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Latest On Woman "Fired" For AAR Bumper-sticker

B

BinaryCodex

Guest
Here's the latest on that bumper-sticker "firing" from allaccess.com:


Questions Arise About "Bumper Sticker Firing"
So, was a SAN DIEGO area woman really fired for having a CLEAR CHANNEL AIR AMERICA RADIO-affiliate Talk KLSD-A/SAN DIEGO bumper sticker on her car? That was the allegation by LINDA LAROCA last week as she made the rounds of liberal radio talk shows, but the NORTH COUNTY TIMES now reports that the woman's company says she was never fired and called to find out why she hadn't reported for work the day after the weekend incident.

LAROCA admits that her former manager at ADVANTAGE SALES AND MARKETING, BEVERLY FATH, made the call and told her that the comments criticizing her bumper sticker were made in jest; the company also sent LAROCA a letter reiterating that the comment "I am just going to have to fire you" was made as a joke and that LAROCA should return to work or lose her job, but LAROCA decided to file suit instead. LAROCA is suing for lost wages, wrongful termination damages, and emotional distress.
 
Re: Typical

> What? You mean a liberal took something out of context or
> couldn't take the most modest of jests?
>
> I don't believe you!
>

Now, now, now...calm down Mr. Rove.

Since neither you nor I were present at this "meeting", and assuming that there were no witnesses, her story is just as believable as is the opposite.

Strange things are afoot in this country these days...and, getting stranger!
 
Would you have reacted any different?

Leave out the political angle. Your boss tells you your fired. Would you take it as a joke.

Here's how the newspaper article described the women's account:

____________________________
Laroca had worked for the company, Irvine-based Advantage Sales and Marketing Inc., about three weeks before the alleged incident occurred on Oct. 8 (a Saturday) ---- Laroca's 52nd birthday. <snip>

In her suit, filed Feb. 21, Laroca charges that Fath asked her to meet up in a grocery store parking lot on a Saturday to hand off some paperwork.

During that brief encounter, the lawsuit asserts, Fath allegedly pointed to the sticker ---- the only one on Laroca's small white convertible ---- and called it "that Al Franken left-wing radical radio station." <snip>

Laroca's suit claims that Fath also told the woman she could be a member of al-Qaida, then allegedly followed up with, "I am going to just have to fire you."

The conversation, Laroca said Friday, ended on that note.

Laroca said she got into to her car after the incident and sat stunned for a few minutes.

"I stewed about it for days," Laroca said, adding that she later decided to call an attorney to see if the case had merit.

Laroca said that after Fath told her (on the phone the following Monday) the comments were in jest, the company later invited Laroca in writing to return to work or face losing her job. Laroca said she did not respond.
__________________________________

Would you take that as a joke? Would you go back to work for a person who pulls a "joke" like that? This isn't about politics. It's about self-respect.

Now Codex and Pratte, two right-wingers, are trying to spin this into an obvious joke. Next they'll say Bush was "joking" about weapons of mass destruction and liberals have no sense of humour. Getting fired, next to the death of a loved one, is the most emotionally devastating experience a person can have. Only a total clod would would joke about firing someone and any reasonable person would take that kind of statement seriously. At the very least, the statment was an assertion of one person's power over the other and an implicit threat to use the power to fire.

The fact that the boss called two days later to say this was a joke - probably after her boss read her the riot act - does not make this any better for the company.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/11/news/top_stories/22_00_163_10_06.txt

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/09/news/sandiego/20_24_273_8_06.txt
 
I KNEW IT WAS A FRAUD!!

NO ONE in America (or anywhere else for that matter) actually HAS an AA sticker on their vehicle. I drive a lot all over the east coast and I have a keen eye for radio crapon people's bumpers and I've NEVER seen one.
 
Instead of relying on allaccess, here's the actual story from the newspaper in part:

Laroca alleges in her suit that her former manager spotted the bumper sticker advertising Air America, told Laroca she could be a member of al-Qaida, and fired her on the spot.

Laroca said Friday that the woman, Beverly Fath, called Laroca the Monday after the weekend incident to ask Laroca why she was not at work.

Laroca said that when she told Fath that she had thought the former manager had fired her two days prior, Fath allegedly told her that the comments about the firing had been in jest.

Asked if she had mistaken her former manager's alleged comments, Laroca told the North County Times she didn't believe the woman had been joking.

"If she was, I didn't take it that way," Laroca said. "She wasn't smiling."

The North County Times has been unable to locate Fath for comment, and no one answered the door Friday at a home thought to be Fath's residence.

Laroca had worked for the company, Irvine-based Advantage Sales and Marketing Inc., about three weeks before the alleged incident occurred on Oct. 8 ---- Laroca's 52nd birthday.

A phone call to the company was received with a "no comment," and the attorney believed to be representing the company has not returned phone calls from the North County Times.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2006/03/11/news/top_stories/22_00_163_10_06.txt
 
Re: I KNEW IT WAS A FRAUD!!

> NO ONE in America (or anywhere else for that matter)
> actually HAS an AA sticker on their vehicle. I drive a lot
> all over the east coast and I have a keen eye for radio
> crapon people's bumpers and I've NEVER seen one.

Wow, thanks for this in-depth investigative report, champ. You can actually drive coast-to-coast, or you can just go to the KLSD San Diego website and discover:

http://www.am1360klsd.com/cc-common/mlib/655/03/655_1141856197.jpg
 
Re: Would you have reacted any different?

> Would you take that as a joke? Would you go back to work
> for a person who pulls a "joke" like that? This isn't about
> politics. It's about self-respect.

In California, joke or not, they could still be held liable for it. The "joke" routine sounds more to me like spin after the fact. However, I think the woman's case is helped -and- damaged by their follow-up letter to her. First, if the letter admits to the incident, that should seem to help her case in verifying it was an issue. But that she didn't reply to it may have been her attorney's advice. It would seem to help the company a bit that the "it's a joke" routine came days after the incident, not as a response to the lawsuit.

Can you say "quiet settlement?" I knew you could. :)

It's a good warning to employers who want to play culture war on the job, though. Just as was the case with the company that forbade employees, in a written memo, from going to see Brokeback Mountain, getting involved in the personal lives of your employees is almost never good for business.

> The fact that the boss called two days later to say this was
> a joke - probably after her boss read her the riot act -
> does not make this any better for the company.

It's monumental stupidity, joke or not.
 
Re: Would you have reacted any different?

Leaving politics and programming preferences aside...

Yes, i would take it as a joke. a simple "you're fired" is not typical of how companies dismiss employees. that leaves them open to all sorts of litigious situations. An official dismissal is usually done with another company manager to serve as a witness, in addition to the boss doing the firing. there is often paperwork to be filed. If i thought an employer was trying to fire me during a casual conversation, i simply wouldn't accept it as an appropriate way of dismissing an employee.


> Leave out the political angle. Your boss tells you your
> fired. Would you take it as a joke.
>
 
Re: I KNEW IT WAS A FRAUD!!

> NO ONE in America (or anywhere else for that matter)
> actually HAS an AA sticker on their vehicle. I drive a lot
> all over the east coast and I have a keen eye for radio
> crapon people's bumpers and I've NEVER seen one.
>
I did see one, for the Boston AAR stations (1200/1430) on one car
(Al Franken's pic on it I think). Right next to the Kerry/Edwards sticker.<P ID="signature">______________
raccoonradio5ap.gif
</P>
 
Re: I KNEW IT WAS A FRAUD!!

> > NO ONE in America (or anywhere else for that matter)
> > actually HAS an AA sticker on their vehicle. I drive a
> lot
> > all over the east coast and I have a keen eye for radio
> > crapon people's bumpers and I've NEVER seen one.
> >
> I did see one, for the Boston AAR stations (1200/1430) on
> one car
> (Al Franken's pic on it I think). Right next to the
> Kerry/Edwards sticker.
>

My car would be an excellent example except I made my own little holder out of plastic and velcro so i wouldnt get glue on the bumper...it has an AAR Boston and an AAR SF (KQKE) and a Deval Patrick (our next governor) sticker...
 
All I know is-

As an intern at one of the nation's great radio stations, I once had my superior tell me- by getting into my face and yelling- that I would be taken out and shot.

Why?

I mentioned to him in my off hours I would be going to see a professional basketball game.

This chick is trying to be pretencious. She is doing what liberals often do- playing the "victim" when no hardship exists.
 
Antidisestablishmentarianism

> Wow, thanks for this in-depth investigative report, champ.
> You can actually drive coast-to-coast, or you can just go to
> the KLSD San Diego website and discover:
>

I can top that! I've not seen a huge, gas-hogging SUV on the East Coast with a "W/04" sticker on it in more than a year; I HAVE seen small oval spots on back windows where SOMEthing has been peeled off though.

Guess that just proves that we all see that which we WISH to see. :cool:
 
Re: Antidisestablishmentarianism

> I can top that! I've not seen a huge, gas-hogging SUV on the
> East Coast with a "W/04" sticker on it in more than a year;
> I HAVE seen small oval spots on back windows where SOMEthing
> has been peeled off though.

You should definitely stop in my neck of Alabama...those black "W, The President" stickers are still very visible on tinted rear windows os SUVs. <P ID="signature">______________
Let us live so that 100 years from now, someone may be proud of us.</P>
 
Re: All I know is-Not much

This woman does not work in radio where such behavior is all too common.

She was not an intern supported by her parents. He was new on the job and working for a living.

Being fired is a more realistic threat than being shot.

People outside of radio find it more traumatic.

And notice that the newspaper article says nothing about the company or her boss' boss trying to make things right. Apparently that clod is still working there. This woman did not rush to court. It's a long time since October. The company could have headed this off and they chose not to.

Bet she'll find 12 jurours to empathsize with her.
 
Re: Would you have reacted any different?

> Leaving politics and programming preferences aside...
>
> Yes, i would take it as a joke. a simple "you're fired" is
> not typical of how companies dismiss employees. that leaves
> them open to all sorts of litigious situations. An official
> dismissal is usually done with another company manager to
> serve as a witness, in addition to the boss doing the
> firing. there is often paperwork to be filed. If i thought
> an employer was trying to fire me during a casual
> conversation, i simply wouldn't accept it as an appropriate
> way of dismissing an employee.
>
>
> > Leave out the political angle. Your boss tells you your
> > fired. Would you take it as a joke.
> >
>

Thank you.

Anyone with half a brain and any appreciable work experience knows this.

Sounds like this woman is just playing the victim and trying to get some money out of the company.
 
Re: I KNEW IT WAS A FRAUD!!

> > NO ONE in America (or anywhere else for that matter)
> > actually HAS an AA sticker on their vehicle. I drive a
> lot
> > all over the east coast and I have a keen eye for radio
> > crapon people's bumpers and I've NEVER seen one.
>
> Wow, thanks for this in-depth investigative report, champ.
> You can actually drive coast-to-coast, or you can just go to
> the KLSD San Diego website and discover:
>
http:/> /www.am1360klsd.com/cc-common/mlib/655/03/655_1141856197.jpg

I have no idea how a link to a picture makes you any more credible. I clicked and it proved nothing.
 
Re: Antidisestablishmentarianism

> I can top that! I've not seen a huge, gas-hogging SUV on the
> East Coast with a "W/04" sticker on it in more than a year;
> I HAVE seen small oval spots on back windows where SOMEthing
> has been peeled off though.

How many votes did Bush get on the east coast (read as: New England) in '04? 12, maybe 13?
 
I'll take your wager- Geoff

What a bunch of mularkey trying to explain away this woman's cry baby behavior.

Suck it up and move on.

So come on now, what are your stakes?



> This woman does not work in radio where such behavior is all
> too common.
>
> She was not an intern supported by her parents. He was new
> on the job and working for a living.
>
> Being fired is a more realistic threat than being shot.
>
> People outside of radio find it more traumatic.
>
> And notice that the newspaper article says nothing about the
> company or her boss' boss trying to make things right.
> Apparently that clod is still working there. This woman did
> not rush to court. It's a long time since October. The
> company could have headed this off and they chose not to.
>
> Bet she'll find 12 jurours to empathsize with her.
>
 
Re: Would you have reacted any different?

Heck yes I would take it as a joke. Gawd what has this country come to. A bunch of WIMPS and crybabies.

> Leave out the political angle. Your boss tells you your
> fired. Would you take it as a joke.
>
> Here's how the newspaper article described the women's
> account:
>
> ____________________________
> Laroca had worked for the company, Irvine-based Advantage
> Sales and Marketing Inc., about three weeks before the
> alleged incident occurred on Oct. 8 (a Saturday) ----
> Laroca's 52nd birthday.
>
> In her suit, filed Feb. 21, Laroca charges that Fath asked
> her to meet up in a grocery store parking lot on a Saturday
> to hand off some paperwork.
>
> During that brief encounter, the lawsuit asserts, Fath
> allegedly pointed to the sticker ---- the only one on
> Laroca's small white convertible ---- and called it "that Al
> Franken left-wing radical radio station."
>
> Laroca's suit claims that Fath also told the woman she could
> be a member of al-Qaida, then allegedly followed up with, "I
> am going to just have to fire you."
>
> The conversation, Laroca said Friday, ended on that note.
>
> Laroca said she got into to her car after the incident and
> sat stunned for a few minutes.
>
> "I stewed about it for days," Laroca said, adding that she
> later decided to call an attorney to see if the case had
> merit.
>
> Laroca said that after Fath told her (on the phone the
> following Monday) the comments were in jest, the company
> later invited Laroca in writing to return to work or face
> losing her job. Laroca said she did not respond.
> __________________________________
>
> Would you take that as a joke? Would you go back to work
> for a person who pulls a "joke" like that? This isn't about
> politics. It's about self-respect.
>
> Now Codex and Pratte, two right-wingers, are trying to spin
> this into an obvious joke. Next they'll say Bush was
> "joking" about weapons of mass destruction and liberals have
> no sense of humour. Getting fired, next to the death of a
> loved one, is the most emotionally devastating experience a
> person can have. Only a total clod would would joke about
> firing someone and any reasonable person would take that
> kind of statement seriously. At the very least, the
> statment was an assertion of one person's power over the
> other and an implicit threat to use the power to fire.
>
> The fact that the boss called two days later to say this was
> a joke - probably after her boss read her the riot act -
> does not make this any better for the company.
>
http://www.nctimes.> com/articles/2006/03/11/news/top_stories/22_00_163_10_06.txt
>
>
http://www.ncti> mes.com/articles/2006/03/09/news/sandiego/20_24_273_8_06.txt
>
 
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