Waterstones come out as GC and fire TRA for social media post

[woman2womanmeetswomanparrish]

Fantsatstic news, Christina Dalcher has sucessfully managed to get this TRA fired from their job at Waterstones for X comment.

https://x.com/TillyLovesBooks/status/1810337926850445453?t=WABH0ieBQdnUtaQL5FVlyQ&s=19

OK in defense of the book woman who got fired, if you scroll down her twatter you see her giving lots of thanks to publishers who it looks have sent her free books to read. Including one very savvy publisher who bunged a chocolate bar in the box with the book. She also buys books, and reads profusely. It is possible for her to have ended up with books from an author she ideologically hates.
I think it's still inappropraite for someone who loves books so much to behave so appalingly towards an author, but it's possible she had books by the author.

Those books are clearly sent to her to generate good PR for the publishers. The photos of books, bookcases stuffed with books, lots of reading, the chocolate bar. It's good PR. What isn't good PR is to engage in public bad behaviour on social media on the same account, and I think it might answer why she was fired after one bad tweet. The PR people sending the free books probably had a word with Waterstones. When you look at it like that it makes a lot more sense.

They were sending a bookworm free books, and chocolate. All she had to do was post pictures of them on social media. And stay out of trouble........

They were sending a bookworm free books, and chocolate. All she had to do was post pictures of them on social media. And stay out of trouble........

i would just like to point out that i read a lot and would appreciate free books and chocolate and i would absolutely stay out of trouble on social media

<hopeful>

They've hardly come out as GC.

They've acted because an employee has breached their employment conditions through her social media posts.

Her social media presence is all about her love of books, reading, authors, recommendations. All great. Apart from posting in support of preventing GC authors from being published, represented and posting about binning a GC author's books.

The irony that Tilly had (years ago) highlighted Dalcher and her book, Vox, about the literal silencing of women. And now calls her spiteful and little known. When Tilly was the one speaking up for silencing of GC (women) authors.

Likewise 😂

She’s not alone. “How a Facebook Update Can Cost You Your Job”: News Coverage of Employment Terminations Following Social Media Disclosures, From Racist Cops to Queer Teachers is research on how hundreds of employees have been fired for their SM posts. Sometimes for posts completely unrelated to their work. Here the post was much closer to her work. Young people/all people need to be more aware of how SM comments transgress the personal/professional divide. Tilly has had a most painful lesson. If I were a publisher, I don’t think I’d send any more free books.

Edited to add that I’ve not heard of Dalcher but plan to buy her interesting sounding book. And bloody hell, of course a woman writing about the silencing of women is going to respond to an online silencing of her writing! What was Tilly thinking?

I would feel really bad for her, losing her job for getting caught up in a 'righteous' twitter fight. I can understand how that can happen and losing your job is such a hideous outcome. Though I don't think Waterstones could really have done anything else. Except her sad video is designed to set the hounds on Dalcher. It's a last act of bullying/revenge.

I don't think she knew she despised the writer .

She says in the first video 'when i discovered that she was a bigot' and in the tweet she says 'thanks for the heads up' which backs that up.

This semi-babyish, semi-fascist ideology says that reading a book/watching a film/admiring a painting means you have the same political views as its creator; I can well imagine that she had a panicked urge to demonstrate that she didn't know, honest, it was an accident Inspector, I would never.

I've just bought Vox by Dalcher. Love dystopian fiction. Well done Tilly for publicising Dalcher's books.

It's bad enough if young people do it, but by the looks of things this woman has a teenage daughter! Can you imagine being a teenager and your mum is filming herself crying for social media? No self respect.

I get sent books (and occasionally chocolate) to review. Mostly ebooks. Some of them have been awful
Some carry an overall message that I don't agree with. It's unlikely I actually know the political leaning/gender belief/religion/any other potentially divisive issue of the author because I SIMPLY DON'T CARE! I read because I love books.

Unless it's a book about religion/trans issue/politics then they are irrelevant.

I would never ever post that I was going to destroy a book. Even though some of them really shouldn't be published!

Vox by Christina Dalcher is currently 99p as an Amazon kindle book.

It's currently 4*, I think shenanigans.

No one who works is allowed to get away with saying that kind of thing on social media.

I don't believe for a minute she's talking about her own books.

She seems rather stupid. Not only has she got herself sacked for airing her views on SM, she's created a video record of her stupidity, available to any future employer to find for the rest of her life.

Yes - a Stupid Good Girl.

Destroying books because you don't agree with the views of their authors is Nazi behaviour.

it would be a very clear violation of her employment policy to decide off her own bat to toss out the books by an author. She wasn’t authorised to censor for waterstones. I think she’d have been fired no matter who the books were by. I disapprove of cancellation by social media but I don’t count it as that when someone’s post is ‘I’m breaking my employment policies at work hahahaaa’

Good.

Dalcher is an amazing author. Vox was fabulous.

This is what I think too, that it's been the last straw and/or a convenient reason to get rid of her.

My goodness - my dd would leave the country! The other day she was on FaceTime to one of her friends when I went into her room to put her washing away. I have known the friend for years. “Hi Lucy!” I say. She was not impressed.

It doesn't matter if she was referring to her personal books or those in the store.

Waterstones sell books.

Her job is to sell books.

Telling her circa 36k followers a book by a GC author is only worthy of the bin is contrary to the job. Then extrapolate that into presumably all books by GC authors are bin worthy.

We don't know how many of the authors books Waterstones have in stock and how much £££ in sales she put at risk and/or risk of legal action by the author if any deal has been done about promoting the work.

It may be quite small scale wrt to this specific author, but had Waterstones not acted what happens if she posts similar about the next book she takes aim at that turns of to be a bestseller - everywhere apart from Waterstones as GC authors refuse to have their books stocked there.

Hell, I'm betting Waterstones will have a big pre-order in on the next Strike novel.

She knows she messed up. She says it's my first mistake. Note: mistake. Her mistake and it's a biggie.

I have been conflicted about shopping in Waterstones for a while now, because they always hide GC books and prominently display TRA ones in my local store.

The fact that this woman was sacked for being unprofessional and using her role at Waterstones to enforce her political beliefs upon others, makes me feel more inclined to spend my money there.

What a whiner! She’s trying to destroy a writer’s livelihood, then loses her own. Cry me a river.

Also, calling it ‘moral’. She believes threatening authors and tearing up books is ‘moral’. Thicko.

"They have decided to fire me for my social media usage. It's the first mistake I've ever made."

So: the firing is for her social media usage. Which she admits was 'a mistake'.

So, the fault is entirely hers...

(Although tbf, your thread title is misleading...Waterstones have not 'come out' as anything. They are following their guidance on social media usage for staff.)

"Let women speak and express their view!

No not that woman.

No not that woman either.

And not that woman either.

Only the women with gender critical views are allowed to speak and have views!"

It’s wild that someone who uses social media so heavily has done so with zero regard for their employers social media policy. The whole thing is so babyish it’s almost funny. She’s a well read, presumably not completely thick person, who liked the damn book when she read it saying she is going to rip it up/bin it because biology exists. She knows biology exists herself, everyone does, but the desperate clambering for virtue has taken over her mind to the point that she is weeping that her employer, an actual bookseller, disapproves of her saying she will destroy books of women who see the world differently to her. How does she not know where that path leads? Loads of people don’t like loads of books and loads of authors. Does she think the treatment of Salman Rushdie is fine? The destruction of the Baghdad library? The burning of Freud, Hemingway, Einstein? The destruction of Kurdish books? At one period in China the Emperor ordered destruction of books, and then the live burials of the authors.
Fwiw I don’t think it’s a GC issue at all, it’s employing clearly unstable, dogmatic people who have such a rigid worldview they will trash your stock and tweet about it for likes. I wonder if she behaved in that aggrieved, DARVO, way when she had her meeting at work about it and that’s what tipped it into a dismissal over a warning.

You've completely missed the point.

It's not about GC/GI beliefs.

If it had been a GC person advocating binning books by TRA's the situation would be the same.

Going on social media and telling your 36k followers not to buy the product you are paid to sell on the basis of your belief isn't a good career move.

A company isn't going to hold on to a sales person who undermines sales and risks alienating people different perspectives.