Best Buy Employee "Outs" Straight Guy

[Nuke_em_05]

This keeps showing up the "recent" feed, so I figured I'd check it out.

He apparently isn't very keen on being mistaken for a homosexual.

I don't know if you intended this, Grey, but that seems to imply that he is homophobic.

Imagine if the post had been "I'm getting married", "I'm getting divorced", "We're having a baby!". Would his concern over those mean he is for or against marriage, or babies? Nope. It means "now everyone thinks I am unexpectedly something that I am not, and now I have to deal with clarifying it for many people; and deal with many more over time who just took it at face value and went on with it." Imagine his girlfriend or wife's reaction to that. Imagine friends, families, and colleagues' reactions. These are all big life things that have to be handled delicately even when true.

What we at least forum-using level internet dwellers seem to forget is that not everyone views the world the same way as we do. Not everyone assumes an "I'm gay" post is a joke or hack, especially depending on who the poster claims to be. Not everyone checks follow-up posts for "lolz, I got hacked". Not everyone would believe a retraction even if he posted one.

Family, friends, and co-workers probably told other friends about the post. How many of them passed it on? How many of them, if they read a retraction, pass it on to the others "Oh, by the way, turns out Bob isn't gay". Extraordinary news travels fast, be it "good", "bad", true, or false; corrections hardly travel at all.

So, the employee got fired, that would probably be enough for me. This guy is probably going to have to deal with repercussions of this post for at least a few years. If he wants compensation for that, I have no problem with him.

 

[Goofguy]

Does this guy live and die by Facebook? If I was to be judged by the crap that has been put about me on Facebook, I'd probably be jobless but you know what? None of my friends (especially the ones I haven't been in contact with for a while, who apparently are so important) give a damn.

 

[Maze1125]

This keeps showing up the "recent" feed, so I figured I'd check it out.

He apparently isn't very keen on being mistaken for a homosexual.

I don't know if you intended this, Grey, but that seems to imply that he is homophobic.

Imagine if the post had been "I'm getting married", "I'm getting divorced", "We're having a baby!". Would his concern over those mean he is for or against marriage, or babies? Nope. It means "now everyone thinks I am unexpectedly something that I am not, and now I have to deal with clarifying it for many people; and deal with many more over time who just took it at face value and went on with it." Imagine his girlfriend or wife's reaction to that. Imagine friends, families, and colleagues' reactions. These are all big life things that have to be handled delicately even when true.

Did you purposely take that line out of context, or were you incapable of reading a sentence further into the article?

He apparently isn't very keen on being mistaken for a homosexual.

"I feel I have been humiliated. My reputation has been tarnished," he said.

He's not just upset that he has to explain things, he finds being mistaken as homosexual to be both humiliating and reputation damaging. That sounds pretty damn homophobic to me.

If the post had been "I'm getting married." or "We're having a baby." and his response wasn't simply to tell people it wasn't true but to instead go "I feel I have been humiliated. My reputation has been tarnished," that would be a pretty clear indication found marriage, or babies, to be distasteful.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

This keeps showing up the "recent" feed, so I figured I'd check it out.

He apparently isn't very keen on being mistaken for a homosexual.

I don't know if you intended this, Grey, but that seems to imply that he is homophobic.

Imagine if the post had been "I'm getting married", "I'm getting divorced", "We're having a baby!". Would his concern over those mean he is for or against marriage, or babies? Nope. It means "now everyone thinks I am unexpectedly something that I am not, and now I have to deal with clarifying it for many people; and deal with many more over time who just took it at face value and went on with it." Imagine his girlfriend or wife's reaction to that. Imagine friends, families, and colleagues' reactions. These are all big life things that have to be handled delicately even when true.

Did you purposely take that line out of context, or were you incapable of reading a sentence further into the article?

He apparently isn't very keen on being mistaken for a homosexual.

"I feel I have been humiliated. My reputation has been tarnished," he said.

He's not just upset that he has to explain things, he finds being mistaken as homosexual to be both humiliating and reputation damaging. That sounds pretty damn homophobic to me.

If the post had been "I'm getting married." or "We're having a baby." and his response wasn't simply to tell people it wasn't true but to instead go "I feel I have been humiliated. My reputation has been tarnished," that would be a pretty clear indication found marriage, or babies, to be distasteful.

I asked for clarification on the context. I did read the whole article and followed the link.

Sexual identity makes a big part of anyone's reputation. What if George Takei came out and said: "Lolz! I don't really like dudes!"?

"Having a baby" when his wife or girlfriend is not pregnant would sure as hell be humiliating and reputation tarnishing. "Getting married" could fuck up his relationship with his current girlfriend, or potential girlfriends. "Getting divorced" could really fuck with his family.

Like I said before, not everyone checks for, or even believes retractions; people might assume he is a cheater or at least an illegitimate father, or that he's too needy/clingy/dependent, or that he is getting a divorce. Or that he made the post himself as a joke in very poor taste.

It's not just that he takes his post "too seriously", it's that other people could take his post "too seriously". Some people just fuck around on Facebook, some people actually use it a a legitimate means of communication with friends and family. Neither use is "right" or "wrong" for any given individual. It just means that if you and your friends don't post or read things seriously on Facebook, it doesn't invalidate that this guy and his friends might.

I get it, it wouldn't be a big deal for you. This guy isn't you.

 

[Maze1125]

I get it, it wouldn't be a big deal for you. This guy isn't you.

You're right, it wouldn't be a big deal to me, but it is to this guy, because he's a homophobe.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

I get it, it wouldn't be a big deal for you. This guy isn't you.

You're right, it wouldn't be a big deal to me, but it is to this guy, because he's a homophobe.

The problem I see in this community, and society at large, is that we assume everyone either does or should have the same perspective as we do.

This guy considers his Facebook an important portal for his identity. This guy feels that his sexual identity is important. That doesn't make him a homophobe, and it doesn't make him wrong just because you don't.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

I'm pretty sure he can sue for slander.

No, he can't. To quote J. Jonah Jameson, "Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel."

About the story, if I were in his shoes, I wouldn't care, because it would be half-right. However, I can understand why he'd feel a bit violated (pun unintended). It would be like someone going on and saying I'm a bastard (the fatherless kind). If I defend myself, it's not because I have a problem with bastards (at least, not the fatherless kind), but because it is, quite simply, not true. I also wouldn't like it if I were hacked and the hacker put up a post saying I was a transsexual. I have nothing against them, but it could definitely impact relationships, both in and out of family. Same here.

 

[Snowblindblitz]

Everyone does realize that you are held accountable for anything posted on your facebook, right?

I WORK AT MCDONALDS, and have to sign a release form saying I'll never saying anything harmful about McDonalds, its employees, and customers.

I can get fired.

If it had been a reverse, he was a homosexual male, and was offended over being labeled as straight, would people be so quick to jump on the homophobia wagon? Or, I guess, straight-aphobe?

Your sexual identity is a personal thing.

 

[twistedmic]

Everyone does realize that you are held accountable for anything posted on your facebook, right?

I WORK AT MCDONALDS, and have to sign a release form saying I'll never saying anything harmful about McDonalds, its employees, and customers.

I can get fired.

If it had been a reverse, he was a homosexual male, and was offended over being labeled as straight, would people be so quick to jump on the homophobia wagon? Or, I guess, straight-aphobe?

Your sexual identity is a personal thing.

The company you work for can be held accountable for anything you say/post/publish if you do so while you are affiliated with that company, meaning if you say that you work for blah-blah inc., are wearing a blah-blah inc. uniform (with name tag/badge if logo isn't on the clothing) or reference the company during your speech/post/writings. That's why DVD/VHS movies have a disclaimer at the beginning of the disc/tape stating that anything said over the course of comentary or bonous features doesn't refelct the views and opinions of the dvd/movie company. I learned that when I did some seasonal work for Toys'r'Us

Also, I think the correct term for someone who hates/fears straight people would be a heteraphobe.

 

[Vigormortis]

Still amazed at how many people think that this guy not wanting people to think that he is gay = homophobia.

If I went around calling openly gay people straight, they have all the right in the world to be pissed. Do people have their politically correct heads so far up their asses that this guy can't defend his identity without being treated like a monster?

How about some hate for the best buy douche using implied homosexuality as an insult instead?

Hahah. Sorry, but that is never going to happen.

For clarity, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at humanity. You see, you're presenting this idea of yours on the internet. One of the few places on the planet where people not only openly act like shit-heads, but actively DEFEND other shit-heads.

Couple that with the combination of overt political-correctness and over-reaction and what do you get? People lambasting the victim of a crime and making shit up about them to make them look even worse.

Fucks sake I hate humanity sometimes. Seriously people, what's wrong with all of you? This guy was taken advantage of and what do we do in response? We write news posts to make fun of the guy and make up slanderous comments; like implying he's homophobic.

Sigh... What the hell happened to the Escapist? When I joined this site back in '07 it used to have this thing called "integrity". Seems the definition of that word had changed.

[edit]

The guy sounds like a dick. This story is 1000x better because of his over-reaction to the whole thing.

This guy needs to get, "Fraped" more.

Case in point.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Still amazed at how many people think that this guy not wanting people to think that he is gay = homophobia.

If I went around calling openly gay people straight, they have all the right in the world to be pissed. Do people have their politically correct heads so far up their asses that this guy can't defend his identity without being treated like a monster?

How about some hate for the best buy douche using implied homosexuality as an insult instead?

Hahah. Sorry, but that is never going to happen.

For clarity, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at humanity. You see, you're presenting this idea of yours on the internet. One of the few places on the planet where people not only openly act like shit-heads, but actively DEFEND other shit-heads.

Couple that with the combination of overt political-correctness and over-reaction and what do you get? People lambasting the victim of a crime and making shit up about them to make them look even worse.

Fucks sake I hate humanity sometimes. Seriously people, what's wrong with all of you? This guy was taken advantage of and what do we do in response? We write news posts to make fun of the guy and make up slanderous comments; like implying he's homophobic.

Sigh... What the hell happened to the Escapist? When I joined this site back in '07 it used to have this thing called "integrity". Seems the definition of that word had changed.

[edit]

The guy sounds like a dick. This story is 1000x better because of his over-reaction to the whole thing.

This guy needs to get, "Fraped" more.

Case in point.

"case in point" the douche who did it was fired, not only that but his "reputation was tarnished", try being him and getting a job anytime soon besides random drive through clerk at mcdonalds on the night shift. yeah I think he has earned his tid bit of "hate", not to mention, everyone here has mentioned it's happened to them/someone they know on quite a common occasion, therefore they don't really care about the guy that is a common occurrence, they care about the guy who is SUING because he left his facebook open and was fraped, if this was liable to go through, you realize how many lawsuits a year the government would be dealing with? thousands if not millions. that is why he is getting beleaguered, not to mention how he reacts saying his "reputation is tarnished" because he got simply fraped.

just because someone's view is different than yours, doesn't mean they don't show "integrity", or can't think for themselves. Honestly if the BB employee wasn't fired and obviously had his future curbed by having that on his file for the rest of his life, then yeah, people probably would be peeved at him.


Tell me, if a woman goes to mcdonalds and the worker delivering it to her "purposely" drops it on her shirt to see her in a wet shirt, and she goes to work and has to deal with telling everyone that it was a mcdonalds worker who did it when she went to get her coffee this morning, do you think for a second she would win a case if she sued mcdonalds? she could use the same argument "my reputation was tarnished in front of my co workers and boss, I have never been so ashamed"

hell no, that shit wouldn't work. (not exactly the same, as we are discussing sexual orientation there, but still, makes a point.)

 

[Griffolion]

Interesting thought. Many people are calling the guy a douce-bag for the "reputation tarnished" comment. I wonder how everyone's reaction would be if it was a gay guy who had been fraped with "I'm straight" saying the same comment.

Would we still be calling him a douche-bag for insulting them thar straights?

 

[Vigormortis]

"case in point" the douche who did it was fired, not only that but his "reputation was tarnished", try being him and getting a job anytime soon besides random drive through clerk at mcdonalds on the night shift. yeah I think he has earned his tid bit of "hate", not to mention, everyone here has mentioned it's happened to them/someone they know on quite a common occasion, therefore they don't really care about the guy that is a common occurrence, they care about the guy who is SUING because he left his facebook open and was fraped, if this was liable to go through, you realize how many lawsuits a year the government would be dealing with? thousands if not millions. that is why he is getting beleaguered, not to mention how he reacts saying his "reputation is tarnished" because he got simply fraped.

just because someone's view is different than yours, doesn't mean they don't show "integrity", or can't think for themselves. Honestly if the BB employee wasn't fired and obviously had his future curbed by having that on his file for the rest of his life, then yeah, people probably would be peeved at him.


Tell me, if a woman goes to mcdonalds and the worker delivering it to her "purposely" drops it on her shirt to see her in a wet shirt, and she goes to work and has to deal with telling everyone that it was a mcdonalds worker who did it when she went to get her coffee this morning, do you think for a second she would win a case if she sued mcdonalds? she could use the same argument "my reputation was tarnished in front of my co workers and boss, I have never been so ashamed"

hell no, that shit wouldn't work. (not exactly the same, as we are discussing sexual orientation there, but still, makes a point.)

. . .

Um...I guess you're not quite up to par on history then? A woman, who spilled her McDonalds coffee ON HER SELF, sued McDonalds and won millions. That's almost the exact same as your little tale, only worse since it was literally her own fault.

Not saying it was right, but it kinda invalidates your claim of "it'll never happen."

But anyway, I think you missed my point. People aren't just annoyed at this guys reaction to the situation, they're actually attacking him with insults and insinuations. For example, the original news article implied the man was homophobic. Not once did the man actually say he hates gay people. Not once. He simply said his reputation is tarnished because he's had to constantly explain to people that he is, in fact, not gay.

You seem awfully willing to jump to conclusions on this whole thing. Which is one of the problems I've been pointing out and one that lends itself to my claim of "lost integrity". It has nothing to do with differing opinions. You, and many others on here, just immediately took the news article at face value and assumed the man was a homophobe. Likewise, you're also making assumptions as to the sorts of things he's had to deal with since this whole thing started. You don't know how it's effected his life. For all you know, because of this accusation, his entire social and working life have been altered. His boss may treat him differently now, even threatening to fire him, over this.

That doesn't make the boss right. That would make him a bigger douche than you presume this man to be. But, it may be something he's had to deal because of the little shit-head at Best-Buy.

My point is, you're quick to assume you know exactly what this guy's had to deal with. And because of this, your quick to dismiss his plight and assume he's just over-reacting.

As for the Best-Buy employee, I'm glad the shit-head lost his job. He should lose more than that. However, I would hardly consider being fired from Best-Buy "life altering" or something that would "tarnish" his reputation. If you believe that, then I...I...I just don't know what to say, honestly.


If anything, based on the rather childish reactions of people online to this whole story, I'd imagine he would better his reputation. Being that so many people are practically defending the his obnoxious actions.


Okay. Almost-side-tracked rant over. Feel free to misinterpret. I'm sure you'll make sweeping judgments of me based on things I haven't said. Hell, you'll probably toss a "...he isn't very fond of homosexuals" in your response for good measure, right? Because that shows real integrity.

 

[Jevgenij Stepanov]

So I went to Google translate with this article and this is what I got:
"GIMME MONEY!"

 

[Lyri]

Wow talk about not being able to take a joke.
Who really doesn't see an "i am gay" post on facebook and not immediately think it's a frape anyway?

Mature people?
People who have never encountered this sort of thing before?

Some of the older generation don't get this sort of thing and it's fine, it's something to do between friends and not something you expect your tech support to do.

This isn't a frape, this is someone being a moron and needs to be punished for it.

 

[The Hungry Samurai]

Still amazed at how many people think that this guy not wanting people to think that he is gay = homophobia.

If I went around calling openly gay people straight, they have all the right in the world to be pissed. Do people have their politically correct heads so far up their asses that this guy can't defend his identity without being treated like a monster?

How about some hate for the best buy douche using implied homosexuality as an insult instead?

Hahah. Sorry, but that is never going to happen.

For clarity, I'm not laughing at you. I'm laughing at humanity. You see, you're presenting this idea of yours on the internet. One of the few places on the planet where people not only openly act like shit-heads, but actively DEFEND other shit-heads.

Couple that with the combination of overt political-correctness and over-reaction and what do you get? People lambasting the victim of a crime and making shit up about them to make them look even worse.

Fucks sake I hate humanity sometimes. Seriously people, what's wrong with all of you? This guy was taken advantage of and what do we do in response? We write news posts to make fun of the guy and make up slanderous comments; like implying he's homophobic.

Sigh... What the hell happened to the Escapist? When I joined this site back in '07 it used to have this thing called "integrity". Seems the definition of that word had changed.

[

I think Grey Carter's integrity specifically is summed up by a moment about a half a year ago in which I calmly and constructively criticized his parody of an iPhone commercial In Critical Miss. He then took the time out of his day to reply to me by implying I was a giant pulsating scrotum.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.321413-Critical-Miss-The-Douche-King?page=2#13172562

Honestly if a guy can't even respect his readers, how can we expect him to respect the material he's expected to cover? If I keep seeing junk like this on his site I'll be sure to cancel my pub club membership next time that charge comes around. Movie Bob and Yahtzee just aren't worth seeing this crap.

 

[Ilikemilkshake]

Wow talk about not being able to take a joke.
Who really doesn't see an "i am gay" post on facebook and not immediately think it's a frape anyway?

Mature people?
People who have never encountered this sort of thing before?

Some of the older generation don't get this sort of thing and it's fine, it's something to do between friends and not something you expect your tech support to do.

This isn't a frape, this is someone being a moron and needs to be punished for it.

I didn't say the culprit shouldn't be punished. I'm saying getting your lawyer involved because someone posted something stupid on your facebook is a complete overreaction.

 

[Lyri]

I didn't say the culprit shouldn't be punished. I'm saying getting your lawyer involved because someone posted something stupid on your facebook is a complete overreaction.

No it isn't?
It's an invasion of personal privacy quite honestly, the tech guy should have been responsible enough to not post something malicious on a customers facebook account.
This isn't a "joke amongst friends" this is a stranger using your account to spread false information about your person, his actions have had some real world repercussions quite honestly for something "so simple".

It was wrong, it's a breach of trust by the company in question and he is able to take action at his own discretion.

 

[Vigormortis]

I think Grey Carter's integrity specifically is summed up by a moment about a half a year ago in which I calmly and constructively criticized his parody of an iPhone commercial In Critical Miss. He then took the time out of his day to reply to me by implying I was a giant pulsating scrotum.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/6.321413-Critical-Miss-The-Douche-King?page=2#13172562

Honestly if a guy can't even respect his readers, how can we expect him to respect the material he's expected to cover? If I keep seeing junk like this on his site I'll be sure to cancel my pub club membership next time that charge comes around. Movie Bob and Yahtzee just aren't worth seeing this crap.

Wow. That's just...I mean...wow. What the fuck?

I reiterate: What the hell happened to this place?!

 

[zombiesinc]

I shake my head at the employee who thought it'd be funny to do such a thing, at all, let alone through a customer's account. I shake my head at the guy who feels his "reputation" has been "tarnished" because his Facebook friends may think he's gay (the horror!). I shake my head at the entire thing really. I've seen this trend of "hacking" friends accounts to make an embarrassing status update, and every time I shake my head. I know I can't expect people to suddenly become, in general, more mature... but can't I dream? Can't I?!