After a story is published, a minimum wage worker loses her job

[tishaLA]

Shanna Tippen was another hourly worker at the bottom of the nation’s economy, looking forward to a 25 cent bump in the Arkansas minimum wage that would make it easier for her to buy diapers for her grandson. When I wrote about her in the Post last month, she said the minimum wage hike would bring her a bit of financial relief, but it wouldn’t lift her above the poverty line.

She called me the other day to say she didn’t get to enjoy the 25-cent hike for long. After the story came out, she says she was fired from her job for talking to the Post. <....>

Tippen says she was fired by her boss, hotel manager Herry Patel. Earlier that day, Patel had called the Post to express frustration that he had been quoted giving his opinion about the minimum wage hike. (He objected to it.)

It was soon after, Tippen says, that Patel found her in the lobby and fired her.

“He said I was stupid and dumb for talking to [the Post],” Tippen said. “He cussed me and asked me why you wrote the article. I said, ‘Because he’s a reporter; that’s what he does.’ He said, 'it was wrong for me to talk to you.'" <...>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/30/after-a-story-is-published-a-minimum-wage-worker-loses-her-job/?postshare=2411427733488720

This is just an awful story. It's not enough that they take advantage of her with a shitty salary; they then object when she expresses hope for a life with a slightly less shitty salary. I guess she was insufficiently grateful for her meager check.

[daleanime]

1. ......

[99Forever]

2. Conservatives are like cock roaches.

They scurry to hide when the light shines on them and awful things they do.

[KamaAina]

3. Karma's about to bite Mr. Patel in the posterior

Arkansas will likely soon pass an Indiana-style religious freedom legalized anti-LGBT bigotry law. Once it does, you will hear a similar giant sucking sound of meetings leaving the state, which will cause his bookings to evaporate.

[KingCharlemagne]

4. That bastard Patel works at Days Inn. So I guess all DUers who support labor know

which hotel chain to boycott going forward, eh?

Fuck you, Days Inn.

Oh, BTW, Patel introduced Tippen (the fired worker) to the WP reporter. But Days Inn Corporate is washing its hands of him.

Fuck you, Days Inn.

[eridani]

5. Contact info--tet's make them regret this

From US & Canada: 1-800-225-3297
https://www.wyndhamrewards.com/trec/consumer/contactUsStep2.action


Tell Herry Patel to hire back Shanna Tippen ASAP, or I'll tweet about shitty Day's Inn for a month.

Days Inn (@daysinn) | Twitter

https://www.facebook.com/DaysInn

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Days Inn Customer Care at 1-800-889-9702 or [e-mail]

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. more about scummy Patel

(Several hours after this story was published, Patel called the Post and contested Tippen’s version of events. He said that Tippen was not fired, and instead walked out on the job after a disagreement. Patel said that he’d approached Tippen to ask about her past criminal record, which was described in the original Feb. 17 article.

Patel said he would not rehire Tippen because of the way she’d spoken to him during the dispute. “She walked out herself,” Patel said. “I didn’t fire her.”

Tippen, in a conversation Monday evening, reaffirmed her version of events. She said that Patel never questioned her about her criminal record and that the two spoke heatedly only after she was fired.)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/30/after-a-story-is-published-a-minimum-wage-worker-loses-her-job/

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. omg

[dissentient]

8. Wow, what a cold hearted bastard. Did he say, "Welcome to the unemployment line"

as he walked her out of the premises? This guy is a right winger republican, I'd bet on it.

How I figured he is a republican:

1. He didn't want to give a measly 25 cent raise. I guess he thought that was too rich?

2. He talked down to her and insulted her, and called her names. And then fired her for daring to speak out about her desperate situation.

[ND-Dem]

10. He's a manager for one hotel in a chain hotel business. He probably makes under $40K

himself and is stressed to the max, both by his inferiors and superiors.

I wouldn't attribute everything to his being a wingnut.

[daredtowork]

9. Reporters also have to be sensitive before they insist on "personal stories"

Reporters are very pushy about getting people to give there names and get a picture - they say the story won't have credibility unless they get those personal details.

What reporters don't understand is that while getting the story perpetuates their own middle class job, they are doing it at the expense of people at the lowest end of the economy. Google never forgets. Being quoted in the paper with the wrong political opinion can not only cost someone their job - it can keep them from getting a new one. For a very long time. A strong opinion plus a long time out of work can make a person look like a trouble maker. A picture along with a name can verify someone's identity.

In a celebrity and social media driven culture, poor people are easily exploited on these matters. They can easily be persuaded no harm will be done, but later it will be impossible to undo the damage. The US has no "right to be forgotten" on the Internet. It might be helpful to educate reporters, rather than poor people, on the harm they can do here for the sake of giving a "personal" touch to their stories.

It would be different if these news stories could be evaporated a few minutes after they ran, but they cannot. It takes a second of prurient interests to Google a job candidate. Please don't make the lives of these people any worse than it already is.