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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The Bin man who was sacked for kicking the head off the Snowman.....

405 replies

TheQueef · 31/01/2021 13:27

Would you have reported?
I'm not a fan of reporting for reporting sake so this has shocked me.
Just what outcome was expected by sending footage to his bosses?

YABU = he deserves to lose his job.
YANBU = it's batshit he kicked a snowman.

Soz if there has been a thread already.

OP posts:
OP posts:
HmmSureJan · 31/01/2021 13:29

YANBU.

It was a silly thing he did but does he deserve to lose the ability to provide for himself and his family? Of course not!

Lifeinaonesie · 31/01/2021 13:29

I wouldn't report. It's as petty as him kicking it. I would instead figure out a way to rig up a floating snowman head that would haunt him forever more

PurelyT · 31/01/2021 13:29

Bit stupid but losing his job over it? Utterly ridiculous.

Hoppinggreen · 31/01/2021 13:30

By the sounds of it he wasn’t an actual employee because in the reports it said he wasn’t asked to work again or similar
If he WAS an employee then I think he should have been reprimanded at least. I agree it’s only a snowman that would have melted but it’s dickish behaviour

SchrodingersImmigrant · 31/01/2021 13:30

Absolute over reaction. Apology would be more than adequate

HastingsSpoon · 31/01/2021 13:30

Can’t believe he lost his job. It was a silly ‘joke’ but fgs it was a snowman which was going to melt!!

Fairyliz · 31/01/2021 13:31

I think they were really mean reporting him. I would have probably shouted at him but nothing else.

ShortColdandGrey · 31/01/2021 13:31

They are being a bit precious over a snowman and shouldn't have reported it. I have seen posts saying he was shouting and, swearing at his boss, and because he refused to apologise.

willFOURbagsbeenough · 31/01/2021 13:32

As far as I know he refused to apologise so that was his opportunity to put it right, he didn’t, showed who he was and they have a right to decide they don’t want someone with those sort of morals representing them.

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe · 31/01/2021 13:32

Some members of the public are obviously bored, deprived of a sense of importance and taking action through moronic behaviour.

Do we have any actual journalism in this country anymore?

Imiss2019 · 31/01/2021 13:32

It’s a pretty harsh lesson but you know he’s about to be a dad. Time to grow the fuck up and do your job properly whilst being paid.
In the footage he just looks like a knobhead teenager being destructive for the sake of it.
Limited sympathy tbh maybe this will be the jolt he needs to grow up?

ShortColdandGrey · 31/01/2021 13:32

That was why they have told the agency he isn't needed anymore.

SittingAround1 · 31/01/2021 13:32

Give him his job back.
He was just letting off steam on an inanimate object.

DowntonCrabby · 31/01/2021 13:33

I wouldn’t have reported it.

He’s someone I wouldn’t want representing my business though.

Brunt0n · 31/01/2021 13:33

I wouldn’t have reported him but he sounds like an immature wee laddie who has hopefully learned a lesson 🤷🏼‍♀️

agododopushpineapple · 31/01/2021 13:33

I get the feeling that he’s not directly employed by them - which to be fair makes more sense. If he was a subcontractor, no you wouldn’t invite him back to be honest.

The DM sad face of the kid with the melted snowman is fucking ridiculous though.

SinkGirl · 31/01/2021 13:33

I can’t believe someone called a newspaper about it. And that newspaper said sure, we will send a journalist and a photographer.

SittingAround1 · 31/01/2021 13:34

It's not like he put a cat in a bin

idloveapie · 31/01/2021 13:34

I think smashing up some kiddie's snowman was a mean thing to do, especially if it was in their yard not on the street. I wouldn't have reported it, just yelled at him!

But losing his job seems excessive, surely a warning would have been enough unless he was on a final written warning or had a disciplinary record?

Wenolikeexplodeythings · 31/01/2021 13:35

But he didnt just knock the head off, did he? He stood there for a while kicking the thing apart. And the kids who made it were sitting at their window watching it happen and crying.

The guy was at work. Doesnt matter that he is a bin man, he was at work and needs to display a professional standard. What he did want professional. He was meant to be working but stood there kicking the thing to pieces. If you do that on work time, whilst dressed for work and next to your work vehicle, then you are doing it whilst representing your employer and they dont want that sort of representation.

He was agency staff, so he'll probably be sent out on another contract as the agency dont seem to have removed him. That council just wont have him in.

HettieMillia · 31/01/2021 13:35

Bit of an arsehole thing to do tbh. He probably shouldn't lose his job, but at the very least a warning. It's pretty clear looking at the video that a lot of effort was put into the snowman. Not quite sure why someone would then decide to kick it down. Some people are just arseholes.

kittylion2 · 31/01/2021 13:35

He was an agency employee and they just asked them not to send him again, so he wasn't sacked.

TBH I don't know if I would have complained or not, but watching him do it reminded my of the young teens I have seen doing something similarly mindless - spoiling a child's snowman just cos they can. To still be doing this when you're supposed to be working is a bit sad - hasn't he moved on from that?

Feathersinthehead · 31/01/2021 13:35

Depends what other random stuff he’d destroy just because it was there. Snowman? Garden gnome? Christmas decorations? Car wing mirror?
Smashing things just because you can isn’t a reasonable attitude.

kowari · 31/01/2021 13:37

Until I clicked on the link I was thinking he must have kicked a freshly made snowman in front of the child, not a melting old pile of snow.