So you like those xtranormal.com vids?

[paramedicmike]

You'll enjoy this story then.

Or you can just read it below:

Colleton County rescue worker loses job over Facebook post

Posted: Feb 25, 2010 7:46 PM

Updated: Feb 26, 2010 12:50 AM

Video Gallery

By Hatzel Vela

Colleton County paramedic, firefighter loses job over Facebook post

1:59

COLLETON COUNTY, SC (WCSC) - A Colleton County paramedic and firefighter was fired over a video he posted on Facebook.

On February 11, Jason Brown was called into the director's office and questioned about the video he posted the previous night.

The Facebook post takes you to a YouTube-like site, where a video almost three minutes in length shows an exchange between two cartoon characters at a hospital.

One is a doctor, the other a paramedic.

In a letter of dismissal Brown provided, Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy said, "You [brown] displayed poor judgment in producing a derogatory video depicting a member of this department with a physician which is implied to be at Colleton Medical Center."

"There was no malicious attack to anybody involved personally or countywide or any certain department ever," said Brown, who spent two hours making what he described as a text-to-movie video.

On the web site xtranormal.com, you can create characters and even make them look like you. Users can type in a script and the cartoon-like character will say what you write.

"I'm not trying to make any doctor or any nurse look stupid," Brown said.

He said he wasn't even talking about Colleton Medical. He only used the name of a doctor who works at that hospital because he had recently seen him at a party.

It was supposed to be a funny, exaggerated and an almost unbelievable story of real life on-the-job experiences, Brown said.

"It's just general things that go on in the day-to-day business of us running calls within any fire department, any EMS," he added.

The dismissal letter also said, "This video has created an embarrassing situation for this department, our public image and the cooperative relationship we enjoy with Colleton Medical Center. It reflects poorly on you and Colleton County."

Brown appealed the decision, but his appeal was denied.

Brown never meant any harm, he said.

"If I knew it was going to give me this much headache, I never would have made it in the first place," he added.

Brown said he was told his video was racist because the cartoon character playing the doctor role was African-American and during one of the exchanges the character said, "I don't want to lose my job and go back to being a janitor."

"That was never, ever in my actions or even thoughts when I made the video," Brown said.

When making the video, a black doctor was the only option offered, he added.

Getting fired was a little overboard, he said.

McRoy wouldn't give details about the Brown's firing because he said he couldn't discuss personnel matters.

But he said the Facebook incident wasn't the only reason Brown was fired.

Brown said he has never been seriously reprimanded and points to the dismissal letter as proof the Facebook post was the only reason he was fired.

If asked to take down the post, he would have done it and that would have been the end, he said.

Brown said after he was fired, he was escorted to the station where he returned all his gear, while two officers supervised him.

"I felt like a criminal," he said.

Prior to working at Colleton County Fire-Rescue for three and a half years, he worked at Berkeley County EMS and Goose Creek City Fire.

He said he left those two places because Colleton County paid more.

©2010 WCSC. All rights reserved.

[itku2er]

Guess the management didnt have a sense of humor!

I saw this posted on a JEMS link that is posted on facebook kinda ironic eh?

[VentMedic]

I can see their point especially if they are contracted for IFTs with that hospital. Make fun of the bread and butter of most ambulance transport services that might cause the contract to be lost and you will suffer the consequences if not by the firing now but by the layoffs that could occur later. Even in Specialty and Flight we are told if we do something stupid to/at the facilities we serve, the other teams in the area are more than willing to take over the contract.

[JPINFV]

http://www.allfacebook.com/2009/02/facebook-privacy/

[46Young]

Thanks for the heads up. The IAFF homepage has no record of a local for the county. There was the local 4179, but I think it's inactive. That's probably why he got fired so easily. No representation, no attorney.

http://wcsc.images.w.../discipline.pdf

It takes a little time to load, so please be patient.

Per the county's disciplinary policy, he could have had a verbal warning, written warning, LWOP, or a demotion/reduction in pay before facing discharge. Pay close attention to 15.1B. They think they're slick in writing this. 15.1B basically says that they can treat each employee on an indivdual basis, and not be held to that precedent when dealing with others for similar issues. This basically authorizes cronyism and favoritism. This is what depts write into their SOP's when there's no union looking out for employee interests. No decent union would ever let crap like that be written into policy. A union will ensure fair and equal treatment for all, which is the exact opposite of 15.1B. Wake up and look into what shady rules and SOP's your dept has. This is one of the major reasons why I'm so pro union. Favoritism and cronyism doesn't fly with me. Strength in Solidarity.

Oh, here's the video:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/6096497/

Edited February 27, 2010 by 46Young

[46Young]

Well, I just read the facebook user comments regarding the video, via the link from the story. It was as I suspected. Some residents told of how the county nails some to the cross for relatively minor issues, and others get just a slap on the wrist for more serious wrongdoing. It's all favoritism down there. I noticed the same at CCEMS, and it's one of many reasons why I left. People say unions are evil, ruin the country and all, but look what happens when they're not around. Things will continue to regress for the employee. It's analagous to the political cartoon they show you in grade school. A ruthless dictator is overthrown by a new movement promising change. The new ruler slowly changes so by the last frame of the cartoon the ruler is now the dictator, identical to the first frame. Get rid of unions altogether and at some point employee working conditions, compensation, benefits, and job security will deteriorate to the point that there will be a new movement for collective bargaining, just like in the olden days. In fact, the IAFF is currently pushing for legislation that will eliminate the whole absurd "right to work" thing, and legalize collective bargaining in all 50 states.

[JPINFV]

...because unions are some sort of panacea. Right... So, Mr. Young, what has the IAFF done to ensure that Boston Firefighters aren't drunk of high when working again? Last time I checked they've done everything possible to keep allowing drunks and crack heads to stay in fire houses, even after 2 fire fighters died.

IAFF did so much good to protect the jobs of Kansas City, MAST employees, correct? Oh, wait, they sold them out.

Here's a story about the teachers unions fighting to improve a failing school... Opps, sorry. Teacher pay comes before performance.

http://www.projo.com/news/content/central_falls_trustees_vote_02-24-10_EOHI83C_v59.3c21342.html

As far as right to work, shouldn't I have a choice to join a union or not? Why should I be forced to contribute to a political entity that I disagree with and fights for the lowest common denominator.

Edited February 28, 2010 by JPINFV

[paramedicmike]

He was fired so easily because he's a moron and demonstrated exceptionally poor judgement. Say, just for a moment, that one was to believe that line he fed about it being completely innocent. Then he would have to be fired for being so ridiculously stupid as to do the things he freely admitted to doing (basing the scenario on a real life event and naming the doctor after a local physician and then posting it on his FB page).

I didn't post this to have it turn into a "this is why unions are great" post. I posted this as a reminder that if you truly want to keep your private and professional life separate then don't do what this nimrod did.

If you want to turn this into a IAFF/union debate then take it to one of the other threads where it has been clearly demonstrated that the IAFF really isn't all that great despite what some misguided members may think.

-be safe

[46Young]

He was fired so easily because he's a moron and demonstrated exceptionally poor judgement. Say, just for a moment, that one was to believe that line he fed about it being completely innocent. Then he would have to be fired for being so ridiculously stupid as to do the things he freely admitted to doing (basing the scenario on a real life event and naming the doctor after a local physician and then posting it on his FB page).

I didn't post this to have it turn into a "this is why unions are great" post. I posted this as a reminder that if you truly want to keep your private and professional life separate then don't do what this nimrod did.

If you want to turn this into a IAFF/union debate then take it to one of the other threads where it has been clearly demonstrated that the IAFF really isn't all that great despite what some misguided members may think.

-be safe

I'm not commenting on this thread just because he's fire. I brought up the IAFF because that would be the union most likely to be working with Colleton County. If it was someone from a private hospital in NYC, I would ask if they were affiliated with 1199 or something. The problem is that he got fired for posting the video on a social networking site, to be viewed among friends. It wasn't like he posted it to youtube. Maybe he could have used a week or a month of LWOP to prove a point, but certainly not his job. This world is too PC and soft, and everybody gets their feelings hurt by everything nowadays. The video wasn't really a big deal, and they're trying to play the race card, too. Makes me want to vomit whenever someone makes things racial when they're not, like the FDNY 6019 test, for example. It's not like he did what those FDNY medics did, documenting their pt contacts on video and all.

The county's disciplinary policy 15.1B got me hot because it's absolutely outrageous that you can give two different punishments to two different people for the same offense. This and many other policies that serve only management's interests are written into policy unopposed. I haven't seen these problems in my union experiences, or those of acquaintances. A dept ought to have progressive step discipline for each and every employee. We have four steps. Verbal warning, written warning, metting with the BC and maybe three days of LWOP, and finally a meeting with the fire chief, where you're typically let go. Transgressions that skip step 1 and go right to 2,3, and 4 are clearly written into dept SOP's. The important thing is that the process is equal for everyone. Same for promotions. Merit matters. You score high and interview well, you're placed higher on the list. No promoting your drinking buddy or your wife's cousin.

What I don't like about unions is that they protect lazy people. We can deal with them if it means the union is there to protect us against unfair work issues. We have our ways of dealing with the skells at the station level, and we can also use progressive discipline to our advantage. Unions in non strike places like gov't are a good thing. In the private sector not so much, but they can also have their place in certain circumstances.

[Happiness]

Hey those lego guys are fun to play with.