I thought I lived in the US of A ...

So for a few years now many have heard me "stand on my soap box" about how the corporate world has started treating employees really no better than slaves. If I am not mistaken, we outlawed several many years ago. Employers however are able to dictate our personal lives, outside the office and off the clock. Dont comply? You are beaten! - well beaten down anyways, they fire you.

No smoking, no over eating allowed, because if you smoke or are fat, 1. you cost them more for insurance and 2. it could make them look bad. #2 in the end is really where the invasion of my privacy comes in. If I in no way speak of or bring my companies name into my outside activities, then they should have no right to dictate my activities.

Sadly that is not the case and more and more companies are instilling "moral" clauses into their employee handbook. There is hardly an employer that does not do a full Internet search on you before they hire you. Is that fair? Absolutely not. There is a law protecting us from former jobs giving bad info about us to a new employer .. Why doesnt my personal life need the same protection??

Not too long ago a teacher was fired on the East Coast. Why? Because several years ago she went on a trip to a foreign country, and OMG she had a beer in a pub. A friend took a picture, she looked cute! but had a beer in her hand. She posted that pic on her facebook site. The school somehow eventually saw it and ruled that was inappropriate. POOF just like that, no more job. In her case of being a teacher, she will probably have a hard time ever getting another teaching job in that state.

and it's not even just the USA. In the UK not too long ago a woman called in sick to work. During her "work hours" she updated her facebook status .. and she was fired. Boss said, if you can FB, you can work.

There are 100s of stories like this out there, and I just became the latest victim. For about the past 18 months my employer has made it blatantly clear they would like to see me gone. This is because I refused to smile and say that I thought my company was great and did everything right. They want robots, not human beings. Because I happen to be a top employee, they really had no valid grounds to terminate me. Until now. Well, they think they have grounds ...

I was taken into our HR office and advised that I made a tweet threatening my boss. The twitter ID they presented was in no way legally linked to me. The so called "threat" was not made to a specific person or name ( as a matter of fact it was made to an inanimate object, and automobile)
and they said it said the words "my boss" - I have 2 jobs, even if that were to have been my ID, who is to say what boss the tweet referred to.

When I pointed out that it was not me, I was told they had info. Unfortunately for them, there is no link to my real identity and the alleged twitter ID I supposedly used to make the tweet. Yet, I am still fired.

Where have we gone so wrong that we allow them to have some power over our personal lives. They are worse than the government!!

They have now invaded my privacy and it's simply infuriating! In the end this will ultimately make me accomplish my goal of moving to Arizona and the sun, but its still so very wrong. I will be contacting an attorney.