Trial by media
 

http://m.torontosun.com/2015/05/12/hydro-one-firing-tfc-fan-after-vulgar-comment

A man who hurled a vulgar comment and swore at a CityNews reporter outside of a Toronto FC game is being fired by Hydro One.
The company confirmed Shawn Simoes is in the process of being terminated from his position as an assistant network management engineer.

What with Facebook pics outing them funeral guys who stopped for a donut and all the cop videos, who needs cctv in Canada when the Canadian public appear to police themselves with results!!

Re: Trial by media
 

The guy in the Arsenal shirt was the one fired. I was not surprised by the association with Arsenal football club here.

The other twat with the sunglasses lives in my neighbourhood and seems to have a reputation for being a twat. I look forward to bumping in to him when he musters up the courage to show his face again.

I passed them on the way out. A typical example of Canadian bro's and unacceptable frat boy behaviour. This country has gone to the dogs.

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IMO it happened whilst he was not at work, not being paid by the company, not at a company event. Canadian law and law enforcement should trump "company policy", especially when the "violation" of said policy occurred when the employee was not at work. Not saying what the bloke did was right, but it wasn't right for the company to take action either. That's the police/law enforcement's job if there were laws broken.

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Fired Him Right In The Paycheque. Unacceptable insults made in public will get you fired from public sector and private sector jobs.

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So, if he was an employee in your company, you'd have kept him?

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If he did a good job at what he did and was a good employee then yes I would see no issue. I can't understand why society keeps bringing in stuff that people do outside of their job into their job. Its part of this annoying culture here that people don't have separate lives outside of their jobs.

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Regarding Mr Arsenal, (who was out of order of course) BUT, was the female reporter out of order too going over to, and interviewing an obviously drunk group of guys.? Is there no rules for media not to exspose a drunken guy to the public, the consequences have snow balled for him now. He will have to get lawyered up for this one I guess.

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That might put the spotlight on you, though. All too easy for competitors to put up a show by passing on the inference that you subscribe to the employee's bad attitude.

The opportunity here (the obvious one) is to kick him out and enjoy the free advertising.

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Whether drunk or sober the best response to any camera and microphone from the media is "no comment".

They can show you in any context regardless of how you say or deliver it.

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Interesting article that includes comments from the Hydro One CEO:

Firing employee got Hydro One a lot of publicity; if it’s for cause that’s a bonus | Financial Post

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James, imagine the comments one would get in a pub in the UK if some one entered just before last orders, that would fill a large proportion of YouTube lol

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The behaviour of individuals in any pub. I see behaviour like this all the time here but the reality is if you are spending money in a bar regularly the behaviour is tolerated by the management.

Just don't be a Frat Boy Bro and take it outside.

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Imagine how he felt when he woke up the next day. At first I guess he was calling or getting calls from his mates "hey dude u is on the telly" then after oh my, talk about post drunken regrets lol "idiot"

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Yes, Hydro One was right to fire him.

This goes beyond doing something stupid on social media. It was live on air. It doesn't matter how drunk the guy was - if he thinks it is appropriate behaviour, in any circumstances, to say that sort of thing to (or about) a woman, then perhaps the reality-check of being fired will do him an ounce of good. Why on earth would anybody think it's acceptable to say that to any woman, ever - let alone somebody in the middle of a live TV broadcast. It would be easy to dismiss as puerile, if it weren't so deeply offensive.

We don't know all the circumstances of his dismissal (or at least, I don't - I don't care about him enough to find out). Was he in a position that involved making visits to customer premises? Was he terminated with cause or was he packaged out? The news last night indicated that he was hardly a junior employee - he made a good salary (paid for by taxpayers, since HydroOne is a government-owned entity... not that I think that is relevant to this case, but as a Sunshine List member his compensation is a matter of public record).

It all fundamentally comes down to people's misunderstanding of the principles of free speech: sure, you're quite at liberty to make dumbass comments, or even this sort of sexual harassment dressed up as some sort of lame "hey look at me" photobombing thing. But others are equally free to take a dim view of your behaviour and to take action against you as a result. Freedom of speech protects you against criminal proceedings as a result of what you say, but does not allow you to be completely free of the consequences of your words or actions.

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$104,000 at Hydro One is the salary of a junior employee. The programmer I shadowed there for ten years made more than that when I started doing his job and much more by the end.

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Ditto to what Oakvillian said, HydroOne was absolutely right to fire him. His actions show that he has piss-poor judgement, and they are well within their right to say that they have no interest in employing someone who cannot demonstrate that they can make intelligent decisions.

This XKCD sums it up nicely:

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/free_speech.png
(xkcd: Free Speech)

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Why would the reporter possibly have been out of order? Was she offensive? Did she offer an aggressive sexual suggestion to the drunk man? It's not even like she filmed him secretly, or anything. I mean, she was standing there holding a microphone and with a cameraman right behind her. How could anybody have a reasonable expectation, at that point, not to be filmed? Come to that, if the camera hadn't been there, the whole incident may not have taken place, since the whole point of this stupid meme is to have yourself broadcast live on air being offensively sexist towards a woman doing her job in a public place.

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is it time for the XKCD cartoon again?

just noticed that snooks beat me to it !!!

xkcd: Free Speech

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Was just Putin that out there as I have seen the same argument on another site.

Anyone know what happened to the guy who actually shouted the obscenity in the first place, the guy in the shades. He be hiding I bet :eek:

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Yeah because this would never happen in Britain or anywhere else eh?

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Does Hydro One have the right to fire TFC fan Shawn Simoes? | Toronto Star

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:goodpost:

I'm freaking tired of the 'boys will be boys' excuse - ie. well he was drunk, well freedom of speech, well <insert name of lame excuse here>. Though Mag's claim that the reporter should have stayed away cos they may have been drunk takes the cake for victim blaming.

Good job, Hydro One! *claps*

As for the other twat, has he been named yet?

ps. In Canada you can pretty much fire anyone for anything, such is the law, as long as you pay severance etc. YOu've all been warned, twat-bros.

It was sexual harrassment and it's not ok.

Re: Trial by media
 

Lol, the whole trend of shouting "Eff her in the C****" on live TV started in the UK ;)

Q: Can an employee be fired for an out-of-work action?

“Certainly, an employer can fire an employee whether they’re unionized or non-unionized for off-duty conduct if it reaches a certain threshold.”

HL: “The law is very similar for union members and non-union members in this area. If you do something which damages your employers brand, do something as outrageous as he did and it gets into the media so it is potentially embarrassing to your employer, it’s cause for discharge.”

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I read that it was originally staged.

Perhaps you can Google it and find out the actual history?

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Canada is over run with gang bangers and types like this.

This should be pinned in the immigration section.

For two reasons:
1/ People know that Canadian's are anti-social. sexist and can't hold their booze.

2/ When the honest hard working immigrant can't find a decent paying job to feed his family he can see the type of worthless frat boy bro on over $100k who is keeping him out of work with his "Canadian Experience".

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Excellent comment.

If the TV company is doing a live feed they should take responsibility for what is broadcast, not try to entrap some drunken lads.

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Actually the origination began in the United States:

About FHRITP | **** HER RIGHT IN THE PUSSY

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You are correct sir, http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/****-h...e-pussy-fhritp

Stunt it was, how must that make the instigator feel if he knew that ?

And James we posted same time oh my Lol

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So it looks like it was a stunt arranged by a T-shirt salesman, to sell T-shirts.

You can purchase a T-shirt via one of the links, above.

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entrapment?

seriously?

I suppose it's the TV networks fault for employing a female reporter to do a live broadcast , I mean they must have known that this was likely to happen right......?

I'm 100% with Kiwi on this.

The only "entrapment" was some asshole guy thinking it's ok to sexually harass women with this kind of behaviour.

I wish this was just a Canadian thing but it is becoming more and more widespread.

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There was a security guard stood right next to Mr Arsenal who did nowt Huh ? Why he not say some thing? Or was it not deemed as sexual harassment at the time ?

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Well I'm with Gozit. The guys made some tasteless comments, if the woman felt sexually harassed she could report it to the police. I don't think the employer, even if it is public sector, should have that kind of control over it's employees off duty actions. As for the TV, they admit on tape it happens regularly, so they are trying to make an example of these guys ON CAMERA and on the internet. It strikes me a digital mob rule.

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Oh, for God's sake get a grip. Entrap? There was a guy holding a camera with "City TV" on it, a microphone, and a reporter standing there. Do you suppose the prat thought "oh, look, I can say something unpleasantly sexist and nobody will ever know?"

That has to be one of the more ridiculous posts that you've ever made.

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This. This way of thinking has got to stop. Whether you realise it or not, you are right there in the "boys will be boys camp". "Oh it was just some tasteless comments..."

I suppose women should just be out of public spaces, then they woouldn't entrap sexist men into being forced to be sexist then? We're such honey traps aren't we.



I'm sick of women being targeted by this crap and I'm sick of the apologists for it. It's threatening and demeaning. t's meant to be.

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"Trying to entrap some drunken lads"

Oh boys will be boys..you know what boys are like on the alcohol - sometimes they're a bit rapey, sometimes a bit sexual harrassy...but it's just tasteless silliness! SO TIRED OF THE EXCUSES. You have no idea what it's like to be a woman and no idea what how intimidating it is to deal with ****tards like that.

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And why on earth shouldn't they?

IT IS NOT OKAY TO SHOUT OBSCENE SEXUAL REMARKS AT WOMEN. ANYWHERE. EVER.

Which part of that is it that is unclear to you? You sound very much like you are excusing this oaf's behaviour. It is not excusable. Not by you, not by "oh, he was a bit drunk," not by "oh, he was just being one of the lads," just not.

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So let him hire a lawyer and let the legal system work its magic.
In the meantime I hope it serves as a lesson to others.
Does it really matter what I think as I'm not currently unemployed and facing the wrath of the public or having my personal life put under scrutiny.
Will it happen again absolutely but I found out early in my career that people do stupid things when a camera of any description especially TV ones are put in front of them sober or not.

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Exactly. That attitude, that men get this latitude to be threatening and demeaning to women in public spaces if they're young or drunk or whatever, that attitude has to die. it must die.

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I think what some maybe saying is yes it's very bad what he did. But he may have been too drunk to realise how bad he was to her.

IMO he was drunk yeh, but not too drunk that he can say he did not know what he was doing. He was still standing and walking unaided.

For Entrapment he would have had to have been lying on the ground covered in sick, half awake and the lady crouch down to him with the mic.

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you cannot be serious.