I Was Fired Today, For My Bumperstickers!!!

reply to post by mustangshelby

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Perhaps they could've allowed her to remove it, but I can see why they dismissed her outright. They don't want that associated with them in any way at all. Even if she removes it, the customers that saw it will remember it and spread the word.

In the end, regardless of whether its a joke, regardless of whether its an overreaction by the customer, if the day care feels it might cost them even one customer, they're justified in dismissing the OP.

There is no justifiable lawsuit here, IMO.

It is expected making a joke of this nature at such as place, Is hardly going to go very well.

reply to post by observer

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I would love to have someone show me around town, what nice things there are to do, where other people who might share my interests go. But I dont have much money to drive around by myself and explore this city, and I live with my sister who is chronically ill. I thought she would be up to going out sometimes but she is unfortunately, too sick. Like I said, I love Louisville, it is a pretty city, and our skyline is pretty at night.

I just dont get out enough to meet enough other people who might be like me. Maybe because of where I live, I just have not seen much but very conservative thinking. I like to stay home with her in my spare time because she is almost housebound, so maybe this is a case of me being totally clueless to my surroundings. Now that I have slept on it, I am calming down, and understand the business has a right to employ who they see fit. I guess I was not a good fit, and I am glad I found this out before I invested MY time in THEM.

I hope eventually to meet nice people here, who dont judge me for my sense of humor. It will happen.

I do want to say this. I am not ashamed of myself, or my beliefs, or to tell someone what I believe in. I have been this way for daggum near my entire 39 yrs on this planet. Regarding this thread, I appreciate all the advice, and differing thoughts. It has given me much food for thought.

Sorry OP if you want your freedom of speech dont cry when people dont want you around for what you say. Thats how it works. I wouldnt want you working with my child and can understand the parents problem with it. I see where your coming from as well, guess you should have had better sense. Please dont cry about it being illegal to fire you, if you want your freedom of speech dont try to force yourself on people who dont want you due to what you say.

Why is it people in America want their freedom to say what they want but they never want to face the consequences? Boo hoo lets SUE!!!!

[edit on 13-5-2008 by shug7272]

reply to post by hotbakedtater

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I would never presume to tell you you should be ashamed of your beliefs. I actually am pretty in line with your political beliefs (I assume by jumping to conclusions based on the content of the stickers).
However, like Grady said earlier, there are better ways to get your point across without beating someone over the head.
Also, the GOP sticker... that "joke" would fly right over the heads of the vast majority of the population. Not many people obsess over politics and follow every little development and machination as we here on ATS do. So instead of thinking "haha she is poking fun at Larry Craig and Mark Foley" they just saw PEDOPHILE and it freaked 'em out.
That's my guess anyway.

Obs out

P.S. Louisville is great, you need to find some time to explore it.

As I manager I know about a little thing called at will.
Basickly there is a law that says they can terminate you at there will or you can quite at your will. neither of you need a reason. how ever this is ware they may have messed up. they volunteered a reason. Ive let tons of people go under the at will law. If there is a lagitement reason such as there work was poor or attendance went against company policy I volunteered the reason. if they were bad for my team for any reason and or I just didn't like them I would tell them about the at will law and wish them well.

Personally I would of let you go to. Those bumper stickers if seen by a parent coming to pick up a kid would be very bad for business. its not personal its business.

If you choose to have those stickers on your car, then good for you. I admire your desire to express yourself openly.

BUT...you also have to learn to deal with any and all consequences that will arise because of said stickers.

I consider myself to also be a liberal and have some pretty "out there" beliefs. But when I am at work I try to be a neutral as possible, and avoid topics such as politics and religion.

It may not seem right, but sadly it must be done if you want to advance your career.

Good luck in your job search.

I'm sorry you got sacked. Good jobs are difficult to find nowadays so my heart goes out to you.

It's a difficult one this. If I were your employer I'd have called you into the office, had a chat with you about the inappropriateness of the bumper sticker and asked you either to park your car somewhere else or to remove the sticker altogether if you were going to park on the premises.

I don't think that would've been unreasonable given the nature of your employment. Only had you refused would I have taken things further and in accordance with company procedures & employment laws in your state . I think the summary dismissal is an overreaction on the part of your employer ... they obviously saw your potential at the job interview so you must have had something going for you. But you have been a bit naive. There's been faults on both sides ... but nothing a wee chat over a coffee couldn't have sorted out.

But here's the rub. Unless they've breached their own guidance and state employment laws you haven't got a hope of successfully suing them. I'm sorry but you just don't. Divert all your energies into more productive things ... like getting a new job. Good luck with that. Don't be too disheartened, just chalk it down to experience and move on.

Personal opinion here.....you seem very outspoken and I would gather very fervent in your beliefs. I would also gather from your posts and your car that you enjoy verbal confrontation about your beliefs/morals and may use it as a way to express your disgust at the world that surrounds you.

There comes a time in everyone's life that they must make a decision to stick to their morals/beliefs while at the same time not expressing them in an outward fashion that may offend others. It would seem your car did just that. While the sticker in question is the GOP sticker, you have a couple others on there that many parents, including myself, would not want their children to read. I don't want my daughter calling people gay or an ass because she read something on someone's car at her daycare. While I agree with a lot of your beliefs, I do not think that most sheeple are willing to listen to them.

This, for me, is along the same lines as discussing my personal family life with co-workers, and I am surely not going to put a bumper sticker on my car stating that I had a fight with my wife, or my daughter is a drug addict or anything of that sort.....neither of which is true just for the record....

I was always told growing up that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. While you may have interviewed well and answered their questions and fit the profile for a great daycare worker, politics were not involved, and wearing them on your sleeve, or in your case your car, is usually not a good idea in any work place.

I have heard more arguments over politics and religion than anything else and refuse to speak about them anymore. I simply hold those beliefs close to me and listen to what others say now....without rebuttal.

Again....just my .02



[edit on 5/13/08 by Vasa Croe]

It would seem that at a minimum you exercised poor judgment in having a bumper sticker referring to pedifiles on your car when you are trying to work at a day care center.

It could also be that one of the owners or people who drop their kids off at the day care center are GOP members. In either case, if you want to be gainfully employed, you should get rid of the bumper stickers.

Of course I support free speech and I thought those bumper stickers were funny but you have to make choice as to what's important in your life, a job or a silly bumper sticker.

Uh, no laws were made or charges filed over her stickers, so her freedom of speech as it is defined in the Constitution is 100% in effect! And if you want to travel down that road, the day care center also used their freedom of speech to not retain an employee who didn't represent their values.

I'm a parent and there's no way in hell I'd allow my child to enter anyplace which had a vehicle with a pedophile reference on it. I applaud the daycare center and would suggest in the future you actually use your head for something other than a hatrack when you're picking out bumper stickers for your car.

Personally, I am glad you got fired. I don't really understand why liberals feel the need to cover their cars with bumper stickers like that. I have never once seen a car with conservative bumper stickers covering the entire rear end of the car like that. lol.... liberals.

Dearest OP: ok, seriously. you're messing with us, right? Most employment is at will, as most here have said. so, given this, and the sought after venue of employment you were involved in, at what point in your mind did you think that a day care center, and something that says "Gay Old Pedophiles" oh your vehicle in their lot was a good idea. Use your head man, thats not just stupid, thats DAMN stupid.

I'm sure you and your friends down at the coffee shop think your little sticker is just oh so cool, witty, thoughtful and makes 'a statement', but really, most people don't put GOP together with the GOP party when theres no context. No, seriously. I'm part of that group a bit and I honestly didn't make the connection, I'd take it as you're advertising that you are.

To sum it up, don't blame others for your own stupidity.

You also have to consider if you work for an "at will" employer. Here in Texas, they can fire you at anytime without "reason".

My brother had a t-shirt, it said "the originators of gun control" and had a grea big swastika on it. This shirt is an anti-nazi and anti-gun control shirt. Your bumper sticker is anti-pedophile and anti-GOP. You were fired and my brother got the sh** kicked out of him by 2 state troopers.
A smart person (who got the joke) would have told you to cover up or remove the sticker, just as they should have gotten the joke and told my brother to turn the shirt inside out. Then again, smart people don't wear such shirts or sticker up their car.
Maybe they fire you for being liberal, since you can't just peel that off.

Wow ... Just wow.

This has nothing to do with your political views, it has everything to do with making jokes about Peodphelia while employed to care for children.

I don't mean any offense and I'm not accusing you of pedophelia, but If I was your boss at the Day Care Center, and you arrived to work with a button on your jacket that said anything about Gay Babies or old men who are pedophiles, I'd fire you on the spot too.

Putting a bumper sticker on your car is like putting a button on your jacket. And when you are entrusted with the care of other people's children, you should stay far, far away from anything relating in any way to gay babies and pedophiles.


I can't believe you could be so shocked by this. Put yourself in their shoes. As a parent, I would be outraged to see the word pedophile in my child's day care parking lot. The last place in the world a person would want to see a word like that, even the words Gay Baby (because it denotes pedophilia as well) is in a day care center.

Open your eyes ... And I am assuming you are a woman. First because you mentioned crying over this, second you are looking for work in a daycare caenter and third because your avatar background is pink. If you are a man, all of this would be even more disturbing.

I'd say that you are an incredibly oblivious person, totally entrenched in your own life n incapable of empathy. If this weren't the case, you would have simply put your palm to your face and said "Jesus, I'm an idiot. Why would I have thought that Pedophile and gay babies are appropriate jokes or comments to make at a day care center?!"

Ok, if we apply the Fat Redhead Cry-Wolf Syndrom to the whole world, no one would talk to me every time I wear my " Trust No One" X FILES shirt

There really isn't a "polite" discussion around this. But, i find it hard to believe that you are shocked. And it is very disappointing that you fail to learn from this, choosing to call it some kind of conspiracy against you for your beliefs.

You say it all above: you are 39 and opinionated.

Being opinionated is not compatible with child care. No one wats their child indoctrinated into a political belief system by a day care provider. Think of all the negatives you are portraying:

1. opinionated
2. pedophile
3. immature enough to have that bumper sticker on your car (who has bumper stickers anymore?)

You should quit having your feelings hurt, learn some lessons about how to conduct yourself in the professional world, and make some changes in the way you wear your opinions on your sleeve.

The bumper sticker is offensive to republicans and gay people. Yes, it is silly and PC, but such is the world we live in. There is no conspiracy, You just need to grow up and pay attention.

Well, I didn't read through all these pages... omg, loads of replies.

BUT I looked at your stickers and laughed my ass off.

I REALLY think that you need to make a website to tell your story. You obviously have a topic that draws attention, and the bumper stickers are hilarious as hell.

This is what I would do... Start a website, showing off the bumper stickers, along with your story. Optimize it for SEO, you can PM if you like the idea and don't know what this means or how to go about anything.

Then throw some advertising on this website. People would be passing the URL to your site to everyone you know. At least I would. It is funny, and interesting. Just in time for voting season too. Political humor is HOT.