Gadgetopia

I'd sure love to see excerpts of these blogs! Slowing down roadside assistance? I'm a AAA So Cal member and that's just lovely to hear. If there are employees blogging about something like this, imagine how many must be involved in the plan... whatever it is.

i was one of those 27 fired employees. i would like to see some of what the Auto Club is talking about as well. i was brought in, asked if i posted on the site, which i had no problem admitting to, and promptly suspended and fired. did they ask me what i posted? no. did i post anything harrassing? no. did i joke around about things outside of work? sure. did i post surveys or put Toby Keith on my webspace? you bet. i'm sure Toby Keith on my site would not slow down AAA. have you seen the other groups on myspace? all dedicated to bashing the customers. we never did that. and as far as slowing down service for road service? if we did that, we'd have been out of work. Auto Clubs side of the story is one sided, and unfair to those of us who put in an honest days work and went home.

To be honest, your service will be slowed down due to the fact that they're missing 27 of their "BEST" employees. I did everything I could to help out my members, I don't know how they run business now-but if it isn't me taking your complaint, dispatching your call out on time, making sure the driver gets there in 30 minutes, finding another station to get out there-(if the first one failed to do so) i dont know who is. But....... In the end, Auto Club doesn't want a bad image- so what do they do? they make it up.

I was one of those employees as well. In my 5+ years of service, thousands of reroutes have been performed, finding other stations to take YOUR member calls that the original contractor did not want to take, or were too busy to take. because YOU cannot wait over 30 minutes for anything in southern california, we bent over backwards to please all of our members, with minimal griping.

We loved where we worked. This is a 24 hour job and the environment is hectic, and can get stressful, so naturally YOUR Auto Club wants to try to protect themselves and keep their squeaky clean image. Granted, a lot of calls get taken care of within a reasonable amount of time. I am not and never have bashed the Auto Club for the service they provide YOU.

I was the one that posted a comment about a woman's weight. I made that joke. I bashed her. Was she employed with YOUR Auto Club at the time of my post? No. Had she harassed me and another current employee and FORMALLY PUNISHED for it? YES. Was this retaliation at me, at a workplace where you sign non-retaliation agreements? YES. When she was re-hired, she mentioned to another employee that was her best friend at the time, who is a fellow fired ex-dispatcher, that her main objective was to get me fired. Did it work? YES.

Did someone post a disparaging comment about a homosexual? Everything was based on assumptions. And by the way, there is more than one homosexual working at the auto club. Instead of going after the ones who wrote those ALLEGED comments, YOUR Auto Club decided to fire a large amount of those who belonged to a group called "SLAVES OF THE AAA".

That is the real reason we were all fired. Yet they are not telling the news, or providing any info on this to the media.

ATTENTION ALL MEMBERS: BEFORE YOU GO ON TAKING EVERY WORD YOU HEAR FROM YOUR AUTO CLUB, JUST KNOW THAT MAYBE YOUR ROADSIDE SERVICE MAY HAVE NOT BEEN AFFECTED YET BY THIS, BUT IT SOON WILL. HAS YOUR AUTO CLUB PROVIDED ANY EVIDENCE OF THIS TO ANYONE?

feel free to email me at cordero22@cox.net.

JC

Hello fellow auto club members, employees, and ex-employees!!

I am also 1 of the 27 that got fired. I too am 1 of the millions of auto club members of Southern California. I worked at the club over 7 years. Did I enjoy my job you ask? There is good and bad days as comes with any job, but if I hadn't been on myspace, I would still be there. After a hard work week or days, usually we go home to our families, have dinner, talk about work, get the kids ready for bed, and the same thing happens day in and day out. Then there is those days, where you just jump on line, share a joke or two, send emails, or even go somewhere to hang out... Do you go out to happy hour, hang out with your friends, joke, laugh, and talk about work? YES! and if you answered NO- well then you are probably a home based business by yourself, otherwise there is just days where you go out and have fun with co-workers, and friends! Well we did it online. We talked about that same things that You and Your Coworkers talk about. Laugh and joke about the same things you laugh and joke about... Whats wrong with that? Do you talk about ways to slow your company down? Well neither did we!! The reason the auto club road service department is slowing down, is because they fired 27+ senior people from 1 office, including the office manager. You have all watched the news, you all have your own thoughts already, But please understand what we did is no different then what you guys out there do in your free time, off of work, and at home! The news is gonna cut and paste and make them look good, but if you take a closer look, auto club is saying that they fired us for talking about people in our office, but sends a letter that they are a "At Will" company, and this is a at will termination...What really did we get fired for? Come out and say it, but when you do say it, I hope you have proof! I know for a fact that i did not talk about anyone sexual orientation, I didnt harass anyone, and I didnt make a comment of anyones weight!

You really need the full story before you make your comments, about us that got fired, or the Auto Club.. For any further questions, pls feel free to contact James at cordero22@cox.net

It is too bad that someone gets "revenge" for their lack of self-confidence and laziness. If you are FAT and do not like it, do something about it rather than be a lazy POS.

I am surprised people continue to post work stuff on blogs, but that does not bother me as much as fat, lazy people using their gluttony as a lever.

Now this is exactly why I quit the Auto Club. The top lady ( I won't mention her name) made a negative remark towards me and thought I had not heard her. Not getting too into the story, I had contacted Human Resources. And basically, it was her word over mine. Now just from that and other experiences, I am not surprised that the Auto Club took the decision of firing these 27 employees. I am not at all supporting the Auto Club. They obviously did not do much investigation on the matter, otherwise, they would of prevented the situation this has came down to. Unless it just wasn't a problem to them. This really makes me thing twice about my membership. All I can say now is , I can't wait to get my Yukon Denalli. "OnStar, here I come."

Is there a number I can call to complain? I am stopping my roadside assistance. This is bullshit.

I think that AAA should have thought about this layoff a little more throughly. I spoke with an attorney friend of mine and this could potentialy end up into a class action lawsuit.

And the people who got insulted. Should just get a grip. They should have been fired aswell. Somthing that happens out side of the work place should stay there.

This is not the same as talking about your job outside of work. Griping about your coworkers at the bar is not the same as posting it on the Internet, and naming business+employee names, where any customer, potential customer, employer, prospective employer, coworker, etc. can see it. I'm sorry, it's not. If a coworker -- especially a supervisor -- posts "So and so is fat, ugly and stupid" and then associates the name of the workplace with it, the workplace has the right to terminate the person stupid enough to post that garbage.

Does that mean everybody should be fired who happens to have a blog, sans investigation? Of course not. That's lazy, and it's not fair. People have a right to have blogs outside of work.

However, I had a blog (not on MySpace but elsewhere) and never mentioned my real name or where I worked, because I understand that my employers have a vested interest in the good name of their business. Common sense, people.

I think it's ridiculous & immature for anyone to post bashing comments about co-workers and workplaces on the Internet. We all have had gripes (minor & major) about co-workers & their workplaces but we vent to our family members & friends in person. I think that it should have been researched much more than it was but the people who were responsible for the bashing of the employees & the workplace were rightly terminated and it's unfortunate for the innocent bystanders that were just having fun. I'm sure this will upset many and I'm sorry for that but you are all grown ups, some with children & it's very sad that you couldn't have handled things more maturely.

Unfortunately, the majority of the people terminated were not involved in "herassing" that ex-employee. It was just one or two people. The problem is, the Auto Club did not ask any specific questions about the situation. I did not see any comments about race, gender, size, or sexual orientation. I do not know anything about slowing down road service. In fact I think, for most of these employees, slowing down road service to members would be a burden. Members would be angry and complain. The employees would have to take those complaints. Who really wants to hear someone screaming at you about not getting their road serivce on time? Not me, that's for sure. As for the office manager goes, she was fired because she wanted to deal with this situation "in house." She was looking to educate her employees, not fire them! Multiple supervisors were fired as well. Not because they posted anything negative on the website, but because they posted on the site. Can anyone tell me why an employee should be fired for posting about "What's would you rather be a pirate or ninja?" It was not important to the Auto Club whether the supervisors even knew that there was "herassing comments" on the site. The Auto Club acted irresponsibly when they fired 27 employees and now YOU the member have to feel the burden of us not being there to take your call.

Bottom line is: Whether or not you agree with what the employees were posting, if you are an Auto Club member you should agree that you did not get road service to wait on the phone for 5-10mins to speak to a less experienced opeator.

I wish you lots of luck if you break down and need road service. You're going to need it!!!

I also used to work at the club. I had to leave because there was no growth and the office moral was just trerrible. I think that was the main reason for the chatroom in the first place. Somewhere people can vent and just let their true feelings out. I don't agree with the actions taken by the employees, but I don't feel they should've been fired. The people that are going to feel it most are the Members and the company. Why even bring that kind of attention to the situation. As you can see some members already want to cancel their memberships. I thought the manager took the best approach in resolving the matter. I didn't know she had that in her (taking one for the team and all). In the long run this is a learnig experience for everyone and hopefully everyone takes something from this. AAA you've really outdone yourself this time, I guess we'll see how it pans out. To all the fired employees, good luck finding new jobs.

My husband is a tow truck driver. He comes home mad almost everyday. I don't have AAA, and I would never want AAA. Every single AAA member is a complete idiot. I feel sorry for whoever got fired.

I am a new aaa member, and it took longer for them to answer the phone today while i was on the freeway, then it took for me to sign up for my membership online. It took over 10 mins for those clowns to answer! Which means 10 more mins that i sat out on the freeway. I called back to complain, they tried to tell me they were very busy, since it was monday, i told them im not stupid, ive been watching the news! I know why it took so damn long. I told her that i wanted this complaint to go higher, and they need to hire some more people. I didnt pay my membership to sit around and wait on the freeway, since someone at the Auto Club didn't think this through, and fired everyone. Anybody know of any other road side services, im thinking of changing already, and i haven't even gotten my card in the mail. To those employees who got fired, I for one am on your side, as I am always on the internet, chatting..Whats the big deal? By the way, how can they prove it was you? over the internet, you can be anyone you want. Hope you guys come out on top...

I am a new aaa member, and it took longer for them to answer the phone today while i was on the freeway, then it took for me to sign up for my membership online. It took over 10 mins for those clowns to answer! Which means 10 more mins that i sat out on the freeway. I called back to complain, they tried to tell me they were very busy, since it was monday, i told them im not stupid, ive been watching the news! I know why it took so damn long. I told her that i wanted this complaint to go higher, and they need to hire some more people. I didnt pay my membership to sit around and wait on the freeway, since someone at the Auto Club didn't think this through, and fired everyone. Anybody know of any other road side services, im thinking of changing already, and i haven't even gotten my card in the mail. To those employees who got fired, I for one am on your side, as I am always on the internet, chatting..Whats the big deal? By the way, how can they prove it was you? over the internet, you can be anyone you want. Hope you guys come out on top...

To add what has happened to Stacey, 10 extra minutes on the freeway can mean your life. Numerous times there have been members killed by a drunk driver for waiting on the side of the freeway.

This is reality. No one in Southern California likes to wait for anything. Gosh, that is why even Starbuck's has a drive thru.

And to add to what was said about this FAT lady, she was not an Auto Club employee at the time of the "harassing" comment, which was:

"Good thing now that she's gone, at least we don't have to worry about our lunches being eaten out of the refrigerator."

Was she mentioned by name? NO. Everything that the Auto Club has acted on has been suspicion, and that is why they are not showing evidence to the media. Has anyone seen proof of these actions? That is why the Auto Club chose as a reason for termination "AT WILL" because they did not have concrete evidence.

I had to go into the La Mesa office today-I saw a couple of people that worked upstairs... All they did was walk by and say " Christie-I miss you" but couldnt really look @ me... I think they were scared they would get fired for talking to me.. (Which sucks)!!... But anywho, It took 45 minutes to get my DMV sticker-(I have no problem waiting)-but it was funny the members that were sitting next to me were actually talking about the firings. They're like "if those 27 were here it wouldnt take 45 minutes to get a goddamn sticker". (Hahaha)-I thought it was pretty cute.

From experince as a ex employee, 10 mins on the freeway does mean life or death. I have heard someone die on the phone while working at the auto club. So no one answering the phone for an extra 10 mins may mean the life of someone. And for the fat lady that cause it all. No one would be making fun of her if she wasnt a bitch. If thats the attitude you give to people then she deserves people talking about her.

Why does everyone keep calling the fat lady a "lady"? She is NOT a lady! As one of the 27-28 people that were fired, the first thing I was told before the even started questioning me was that there was to be no retaliation against the person or persons regarding this issue. Well you know what? This whole thing is an act of retaliation. I know for a fact that the person who reported not only planned this, but also threatend another employee the same day she reported this. She went up to this other employee and said "I just told about the myspace thing, and if anyone finds out it was me, then I know it was you, and I will have your ass." This is not the first time this person has harrassed a fellow employee. But does she still have a job? Yes! Why is that? So some one makes an obvious statement about her physical appearance, childish it may have been, but none the less, it was not done on company time or premises. It was done in a group bulletin. So this person can threaten some one on company property, and this incident was reported, and no action is taken. Before that she looked up another employee's private information and contacted her at home, she gets put on final warnng. And before that she was asked to step down from her middle management position for falsifying her time card. Gee this sounds like a model employee, I am so glad she still has a job there so she can answer the your roadside calls.