Having a conversation using text messages is not always ideal in a professional setting. Much less, if your boss won't mind firing you for something as small as sending an emoji.Sometimes it is just quicker to send one-liner or one word text to your boss, but you might want to reconsider that, after what happened with this woman.
A Chinese woman lost her job for apparently hurting her boss¡¯ ego and replying to him with an OK emoji, on instant messaging app WeChat, according to South China Morning Post. The woman¡¯s boss also insisted his employees use ¡®Roger¡¯ when replying to his texts.
The woman works in a bar in Changsha, Hunan province. The manager tagged the employee in the team¡¯s WeChat group last week and asked her to send over some meeting documents. To which the woman replied with the OK emoji.?
thecut.com
He texted her back saying ¡®You should use text to reply to the message if you have received it. Don¡¯t you know the rules? Is this your acknowledgement of receipt?¡¯ A few minutes later the manager told the employee to contact the human resources department and sort out her resignation.
¡°This is a real case, the resignation is still being processed,¡± the employee was quoted as saying in a report. ¡°I have worked for many years and this is my first encounter with this kind of stupid situation. I am good-tempered therefore I didn¡¯t retaliate.¡±
The woman also said her colleagues agreed that the manager¡¯s behaviour was not good and he had gone too far. After the incident, he had sent out an official announcement to the group, insisting everyone use ¡®Roger¡¯ when replying to the messages.
Screenshots of the chat went viral on the microblogging site Weibo, with people slamming the manager for firing his employee for using an emoji.
'Any reason is valid if your boss wants to fire you', read one, while another said 'To be honest, I would not reply to his message'.
¡°I think a good leader should be able to accept different people¡¯s communication styles and characteristics,¡± another Weibo user wrote, according to SCMP.
Earlier this month, an employee was scolded for ¡®lacking basic WeChat manners¡¯ for replying ¡®Um¡¯ in Chinese, which means ¡®noted¡¯, according to a report in regional newspaper the Chongqing Chen Bao.