I recently discovered Facebook. I know what you’re thinking, “Where have you been?” I will have to admit, it is a lot of fun to see what all of my friends are doing. By the same token, I’m still not a huge follower of any of the social networking sites due of privacy concerns. Needless to say, I have been very guarded with my photos and personal/family information with regards to the social networking scene. Just as I started to “loosen up” and thought about posting some family trivia to my Facebook page, I received a call from a seasoned Captain that stopped me immediately in my tracks.
For simplicity sake we will call this person John. John stated that he had recently been fired from a long term flying job because of a situation in his background that he had been so careful not to disclose to any of his co-workers and especially his employer.
Four years ago John was arrested and convicted of a crime. He did exactly what the court required, completed his probation, paid his fines and then retained a lawyer to have his records expunged. Because of the expungement proceedings, John felt that he could keep the embarrassing matter to himself and not have to discuss it with anyone, ever again.
Last month, as John was preparing for one of his trips, he received a call from his Chief Pilot. John was asked to stop by the office before checking in for his shift. John was greeted by the Chief Pilot, the Director of Operations, and the Director of Human Resources. After sitting down, John was handed a piece of paper that had been printed from the internet.