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

I'd chuck a few quid in if she was crowdfunding. Fair's fair.

The demand for purity is at the root. She considers herself morally pure, perhaps, and doesn't see why others can't meet her standards.

Silly git. It's impossible.

Maybe she cant enjoy this pizza unless it's made by organically fed real Italians, with pure Italian ingredients and cooked in an authentic pizza oven? I'm pretty certain the answer is she'll eat pizza from her favourite place without questioning where they source their flour....

Does she refuse to wear clothing unless it's handwoven cotton from India, dyed with natural plant colours and stitched on a vintage hand crank machine whilst chickens cluck in the background? I bet she doesn't. I bet she buys clothes where she wants, same as the rest of us.

So why do authors have to be "pure"?

Someone up thread said she got sacked whilst on holiday, well she had actually posted she was in the alps, whilst on sick leave.
I expect she was sacked for gross misconduct, by bringing the firm into disrepute.
So zero point in her complaining about unfair dismissal.

From Tilly’s posting she said she had got Covid two nights before she went travelling to a different country on holiday so I don’t think she’s that great a role model.

@TheCadoganArms being autistic, could you please clarify if you’re joking? Cause most of me thinks you are but there’s a large bit that’s actually worried… 🤦🏻‍♀️

Oh cross posted with redshoeblueshoe

Being on sick leave (I haven’t seen this so don’t know if it’s verified) whilst posting a rather lovely view on holiday would get me sacked. Maybe this is another reason?

How do you know she was on sick leave?

I don't think she should have been fired for having batshit views - I'm fine with living, working and shopping alongside people who have views very different than my own. But as others have said, that doesn't seem to have been the case here, as it was the "rip up books" post that led to the sacking, and it's reasonable for a bookshop to object to an employee posting this.

I do hope Waterstones went through proper procedures. Even people with batshit views and an even more batshit social media presence deserve proper, fair procedures when it comes to their employment rights.

Tinysox - wouldn't it be hilarious if that was why she was actually sacked. Waterstone's can't say anything. Anyway I'm sure she will have no trouble getting another job

zibzabara she had tweeted that she was on holiday, but on sick leave

I am going from what someone else said about sick leave. I can’t verify it and edited to make that clear. But it irritated me that she said she had Covid two days before her holiday and posted the evening on the 4th saying she was upset and got sympathy from the replies. It was implied she wasn’t going on holiday. But she posted she had travelled and was in another country by the 7th.

@Redshoeblueshoe I hadn’t seen that bit. Maybe she was on sick leave for something else? Then got covid. Went on holiday anyway? Idk.

She’s not having a good week. The view was lovely though.

I'd be interested to hear Waterstones' version of this. It's highly unlikely that she was sacked at the behest of one author - more likely someone from HR/Legal thinking, well, that JKR libel Buckaroo horse has to trigger some time...

I'm wondering if she is trying to taunt Waterstones to comment which might boost her appeal and tribunal.

People don't get sacked this quickly and don't get sacked when on sick leave or holiday without a lot of previous issues meaning this is the last straw.

I think it's the last straw.

She got herself fired with her own stupid words, Boohoo.

Thought I got rid of screenshot. But found it.

I really disagree with the fetishisation of books though. There are a lot of shite books in the world and if i'm honest Vox sounds like one of them. I always think the handwringing about 'no bookshelves in the house' or binning hardbacks is performative liberalism/aspirational haute-bourgeoisie-ing.

The reason book-burning is seen as so significant is because it's powerfully symbolic of the destruction of the human right to free speech.

It's the words, not the books as aesthetic or sacred objects, that are so important.

Vive la vie dust-free!

This. I've been trying to sit on my hands about this bit, but no one who has tested positive for Covid should be travelling anywhere. According to Tilly GC views = bad, but exposing others to an infection that could kill them if they are vulnerable or leave them disabled by long Covid = absolutely fine. Grrrrrrrrrr.

I may not have been entirely serious.

I have several friends who have to avoid people as they are immunosuppressed and can’t trust people to not be ill around them and Dh was saying to be more trusting. So the knowingly travelling with Covid to another country irritated me. I actually screenshotted her tweet as I sent it to Dh to show people don’t care anymore. But maybe she just decided she thought she had Covid then felt better. Who knows.

Presumably she was making money as an influencer, rather than employed by Waterstones to do it? People don't spend all that time courting tens of thousands of followers for nothing.

People don't get sacked this quickly and don't get sacked when on sick leave or holiday without a lot of previous issues meaning this is the last straw.

I was fired* within about 5 minutes of telling my boss I was pregnant. People who are fired where I used to work are literally escorted out and spend their notice period on gardening leave (assuming not fired on the spot for gross misconduct where no notice is required)

*illegally (am not in UK. Spent pregnancy in and out of court)

Hope you won