Seven weeks ago this weekend I took two weeks holiday, whilst at a friends house one morning after a rather long night on the malt whisky I read out a comment I'd noticed on Facebook from my company, it was telling everyone how the entirety of the local apprentices had volunteered to help out in Glasgow with the Commonwealth games that were taking place. I made a joke in private to my friends that there was no volunteering involved, all the apprentices were told they had to help out, full stop. Unknown to me one of my friends then decided to frape me by putting "Volunteering should be used loosely here lol" on my companies fb post, I only found out about it about an hour later when someone else commented on it. Obviously when I realized what had happened I deleted the comment my pal had made, and thought no more of it.
Two weeks later when I started back at work I received a letter from my manager saying my presence was required at a disciplinary interview, the company had noticed the comment made in my name, checked up on me, found out I was an employee and want to make an example of me. They say it was a derogatory comment and has brought the company into disrepute, this amounts to gross misconduct and could end up as a termination of contract.
So the following day I gave my side of the story and proving to them my mobile was easily accessed along with my facebook, I explained the whole scenario, the fact it was a joke I had made to my friends etc. My own manager then gave his views of me as an employee telling how I'm a model employee and have been awarded two company awards in the past 5 years, and this is not the type of thing I would do. It was printed off and signed. I was informed it would then proceed to the branch manager to decide whether there was a case to be answered, 7 weeks have since passed and I had convinced myself after all that time it must have been forgotten about, WRONG, tonight I got home from work and found a letter informing me I now have a second disciplinary interview this time with a company director and a member of HR on Wednesday morning. Along with this was a document detailing exactly what punishments could be handed down to me dependent upon the outcome of second interview, ranging from a verbal warning to full dismissal. So I now have a full 5 nights of no sleep and utter panic ahead of me until the next interview, and to make matters worse the director taking the interview is known by the nickname of "The poisoned dwarf" as he loves causing misery wherever he goes.
So the upset stomach has begun once more, all thanks to a joke, based upon the truth I made in private to my drunken friends. This is the best job I've had so far, and the chances getting another job if they did decide to make an example of me does not bear thinking about. I must admit I'm raging and shit scared all at the same time.