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

[TheQueef]

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.

@Eleganz

It's literally climbing by the second and well on its way to the 5000 signatures it wants to reach.

It will no doubt exceed that amount well within the hour.

And it won't make a difference, even if they reached a million signatures.

Well yes, quite.

But it does show the strength of public feeling here, which is why I fear it might come back to bite the complainer on the arse.

@TwelvePaws

Well he's certainly not a grafter now he's lost his job. So I guess that fits your pov.

Good. The job can go to a decent person. You can keep defending thugs if you want to though. 🤪

I think the phrase 'the job can go to a decent person' is pretty grim.

Clearly he shouldn't have done it. I wouldn't have reported. I think sacking and public shaming are excessive for this

@worraliberty

Far, far more people will either not care or agree with this guy's fate. Storm in a tea cup.

@TheQueef

Sums up my thinking perfectly Gannett

Checking the cctv to see what happened to a snowman is already outside my reactions but to make the call?
I can't reckon it up.

They didn't. The child watched it happen and it upset him. The cctv was the evidence.

But it does show the strength of public feeling here, which is why I fear it might come back to bite the complainer on the arse.

I don’t think so. If there was a poll to show how many people thought he acted like a fucking idiot and doesn’t deserve the job, I think it would get more support.

@TwelvePaws

But it does show the strength of public feeling here, which is why I fear it might come back to bite the complainer on the arse.

I don’t think so. If there was a poll to show how many people thought he acted like a fucking idiot and doesn’t deserve the job, I think it would get more support.

You mean like the poll on this thread?

@inquietant

He wasn't sacked, he was an agency worker who was asked not to return to the placement. Happens all the time.

I believe that the publicity of this has largely been generated by those seeking to defending him.

@StephenBelafonte

He deserved what he got. He didn't even apologise. He's a grown ass man for gods sake, still acting like a teenager.

In fairness, he is a teenager - he's 19.

There was totally no need for him to do it. Next stage kicking a cat or something else that was 'in his way'. No right to go round destroying other people's property whether it was a snowman or something else. A link I saw said already had a history of violence, and his reaction says he doesnt give a stuff.

He punched a policeman so he clearly wasn’t just a nice guy having a laugh.

No sympathy

Nah, no sympathy.

If anything I feel sorry for his colleagues. Y’know- the hard-working professionals actually getting on with the job whilst this piece of pondlife is smashing stuff up in the street.

If it is his only example of misconduct and otherwise an exemplary record, then I don't think it is gross misconduct and therefore not dismissal. Putting him on a different refuse collection route would be reasonable and a final warning perhaps.

Yes report him as it is unacceptable though.

You mean like the poll on this thread?

No.

I mean a wider reaching one. And where people know the facts. People here are still saying he was sacked, many don’t realise he refused to apologise, etc.

@peak2021

He was an agency worker.

Often agencies workers are used to provide short term cover for essential roles due to the sudden departure/illness of staff or unexpected increases in demand. Often you have a limited pool of candidates available at the time and need to make decisions quickly so you tend to pick people who look okay on paper and give them a go.

All council waste services are contracted out and the workers are employed on a zero/short hours basis. Those workers aren't providing holiday cover. They are the council's waste services.

Now either those contracted out workers are self employed grifters with no real connection to the council and therefore aren't bound by any notional code of conduct towards frozen water and people who play with it or anything else, or they are actually employees with full rights of hearing on termination of contract as a result of trial by social media. But you can't have both. So which is it?

Maybe he could use this in defence?

The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.
Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life's tough.
Sometimes I steal things I don't need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I'm a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a camera.
I watch my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger's bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this - Aah.
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn't look the same. I took a run
and booted him. Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone among lumps of snow, sick of the world.
Boredom. Mostly I'm so bored I could eat myself.
One time, I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was the strangest.
You don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?
Carol Ann Duffy

It’s embarrassing that we expect such low standards from people that thousands are willing to sign a petition for someone who is clearly a shit employee to get their job back.

The bloke seems like a complete cock. He shows he’s a nasty person by the way he completely disregards that a small child’s snowman might actually matter to them and then he turns himself into the victim.

"Well yes, quite.

But it does show the strength of public feeling here, which is why I fear it might come back to bite the complainer on the arse."

🤣🤣 give over @WorraLiberty

His mates are laughing on fbook because they set up a go fund me page "as jokes" and people have donated to it. They find this hilarious.

The "strength of public feeling" comes to the grand old total of £45.

I went to a school with more people than have signed this pointless petition

@DinnaeFashSassenach you're misunderstanding.
If my DC came and told me the bin man had kicked his snowman down I would sympathise, placate and dismiss.
Not check cctv.

The snowman was on a public pavement, it wasn’t on private property and did not belong to the child.

The parent, instead of teaching her child resilience by demonstrating a proportionate response, like rebuilding it to show the kid how unfair, bad things can happen but they can be fixed, that adults can be relied on to help make things right, catastrophises things and bestows victim mentality on her kid. What’s he going to do when a neighbour washes off his chalked hop scotch bed? Phone the police? Honestly.

@LakeGeneva

Often agencies workers are used to provide short term cover for essential roles due to the sudden departure/illness of staff or unexpected increases in demand. Often you have a limited pool of candidates available at the time and need to make decisions quickly so you tend to pick people who look okay on paper and give them a go.

All council waste services are contracted out and the workers are employed on a zero/short hours basis. Those workers aren't providing holiday cover. They are the council's waste services.

Now either those contracted out workers are self employed grifters with no real connection to the council and therefore aren't bound by any notional code of conduct towards frozen water and people who play with it or anything else, or they are actually employees with full rights of hearing on termination of contract as a result of trial by social media. But you can't have both. So which is it?

The employment arrangements are not important here. There is no method of employment or contracting where an employer or client is not allowed to set expectations for how that service should be delivered including standards of conduct.

The very idea that it is okay for people to behave how they like because they are self-employed or on zero hours contracts is utter nonsense.

No, I'd have caught up with him and put snow down his back or something.........I'd be mortified of I complained and someone lost their job over something like that. I certainly wouldn't be smugly bragging in the local paper.

🤷‍♀️ he looks like a cocky little shit. How hard is it to do your work without acting like a daft wee boy?
It probably wouldn't even cross my mind to report it though.

I initially thought he shouldn't have been sacked - but having looked at the footage I can entirely see why he was. The snowman wasn't on the highway, and his body language was aggressive. If I were the council (or whoever organises the refuse collection) I would not think it was appropriate to have someone with that aggressive and destructive attitude - and lack of respect for private property - going door to door on domestic property. Sorry but the point is, it's a red flag for inappropriate behaviour. That's what will have led to the sacking.

Councils need to take responsibility for who they send to our homes to collect rubbish or perform any other function. This young man should not be doing that job.