Betty Ooooopppps

simplyfiredstories submitted 550 days ago

I worked for xxx Services in San Francisco, CA as an Advertising Account Manager for years. I helped hire and train a girl named Mxxxx who went from a sweet & laid-back recruit to an uptight, puritanical Fundamentalist Christian within the course of a month. Mxxxx was having some difficulties drumming up new business as well as making friends at the company.

One Friday afternoon Mxxxx came into my office and asked to borrow my laptop for a few moments because hers was crashing. I said "sure" as she pulled up a chair next to mine, grabbed my laptop and hit the space key to awaken it from sleep mode. Right as she did this, that damned cartoon popped up on my screen. Someone had emailed me a tiny, vulgar cartoon picture of Betty Boop peeing on Popeye with some stupid watersports-joke caption underneath. I laughed and saved this 1 inch by 1 inch pic into a documents folder but somehow it remained on the desktop.

I instantly blushed and apologized as I pulled my computer away but Mxxxx just laughed. She indicated it was nothing, did her work for 20 minutes, thanked me and left.

Coming back to work on Tuesday (Monday was some convention), sh** hits the fan like never before. My boss instantly pulls me into her office and glumly tells me that Mxxxx has threatened a sexual harassment lawsuit against xxxx Corp. Apparently Mxxxx saw a cartoon picture on my computer that upset her so much that she cried all weekend, may need professional counseling and is actively seeking to retain an attorney.

This was such a big deal at xxxx that corporate investigators, corporate attorneys and top xxx brass were flown in. My computer was confiscated and my hard drive was being dissected. I was in shock.

I had $400,000 in new advertising contracts on hold. I was preparing to formally submit them and thus get paid for the 2nd quarter of the year (my income was primarily commission-based)

I was fired. My contracts were handed over to xxxx under some deal. I lost a $35,000 payment from losing them. I received no further compensation. I was led out of the building by security. Damn that xxxx and that cartoon.

I resigned from my advertising career completely.

Now I'm moving furniture for a living and looking for a way out.

Life is silly.