ReplyDeleteYou should not even be considering talking about your present employer or other people you work with. Perhaps company personnel already know you have a blog--it wasn't that hard to find!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, business is interrelated and you never know who knows whom. At the present time, you don't think you would need a reference letter, but you can't predict what will happen in the future.
Don't do it--it's not worth it!!!
Thanks for the input - I think in the end, I'm not going to blog about my current (soon-to-be former) boss and workplace. I'm telling you though, I've got some great ones!
ReplyDeleteJust a side note for 'anonymous' (who I totally thought was my mom)- I don't think that my blog is hard to find by my co-workers (who I wouldn't be blogging about anyway), I would just never expect any of them to take the time to type my name into google.
So no, I will not be blogging about work once I'm done there next week. And besides, reading the stories wouldn't be the same without the impressions ;)
I am glad you are not blogging about work. I have been on the receiving end of negativities via a blog penned by one of my staff. It was hard for me to read them as they were not really attacking my actions but more my personality as this person was seriously disgruntled about many things.
ReplyDeleteNot knowing too much about your work history, there are always two sides to every story and sometimes in a work environment, we do not always get a chance to do what we want to and as a manager I have tried to prevent "crap" from hitting my team there are times when I fail, it hits them and they complain. Its not intentional but it happens and that is how it is in a work environment.
Just my 2 cents. Hee!