General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums14 CA Lifeguards fired for inappropriate and disgusting behavior and now they need our help.
Last edited Sat Sep 8, 2012, 11:49 PM - Edit history (3)
These lifeguards have 1736 signatures on their petition to save their jobs. C'mon DU, can we double that?? (if you sign the change.org petition let us know what it is up to! UPDATE 1:26 p.m. Pacific: now at 1902, they need 598 more signatures. DU IS MAKING A DIFFERENCE;0) UPDATE: 8:47 2320 only 179 needed :0)I'll do a quick paraphrase and then post the links. 14 lifeguards, on their off-time, made a music video (a shot-by-shot knock-off of a popular Korean video). Nothing lewd, nothing dirty, the worst thing they do is put some sun lotion on to a beat. These kids are mostly college students working to pay for school and books and the city freaked out and fired them all.
The city is charging them with using the pool and wearing their uniforms in a way that they didn't approve of. The implications of this are pretty big. In a broader sense, using this same rational, they could fire any employee who posts a picture or a video on which city property is visible, in which they are wearing or any uniforms are visible or, God forbid, an employee does something that the city doesn't approve of. If your wife takes a picture of you in your uniform as you leave for work and she puts it on facebook you could be fired.
To put this into perspective, one of the lifeguards in the video does nothing more than smile at the camera, one time. That's it. He is only in one shot that I saw, and all he did was smile at the camera. They edited the clip down and used it three or four times in a row but it is just a smile. So, one of these guys was fired for smiling at his friend's camera.
There is a petition at change.org to help these guys out: http://www.change.org/petitions/help-the-14-el-monte-lifeguards-get-their-jobs-back-hire-back-the-lifeguards?utm_campaign=autopublish&utm_medium=facebook&utm_source=share_petition&utm_term=25403421
Here is the video: &feature=player_embedded
Here is a huffpo article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/07/lifeguard-style-gangnam-style-spoof-video-fired_n_1865535.html
PCIntern
(25,576 posts)I hope not!
xchrom
(108,903 posts)this would have been the 60s.
gateley
(62,683 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)I hate it when catch a spelling/usage error later, after it is too late to fix it.
P.S. PC...I like a lot of your posts. :0)
PCIntern
(25,576 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)xchrom
(108,903 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)freshwest
(53,661 posts)Trying to guess the reason for this.
Done on work time? Should have asked for permission to film? Dock their pay, write them up, but fire them? WTF is wrong with their bosses?
They should all be at work today!
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)Fire them all a couple of weeks before they shut down for the winter? I'm sure they need fewer lifeguards as of this week with all the kiddies going back to school.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)Incitatus
(5,317 posts)He was later offered his job back after the news got big and people complained, but he refused and accepted a job somewhere else.
madashelltoo
(1,699 posts)If we allow them to have their way, Americans will not be allowed to smile or laugh ever unless given permission. This is yet another example of those with power being drunk with it. Young people having a great time stops their hearts from beating. Right? They take food off of their plates. Right? They take their paychecks to the bar. Right? Wrong. They're just too damned happy. Can't have that shit.
Response to madashelltoo (Reply #4)
itsrobert This message was self-deleted by its author.
1monster
(11,012 posts)beancounters have no imagination or creativity at all. And hate it when they see it in others.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)and instead they come across as fascists, upset at...well, i don't know what. There just isn't anything offensive in the video.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)One can always get some mileage on parodies of stuff like that. (Of course, Gangman Style was itself getting some mileage, since it's a parody itself.)
Tuesday Afternoon
(56,912 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)madashelltoo
(1,699 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)by authoritarians and plutocrats with absolutely no tolerance for fun and happiness. I look at people around here in a republican stronghold and they look miserable as hell and they have money. That's not good enough for them, they want to also control and dominate every aspect ones life.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)RKP5637
(67,112 posts)Yooperman
(592 posts)They don't even need a reason... any employer can let you go without any reason what so ever.
Should these students have been fired... nope.... but unless they were part of a union the city had the authority to let them go.
If they were union members then they would be able to use proper procedures to file a hearing that they were unjustly fired.
YM
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)The people united is as strong as any union. I know, i'm the member of one.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)RebelOne
(30,947 posts)FedUpWithIt All
(4,442 posts)Just silly BS. Hope the kids are vindicated.
enlightenment
(8,830 posts)the fountain (which is possibly a little too suggestive for younger kids, but could also just be yoga), this would make a great PR video.
In the UK they call public officials that can't see past the end of their pointy pencils 'jobsworths'. It is not a compliment.
Ridiculous over-reaction to some kids having fun.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)Do you remember Legally Blond 2? It reminded me of Junior doing the cheerleader's dance to Atomic Dog on the courthouse steps.
A little over the top but pretty harmless.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)PSY - GANGNAM STYLE
1monster
(11,012 posts)jus sayin...
Raine
(30,540 posts)since it's the end of summer even here in CA most lifeguards would be layed off anyway.
Control-Z
(15,682 posts)Have they not seen the trash a lot of young people post on youtube? This looks like a healthy, wholesome group of kids having fun to me.
orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)Unfortunately the municipal Managers of our entire country are trying to cure their mismanagement by playing the role of Torquemada
peacebird
(14,195 posts)Just some kids having fun. Talk about over reacting....
dballance
(5,756 posts)There was nothing lewd or offensive in the video. It was very amusing. Okay so they still had on their uniforms. I wouldn't have known that unless their bosses tried to make something of it. I didn't see any logos.
angstlessk
(11,862 posts)PSY - GANGNAM STYLE has so far received 125,657,304 hits on google video...the city could get mileage from the video
Link:
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)were they still at the pool? They didn't bother to get permission from the boss. Here is a big problem I can see. If any of these people could have gotten hurt one of their parents could have sued the owner. That is something people should think about. I know they don't look anything is going on but it could happen. The owner of the business has the liability worry. Those are just facts. If they would have asked the boss then the boss could have gotten to control the situation and say yes or no to want they can do. Those are facts.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)I would think, the more prudent thing to do if you are a city and 14 young people's jobs and lives should matter, that you would sit them down and tell them not to do anything like this again.
Firing them publicly, saying they were disgusting and saying they have no character basically, ruining their reputation and hurting their chances of finishing school.
When you see companies making videos right and left cheekily selling their products (naked airline attendants
This was a learning opportunity for these kids. They should have been reprimanded and that is that (really? you think it was ok to fire the one guy who ONLY SMILED?). Instead these kids have decided to fight for their jobs and will learn a whole different lesson (sometimes the little guy gets royally screwed) but maybe they will learn if you fight for your rights you win.
I'm helping them fight for their rights. No one should be fired for smiling.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)city. They are always worried about liability. Just one accident and the city can pay dearly. Those are facts. I've seen it where I worked that lifeguards can do some dumb things. The city fires them. I can understand there point of view. People do crazy things. They can and will be sued.
1monster
(11,012 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)filming was wrong. I can see the owners responsibility. Nothing happened BUT something could have. They are lifeguards and they have a responsibility to their jobs. If they aren't doing their job then the owner has rights. The sad thing is today if you live in a right to work state they can fire you and not give you a reason. When I was working at a civic center alot of the maintenance people were have to clean up after a big event. One of the guys was working and another guy said something innocent to him. All he said was if she doesn't like it she can come out here and do it herself. The supervisor overheard him and he went in and told the boss (who no one liked). She came out and she fired him on the spot, period. That's what happens in a right to work state.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)court martial? say in the paper they are disgusting and unworthy of employment? Ruin their character? I mean, there was a hip thrust there and some men touched.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)that is only going to go so far.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)Did you watch the video? There is nothing unsafe. THEY WERE FIRED FOR BEING "DISGUSTING". I am criticizing that they were fired because someone thought what they did was nasty...nothing about being unsafe. The city admitted why they were fired. It isn't some made up thing--and I'm saying it was wrong.
ESPECIALLY since 14 were fired and several didn't dance, move, flail, swim or do anything but smile. Like if your friend came up behind you and got a little 2 second film of you smiling and spliced it into a video. Should you be fired for that with no meeting or recourse?
Sure the city is strapped money wise and illegally firing people only costs the city more in the long run after the lawsuits, unemployment benefits, foodstamps, whatever else an unemployed 20 year old has to turn to to survive.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)another prospect thats all.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)a bit quick on the defense lately.
Did you see the post last week from the troll who posted that all Dem women are ugly? They had been peppering me with comments in the previous weeks and then came out with that really terrible post. Ever since then I sure seem to want to wade into an argument quickly.
My apologies for not being a gentleman.
southernyankeebelle
(11,304 posts)was just bringing another point of view. Try not letting assholes get to you. Am a women and we have to remember republican trolls would only say something like that about women because republican women are beautiful outside but damn ugly on the inside and you can't do anything about ugly. Plus at night when they go home and get ready for bed they take that cake makeup off, fake eyelishes off, fake boobs off and fake butts off and what do you have left? An empty brain and a ugly, ugly woman. At least dem women are smart and are not ugly inside.
marble falls
(57,162 posts)Vincardog
(20,234 posts)Butterbean
(1,014 posts)Did they sign anything when they were hired about posting pictures on Facebook or social media sites in their uniforms? I ask because where I work, we all had to sign a clause that explicitly forbids posting of any pictures of us in our uniforms or at work on any social media site, or on a personal blog. I'm a nurse, and work at a hospital, so it's a little bit different where I work, granted, but that's becoming a new thing at a lot of places I hear. We cannot post any pictures of us in our work uniform at all, on any social media sites, or post pictures of us at work on social media sites. It's a huge deal now.
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)so... if the reason was "you are not allowed to make a video on the off hours or be photographed in your uniform" then I'd think the city would have said so instead of allowing a supervisor to make a moral judgement that the press was privy to.
But I've seen firemen dancing on America's favorite home video, Policemen dancing, air crew dancing, prison inmates dancing... it just does not seem a firing offense AND
MOST IMPORTANTLY, some of those kids aren't dancing. One only smiles. Is he being "inappropriate and disgusting?" He doesn't sing to the lyrics or anything--just a guy at work who got filmed on someone's phone for two seconds smiling and then got fired and called disgusting in the press by his boss.
Butterbean
(1,014 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)they just fired someone where i work for using their cell phone.
Butterbean
(1,014 posts)Egnever
(21,506 posts)Rhiannon12866
(205,857 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)dhill926
(16,351 posts)thanks for posting. Been on the news here. Just crazy........
GEOpix
(65 posts)I just signed the petition. It now has 2127 supporters, and needs 373 more as of 9:00 PM EST
Tigress DEM
(7,887 posts)It is suggestive but in a really playful way. The elevator whoop and the guy putting lotion on his own chest, multiple women doing odd things in front of a man. It's bizarre, but worth firing? Not sure. If they work with kids it has to be pg.
Lots of things that are ok for adults to do for and with adults aren't appropriate for them to do in front of kids. My guess is that is where the problem is happening. The city letting them go before they wind up getting sued by parents whose kids say, "Hey, that's my lifeguard! Cool."
Thing is, what is the point of the video anyway? If it were professional athletes trying to promote condom use, and aimed at a PG13 audience, there would be some explanation. Maybe there is a valid reason for this video and an appropriate audience and the tizzy will die down.
pkdu
(3,977 posts)Frank Cannon
(7,570 posts)Which, I'm told, loosely translates from Korean to " Big Brother has) Gangnam style", with Gangnam referring to a hip, stylish area in Seoul.
Here's the link to the the original video by Korean rapster PSY. I just discovered this video this morning and I've watched it five times already. It's kind of a catchy tune, and the video is hilarious.
flyguyjake
(492 posts)Yet their probably robbing their taxpayers blind!
DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)I sure hope I wake up to see that they've made it!
I can't help but think that D.U. has made a difference and when these kids see how many people are supporting them, it will mean the world. They're probably still fired but at least they won't feel like garbage that's been tossed away.
Cheers and good night!
babydollhead
(2,231 posts)what is an "open condem star" they are lip synching?
calikid
(584 posts)DonRedwood
(4,359 posts)Brewinblue
(392 posts)and counting.
Mikasa
(1 post)If my employer viewed a publicly available recording created by me and my fellow co-workers depicting us goofing off within the company facility while in company uniform, I'd expect to also be fired..
Just sayin..