Belgium

Although I consider New York, USA my home now, I am still Belgian and I try to follow the news in my birth country as I find it very interesting. It's even more interesting when the two countries meet in the news. Unfortunately, in the latest news storm where those two (kind of) met, I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

So this is the short version of the story:

Belgian minister of defense comes to New York with a delegation. They party one night in a Belgian cafe and (according to the Belgian waitress) the minister sings and drinks. A member of his delegation talks to the Belgian waitress and tells her that they aren't doing very much in NY as most meetings were canceled. Something they knew in advance and did not stop them from flying over the ocean for this field trip. 

The waitress, who keeps a personal blog to inform friends and family about her adventures in the big city, writes a report with her version of the evening on said blog. She gives her personal and subjective opinion and this gets some momentum on some other blogs. 

When questioned about it, the minister denies getting drunk and having a fun trip in New York. He also lies about calling the New York Belgian bar and so getting the waitress fired. Two days later he admits that there was a contact between his office and the bar that caused the dismissal. 

Now all blogs are of course writing about the disgrace. How can a politician who claims (on his own website) to be open to dialog through the internet, make a public speech about the menace of blogs? Who the hell does he think he is and what dictatorship does he live in to get someone fired?

Now I have read a lot of the comments everywhere and I have to agree with the majority, De Crem, our Minister of defense is a total ass. This however is not news to me. He always was an ass and he is not and never will be capable of dealing with criticism. I suggest he finds another job... 

I do find it a bit weird that almost nobody is criticizing the actions of the waitress. As an employee, her loyalty should be with her work. She blatantly ignored this and put her boss in a position where his business's reputation was at stake. Maybe she didn't think her blogpost would have this effect, but that does not mean she is not responsible for her actions. I have worked many years in the "horeca" and I believe there is a unwritten law that says that discretion is a given. If I owned a business like that, I would expect my staff to be discreet and to serve our customers. That is what they are being paid for. 

And of course she has the freedom to write this down on her website. Nobody is arguing that she does not have that right. But if I write things on my blog that would hurt my company's reputation, I fully expect to be fired. In the end, they are still paying me to do a job and to be a representative of their brand. I don't see why this would not be the case with this waitress. She made her bed and now she must sleep in it. Unfortunately, it is not the nicest way to find out how powerful freedom of speech can be. 

But that is just my humble opinion about all this...

Comments

[Nicodemus]

Not sure that I fully agree that her loyalty lies with her employer/company and that discretion is a given. At least not always. When it comes to our democratically elected leaders misbehaving and using taxpayer's money for trips, the whistle blowing takes precedence over her loyalty to her employer and the discretion one would normally expect. In short, if I as a non public figure and act like an ass, I expect discretion from the waitress, but not if I'm an elected official doing this on taxpayers money. De Crem got caught with his pants down, and she did her civic duty by reporting this to other citizens. He lashed out and got her fired. Now he's trying to pretend it is a non-event and that blogs are a dangerous phenomenon in our society. The sooner we get rid of this jackass the better.

[Claudia]

Again, I agree with your opinion on De Crem. He is a jackass. Something I knew a long time before and the way he is handling this is just proving that point.
On the other hand, I still think she can not blame her boss for firing her. She insulted a customer of a business. If a CEO of a bank walks into Capco and I would write on my blog that I think he is an idiot and I mention all names and what I do here, then I don't think my boss would appreciate that... And I believe he has every right then to fire me. I don't see the difference in this case. She could have done her civic duty without involving her boss and his business. And btw, I still believe every one has the right to privacy. Whether you are an elected official or not. And if he traveled to NY for meetings on taxpayers money, to me that does not mean he has no privacy during those trips. what he does in the evenings is his own business if it is not in any way connected to what he is doing there during the day. It was a non-event and the only reason why this became an event is because he is an asshole. And apparently the people in his entourage are also assholes.