Usually, in stories like this, you hear about something incredibly stupid some poor digital soul said, did, or posted on social media that got them fired from their job. Today, a single inappropriate Tweet or Facebook post can result in a digital mob and public shaming that results in an unceremonious firing. In this case, social media rallied behind an employee who got fired over something that has people a bit conflicted.
Earlier in December, a mother gave her two sons–ages 12 and 15–her credit card (brave woman) to order a pizza online. The boys ordered from Pizza Hut and in the special requests field, they naturally asked for a joke written on the inside of the pizza box (a popular request for delivery food). You can faintly hear the two lads giggling to each other as they confirmed the order, but here’s where it gets messy.
The girl who delivered the pizza gave them a joke. And it was definitely a NSFW joke. Predictably, mom discovered the joke within the box and was understandably displeased. She was displeased enough that she complained to management and posted it on social media for Pizza Hut to reckon with. While the girl called to apologize for the joke and it wasn’t the mother’s intention for the girl to lose her job, the young pizza delivery comedian was fired shortly thereafter.
About 93% of hiring managers look at the social media profiles of candidates as part of the recruitment prescreening process. Usually, we see things like that happening. People not getting a job because of questionable things on their profiles, or getting fired for posting something terrible after being hired. In this case, it’s neither.
When the pizza girl was fired, the army of Twitter discovered the story and rallied around her with the trending hashtag campaign #JusticeForPizzaGirl. In their mind, she was doing her job and got the sack for it. The hashtag got enough traction that the mother was, unfortunately, being cyberbullied by irate Twitter trolls with nothing better to do. Most users just tweeted at Pizza Hut with things like: “Dear @pizzahut if I order bleu cheese on my pizza and I don’t like it, will you fire the cook? #justiceforpizzagirl”
It’s an argument that’s been tossed back and forth. Yes, she honored t