back to article Skiving Aussie fingered on Facebook

An Oz call centre employee has become an overnight net celeb down under after an email exchange between him and his firm's workforce manager regarding a "sickie" escaped into the wild yesterday. The correspondence, currently doing the rounds of Aussie inboxes, concerns a day's leave of absence claimed by Kyle Doyle on 21 …

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  1. dervheid
    Thumb Up

    Ah, social networking...

    wonderful, isn't it.

    LMAO! as the man said.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Fantastic!

    If you're stupid enough to put that sort of thing on facebook, you deserve anything you're going to get!...

    Funny though... :-)

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    One word

    Muppet!

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Bad choice of title

    He should just have posted "I'm still trashed sick" and then he would have additional proof that he was really sick. Because it says so on facebook it must be true.

  5. Goubert

    This is

    Brilliant.

  6. Eddie Edwards
    Thumb Up

    Obvious solution

    Tell your boss you were lying on your Facebook account to make yourself look big in front of your friends, but akshully you were really really ill.

  7. Russell Brown
    Thumb Down

    Lucky he's not been sacked

    I would imagine his contract has something to say about skiving.

  8. Ozbon
    Unhappy

    Feeling Old

    My first thought was "Born in 87? He can't be old enough to work!"

    Then I did the maths.

    *Wow* do I feel old now...

  9. Matt Squirrell
    Stop

    So very fake

    It's changed a bit since I got it early this morning, but the "original" was covered in links for the company in question and that conclusion wasn't there either.

  10. James Wade
    Paris Hilton

    year, but no month?

    Why does the subject contain the year, but not the month?

  11. Random Noise
    Boffin

    Fact checking

    Has anyone at El reg actually looked on Facebook to see if this profile is real or not?

    I got the email yesterday & while I chuckled I'm not sure its totally real.

    I don't have a Facebook account myself, but something about this screams 'viral advertising' at me.

    I tried to connect to port 25 of what a DNSreport give as their mailserver to determine if the mailboxes existed (I've got the original email addresses in the signatures which are not on the article), but I'm stuck behind my corp firewall right now so wasn't successful.

    Has anyone else verified this as real?

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Sickie Woo?

    Wasn't that the pampered dog on All Creatures Great and Small....?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Amateur

    This guy is clearly an amateur. In my last job I managed to take 100+ sick days a year aswell as my normal holiday allowance. Coming up with new and wonderful excuses each week was not an easy task. Some of the excuses got really bizarre.

  14. V.Srikrishnan

    waste of time

    what a waste of human time....

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    @Feeling Old

    Yes, hes is 21, he stole my birthday! but im 10 years older...

    Isn't being unfit for work classed as being sick? they seriously cant expect him to drive in that condition... the fact that it is self inflicted is not an issue either as many injuries are self inflicted (ie 'I' fell down the stairs) the issue should be the amount of time he takes off sick, which his employer can advise him is unacceptably high, and which he should do something about. Having a hangover is still being unfit for work.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what picture ?

    cant see it

  17. Tom Austin
    Thumb Up

    Kudos...

    ...for acknowledging the 'epic fail'. When you're caught fair'n'square, be honest/open about it, it gives you grace. Of a sort.

  18. Scott

    This is...

    ...an example of one of the reasons why I choose to keep my work and private life separate!

  19. Ferry Boat

    Never mind all that...

    Look at their job titles. 'Real Time Manager' and 'Resolutions Expert - Technical'. I always thought that Australians had a reputation for straight talking. Anyway, I'd love a real time manager, mine only runs in batch when there is a low load.

  20. Vincent
    Thumb Up

    Awesome

    Seriously. That's too awesome for words.

  21. michael

    technley

    a hang over is just as much of a medicle condition as a broken leg from skiing or the like

  22. Andrew Moore
    Thumb Down

    Interesting...

    ...the way the muppet turns into a total retard in the final message- "LMAO", "Epic Fail", "Facebook"

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    @Ozbon

    This year's freshers were born in 1990.

    That's the most depressing maths you can ever do.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    VbyV

    His D.O.B. is on there so I wonder how long before someone resets a Verified by Visa password and commits fraud in his name?

  25. Steve
    Unhappy

    @AC: Amateur

    You work/ed in local government and I claim my 100% Council Tax rebate!

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Beware of Facebook

    I got caught out on face book for a different reason.

    I was a member of a few work related groups on there, including one which made fun of the industry I work in. I put what I considered some innocent jokey comments on the "Fun" one and someone related to my job who had been snooping around on that group reported me to my boss.

    I have no idea who it was (Someone who knew me I guess), but my boss could see I was pretty furious about it when he asked me what did I think I was doing, lucky for him he asked me in a polite way as he could see I was bubbling mad as I considered it an invasion of privacy.

    So I have since removed myself from every group on there even slightly connected with my job, locked my account down so only people on my friends list can read my profile and pretty much abandoned Facebook.

    Yeah, I got wrapped up too much in Facebook and let my guard down, just like the bloke in this article.

    It made furious and feel like an idiot as I have always been careful on the internet.

  27. dervheid

    @ Sickie Woo Coward

    You reveal your age too easily there. Must be about as old as me.

    But no. The dog was called Trickie Woo. Owned (or rather pandered to by Mrs Pumphrey)

  28. Big Dave
    Paris Hilton

    lolz

    I rarely use my real name on the internet and hardly ever use my personal details. It's not for the stupid reasons above, but more becos it is vital to my work that i'm not noticed :)

    Paris.. because even she doesn't know how the internet works.

  29. bigolslabomeat
    Thumb Down

    Doesn't require facebook to fail

    We once had a guy call in sick with bad guts, later in the day he ordered himself a hot and spicy meat feast pizza using his work email.

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Stupid kids

    It shows the stupidity of some (usually young) idiots, who use sites like this, without considering the level of access to them. No, dear, your friends are not the only people who read your site.

    Bosses everywhere routinely Google employees to see what they are up to. What you wrote, or that funny picture of you puking, may be why you didn't get that promotion.

    It's almost a standard part of hiring someone, too. I didn't give you that job, because I searched your name, and what you were up to last weekend. I don't want you coming into work with me, if you're recovering from a repeat of that night.

    Andthe cops use the internet too, dear. Those wild photos will make great evidence.

  31. AC
    Thumb Down

    @AC - Beware of facebook

    you mean to say you didn't have your account locked down to begin with?

    no wonder it gets called stalkerbook when people just leave their profiles open for all to see.

    We actually used stalkerbook in our recent search for a new employee and one candidate said of his old job something like "it sucks here, i spend my time spinning in my chair and taking loo breaks" ... we didnt take him on.

    in reference to the guy in this story though, I'd sack him for it. Hope he does get sacked.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Steve re:AC: Amateur

    I worked for a private company. Was just there for so long that they found it really hard to pin anything on me and the union was always by my side if they did.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wow, that's retarded

    I mean, seriously. If you're going to use a sick day for a non-medical reason (hungover might apply, but most employers would frown on it, since it's self-induced) you shouldn't post it on Facebook for all to see. The same goes for everything on the groups, and pictures, etc.

    When i started looking for jobs, i went through and pruned everything off of there that I felt was in appropriate for an employer to see. I left some minor amusing things, but in general, i cleaned it all up. Also, don't let yourself get tagged for shots at that raging party, especially if you're under age. If someone does tag you in a photo, remove the tag. I have, if I recall correctly, all of one photo on facebook with me and a drink- at a wedding, after I was 21. Never let any pictures of you in an incriminating position stay marked as having you in them.

  34. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    don't need facebook to be a tard

    About 5 years ago a guy at work was having "mental anguish" problems probably due to the fact that we were trying to get him to do his job. He was taking a leave of absence, that is until somebody found his band's webpage complete with their tour information! Needless to say a couple of printouts later and a conference call with "Human Resources" and his tour was cut short on the spot.

    Still trying to get work out of him though.

  35. Graham Jordan

    Got this yesterday

    Complete with his e mail address and phone number still on the mail.

    I wonder if he's been unendated with calls or e mails?

    What a legend.

  36. Gavin Berry

    Trickie Woo

    Your both wrong it was a a CAT, not a dog, that way she could say her "pussy" was not well.

  37. Stevie

    Egad!

    Well, at least it confirms my suspicions about the levels of intelligence at work in "call centres".

    Cleaning up your internet face is a good idea. Not as good as not having one at all that can be traced to you, what with google's cached page feature and all, but better late than never.

  38. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Gavin Berry

    Trickie Woo was a pekignese. You're thinking of Mrs.Slocombe who's pussy didn't have a name.

  39. George
    Thumb Up

    Seems like he still has a case

    If his contract allows 1 day medial leave can be requested without any evidence, it seems like he's in the clear unless there's a clause that invalidates the medical leave in cases like this.

  40. Dave
    Pirate

    He's on Myspace too

    dunno if the account is real or not, but there's a Kyle Doyle on Myspace with that same picture.

    http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=58000481

  41. James Dunmore
    Stop

    FAKE FAKE FAKE

    Got this email twice yesterday (i.e. the day before it appeared on the reg), and it was already different.

    It is funny, but someone has clearly set to work with photo shop, made up a few emails, and pressed send - nothing more than a viral email (why else has it taken 2 months to surface?!)

  42. Simon Harvey

    just checked on FB ...

    ... and the photo is the same but his privacy settings are on so can't verify. He is part of the Australia network though.

  43. yeah, right.

    sick?

    Actually, he WAS sick, it was just self-induced. Does his contract specifically exclude self-induced sickness? I doubt it. Last contract I checked certainly didn't think to exclude it.

    Oxford Dictionary says: sick: adjective 1 affected by physical or mental illness. 2 feeling nauseous and wanting to vomit. ...

  44. Iain Purdie
    Paris Hilton

    Top that...

    A girl I used to work with - a receptionist - did something similar. This was *just* pre-facebook, but our company contract included a section stating that the corporate email system was for work purposes only. It could and would be monitored. In fairness, free access was given during the entire working day to any online email system you cared to use, so there was no reason to use the company mail for anything you shouldn't.

    Only numpty girl did. She sent a few mails telling her friends how crap the company was and then decided to throw a sicky after a night on the piss, just as our Australian friend did.

    Still on probationary period, she was fired as soon as she walked back in the day after her "sick" day.

  45. PH
    Thumb Down

    Australia's brightest

    Well, he's a Liberal (read: Tory / Republican) and he's only 21. Bless!

    What d'ya expect?

  46. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @PH "Australia's brightest"

    Naturally, he shows dignity and comedic values in defeat.. something a non-Liberal (read: Labour/Democrat) can't muster.. Even when they are in their 40s & 50s..

    Bless indeed

  47. Stu
    Thumb Up

    Etchellente!

    Totally busted!

    Goes to show you shouldn't be using Facebook / MySpace etc. at all.

    It seems such sites are a haven for information theft in more ways than I originally thought!

    Class!

  48. Carl
    Thumb Up

    Self induced sickness

    "Actually, he WAS sick, it was just self-induced. Does his contract specifically exclude self-induced sickness? I doubt it. Last contract I checked certainly didn't think to exclude it."

    I guess that they would have to explicitly exclude hangovers, because in reality breaking your leg whilst skiing is a self-induced 'sickness'

  49. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    BAH

    Resolutions Expert - Technical <--- Bah no ones an expert at 21

  50. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "I'm too smart to post anything on Facebook..."

    All the smart-arsed clean nosed "I don't post anything incriminating on Facebook" type posters that complain that some employers check your Facebook profile. Do you really want to work for a company that snoops on you in an underhand way like that. If they can't handle a few drunken photos of me at a party, then I'd probably be better off not working for them.

  51. Simon Harvey
    Stop

    It's a Hoax

    http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24549798-421,00.html

  52. DutchOven
    Paris Hilton

    RE:It's a Hoax

    Well, since my mum never knows when/if I take a sickie, I'm pretty certain that this guys mum probably doesn't either.

    And if he DID take a sickie and got busted, he's going to tell his mum something else happened...

    I think the important question is this "Where is the all important Paris Hilton aspect of this story?". Not good enough, I'm cancelling my subscription etc etc!

  53. Richard

    What he should have done is...

    ...phoned in sick with Xenobiotic Encephalopathy

  54. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think it's funny that he owned up to it,

    but I really don't see how it could be proven if he wanted to fight it, since internet accounts are not secure (and there is not even proof that it was really his account).

    I mean, the amount of times my friends have tried to give me '$200 Macy's Vouchers OMG!' and tell me about this 'new live webcam site!!' or even sell me viagra.

    Thanks, 4 of you have already told me twice today. How r u?

    The screenshot was hilarious after the serious professional dialogue LOL.

    I don't believe many employers snoop on employees or potential employees. If that was the case no young people would ever be hired. In this case, as with most, he was reported by someone (an ass) he worked with, not found out by his bosses...

  55. Chris
    Coat

    I thought...

    ...that Charlie Benante was the drummer with Anthrax?

    Mines the leather one with the sick stains down the back

  56. idryl
    Black Helicopters

    Grow up, facebook-cleansers

    I have to agree that this guy WAS sick, whether or not it was self inflicted shouldn't matter.

    I hope the legacy of facebook will be that people realise that actually, letting loose occasionally is perfectly normal and healthy. I wish these internet-face cleansing twats who feel the need to lie about their lives, and the management they hope to impress, would just grow the fuck up.

  57. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Cause of the economic collapse

    The work ethic described in the article and the supporting comments is exactly what causes jobs to be off shored and recessions to happen.

    You only have yourself to blame.

    Regards

    The one with responsibility

    now get off my lawn.

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