Using Facebook to contact me

Shadylou

We have a new hospitality manager since Xmas. A few times they've been short staffed and staff wouldn't answer their phones when they were being rung to cover. So the new manager gets the staff who are in to Facebook message people to come in. I got a message yesterday and didn't see it till today, I had no credit so messaged the person back (a supervisor) to get the manager to call me. So the manager rang me and told me I was not allowed to use social media to contact work and I was harassing the supervisor by using their personal account. I really have no words for this but I am worried I will get into trouble for doing this. Why is it OK for them to contact us via Facebook but not us to contact them?

irishgirl19

Request that they show you the same courtesy

spaceHopper

By Message and credit you mean a text message and not a face book message? There must be more going on here if staff aren't turning up or answering their phone to come in to cover the staff that didn't come in. But it's not worth it for you to fight it out with the manager, I'd explain to them that you had no credit and it was not meant as any from of harassment. Ask them in future to phone and not to text you as you might not be able to respond to text messages. Also there is no guarantee that a text message will arrive quick it can get delayed by the network.

irishgirl19

I think the op means they used Facebook messenger to contact her but when she replied she got a telling off

Ursus Horribilis

How come you only saw the Facebook message from them a day after it was sent? It seems strange to me that in all that time you didn't pick up your phone even once. Unless your phone is different to mine, it's hard to miss a Facebook notification when it comes in. You know they message you this way so that'd make it more important that you check any messages coming in, right?

Personally I'd be more annoyed at my employer contacting me by Facebook. I assume they're doing the messenger notifications rather than texts because it's easier to prove that a message has been seen by the recipient.

All you can do is apologise for the misunderstanding and explain that you had no credit. Ask that they ring you next time. Though I thought these days it's hard to run out of credit because of all the minutes your average phone package gives you. I think you are suffering for the sins of your colleagues here.

mass_debater

Odus fell down wrote: »

How come you only saw the Facebook message from them a day after it was sent? It seems strange to me that in all that time you didn't pick up your phone even once. Unless your phone is different to mine, it's hard to miss a Facebook notification when it comes in. You know they message you this way so that'd make it more important that you check any messages coming in, right?

Some of us choose not to use the app, I just use the web site in my phone browser so I get less distractions (and a better battery)

Ursus Horribilis

Fair enough but if that's the case, she should have told her employer that it's easier to contact her by call or text then.

Nekarsulm

Disable notifications from work colleagues who use their private accounts at the Managers bequest.

Victor

Odus fell down wrote: »

How come you only saw the Facebook message from them a day after it was sent? It seems strange to me that in all that time you didn't pick up your phone even once. Unless your phone is different to mine, it's hard to miss a Facebook notification when it comes in. You know they message you this way so that'd make it more important that you check any messages coming in, right?

Personally I'd be more annoyed at my employer contacting me by Facebook. I assume they're doing the messenger notifications rather than texts because it's easier to prove that a message has been seen by the recipient.

All you can do is apologise for the misunderstanding and explain that you had no credit. Ask that they ring you next time. Though I thought these days it's hard to run out of credit because of all the minutes your average phone package gives you. I think you are suffering for the sins of your colleagues here.

You are being quite presumptive. I check Facebook about once a week and many people don't get a fixed number of phone minutes.

The issue at hand is managers not rostering enough staff for work or to be on-call and acting like psychopaths when they don't ge their way.

Odus fell down wrote: »

Unless your phone is different to mine

There are hundreds, if not thousands, of phone models.

fad460

Shadylou wrote: »

We have a new hospitality manager since Xmas. A few times they've been short staffed and staff wouldn't answer their phones when they were being rung to cover. So the new manager gets the staff who are in to Facebook message people to come in. I got a message yesterday and didn't see it till today, I had no credit so messaged the person back (a supervisor) to get the manager to call me. So the manager rang me and told me I was not allowed to use social media to contact work and I was harassing the supervisor by using their personal account. I really have no words for this but I am worried I will get into trouble for doing this. Why is it OK for them to contact us via Facebook but not us to contact them?

You should politely ask the same question from the manager. It is clearly not harassment!

Tell them you replied to a message you were sent, nothing more. That cannot be construed as harassment. Either facebook is an acceptable form of communication, or it's not.

Personally - I would be blocking them from contacting me on facebook within my privacy settings. End of.

And as for not missing a FB message - that's a load of rubbish. I don't have FB messenger installed. I don't even use the FB app, I use the mobile site, and I log on when I feel like logging on. No notifications are ever sent to me.

Shadylou

I don't have messenger installer on my phone so I didn't see it until the next day. When I got into work this morning my manager had left a photocopy of our social media policy with the part where we are only allowed to communicate by phone call highlighted for me to sign but the fact remains
1. Why are they allowed to contact me via text and messenger but I can only contact them by phone or I am harassing them?
2. Am I not entitled to the same privacy on my personal facebook page as management are?
3. I have been told that I may get a warning for this, is that legal?

Shadylou

Double post

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Buona Fortuna

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Its not wrong but its a good way of getting yourself into the "Awkward Squad".

Shadylou wrote: »

I don't have messenger installer on my phone so I didn't see it until the next day. When I got into work this morning my manager had left a photocopy of our social media policy with the part where we are only allowed to communicate by phone call highlighted for me to sign but the fact remains
1. Why are they allowed to contact me via text and messenger but I can only contact them by phone or I am harassing them?
2. Am I not entitled to the same privacy on my personal facebook page as management are?

What you're saying isn't wrong but tactfully pointing out that you were simply replying to the superviser rather than messaging them directly as Whoopsydaisydoodles suggests would be a better course.

3. I have been told that I may get a warning for this, is that legal?

Legal . I suspect that they may have got themselves into a minor sh1tstorm if they had to provide a service without sufficient staff. Dishing out a few warnings is a good way of deflecting any critisism.

Hoboo

Shadylou wrote: »

I don't have messenger installer on my phone so I didn't see it until the next day. When I got into work this morning my manager had left a photocopy of our social media policy with the part where we are only allowed to communicate by phone call highlighted for me to sign but the fact remains
1. Why are they allowed to contact me via text and messenger but I can only contact them by phone or I am harassing them?
2. Am I not entitled to the same privacy on my personal facebook page as management are?
3. I have been told that I may get a warning for this, is that legal?

1. Don't sign a thing
2. Request a meeting with the HR Director/Manager mentioning stressful harassment.
3. Document everything immediately and after every conversation. Dates times names etc.
4. Check your contract
5. You won't get a warning until after procedure has been followed, so if they do, smile and go to number 6.
6. If you have the nuts which you should because it's really no biggy, invite them for a day out........

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/enforcement_and_redress/labour_relations_commission.html

Ash.J.Williams

Odus fell down wrote: »

How come you only saw the Facebook message from them a day after it was sent? It seems strange to me that in all that time you didn't pick up your phone even once. Unless your phone is different to mine, it's hard to miss a Facebook notification when it comes in. You know they message you this way so that'd make it more important that you check any messages coming in, right?

Personally I'd be more annoyed at my employer contacting me by Facebook. I assume they're doing the messenger notifications rather than texts because it's easier to prove that a message has been seen by the recipient.

All you can do is apologise for the misunderstanding and explain that you had no credit. Ask that they ring you next time. Though I thought these days it's hard to run out of credit because of all the minutes your average phone package gives you. I think you are suffering for the sins of your colleagues here.

nothing to apologise for

Ursus Horribilis

Have you ever been shown this social media policy before? I wouldn't have thought that penalising someone for breaching the rules is possible if they weren't aware of them in the first place.

Calling it harassment is going too far. Harassment for what? They're contacting you on your (private) Facebook? As we've established, it's an ineffective way of contacting you anyway.

Ursus Horribilis

Duplicate post. Can't delete in app.

Diziet

This won't directly help the OP now, but it is better to have a policy to not add any colleagues to FB, ever. LinkedIn is for work, FB is personal. I know we have friends from work, but it really is better not to mix the social networks.

Milly33

Bit lost with your post..

So was it you facebooked the supervisor or the supervisor contact you via facebook?

Either one I would say is not good. If you contacted your supervisor via facebook (unless you work is with facebook) then you should not have, go get credit call or if you don't have credit try get them to call you somehow,

If the manager contacted you then they shouldn't have used facebook either..

Milly33

Bit lost with your post..

So was it you facebooked the supervisor or the supervisor contact you via facebook?

Either one I would say is not good. If you contacted your supervisor via facebook (unless you work is with facebook) then you should not have, go get credit call or if you don't have credit try get them to call you somehow,

If the manager contacted you then they shouldn't have used facebook either..

desertcircus

If your supervisor initiated contact via Facebook, then advise whoever is giving you heat that this is the case. If they still give you heat, then start looking around for other jobs, as this place sounds pretty badly dysfunctional. And ignore any work-related message you get via Facebook in future; if someone complains, refer them to the person who's giving you heat now.

nikkibikki

Shadylou wrote:

I don't have messenger installer on my phone so I didn't see it until the next day. When I got into work this morning my manager had left a photocopy of our social media policy with the part where we are only allowed to communicate by phone call highlighted for me to sign but the fact remains 1. Why are they allowed to contact me via text and messenger but I can only contact them by phone or I am harassing them? 2. Am I not entitled to the same privacy on my personal facebook page as management are? 3. I have been told that I may get a warning for this, is that legal?

Screen shot the messenger conversation and print it to prove you didn't initiate the contact on messenger. Bring it to HR if you have HR in your workplace

Diziet wrote:

This won't directly help the OP now, but it is better to have a policy to not add any colleagues to FB, ever. LinkedIn is for work, FB is personal. I know we have friends from work, but it really is better not to mix the social networks.

FTR, you don't need to be friends with someone on Facebook in order for them to message you or vice versa

Wanderer78

Another good reason to never have a Facebook account

TheChizler

I wonder if the supervisor got caught checking Facebook and is shifting the blame. Definitely point out that this is how the company contacted you in the first place if that's the case.

languagenerd

If you were replying to a Facebook message that they sent to you, then your lack of credit etc is irrelevant. There's no way that replying to a message via the medium it was sent to you is harrassment.

Does the manager know that the supervisor messaged you first?

If that's how it happened, I wouldn't accept any warnings for replying.

sillysmiles

Go through your facebook and unfriend any managers and work, and only leave work colleagues who are actually friends connected.
The manager that is creating a **** storm - are they the only manager? Is there a more senior manager? Is there a union?

Dig out your contract and find out what it says re social media. Does your contract refer to a company handbook or anything? Have you ever been given a company handbook (assuming this is where the social media policy has been pulled from).

Do you have a record of other times your work has contacted you through social media? Have they initiated the contact? Screenshot and document everything.

Good luck.

Del2005

Shadylou wrote: »

We have a new hospitality manager since Xmas. A few times they've been short staffed and staff wouldn't answer their phones when they were being rung to cover. So the new manager gets the staff who are in to Facebook message people to come in. I got a message yesterday and didn't see it till today, I had no credit so messaged the person back (a supervisor) to get the manager to call me. So the manager rang me and told me I was not allowed to use social media to contact work and I was harassing the supervisor by using their personal account. I really have no words for this but I am worried I will get into trouble for doing this. Why is it OK for them to contact us via Facebook but not us to contact them?

Add your reply here.

Are there data protection issues with a manager asking employees to contact other employees using personal social media accounts? I know that the case last week was about a work social media account and they never ruled on the persons private social media account, but I doubt it's legal for a company to contact people about work issues using a random employees personal social media account.

Diziet

nikkibikki wrote: »

FTR, you don't need to be friends with someone on Facebook in order for them to message you or vice versa

Absolutely, but you can choose to not accept to ignore such messages as spam.

Ursus Horribilis

Did anyone from work ever contact you on Facebook before?

Call me Al

What did the manager say when you explained that you were contacted via Facebook messenger in the first place? You haven't mentioned if you said this is not.
Personally I'd be going to the person responsible for HR in your team and talk about what has happened. If it is a situation where your manager is concerned about harassment of your superviser then pointing out that, using the Facebook contact criteria, you are also bring harrassed might soften his/her cough a little.

sillysmiles

My impression of the OP (and I may be wrong) was that the supervisor contacted the OP. OP didn't reply. A day later OP contacts the same supervisor via FB. Am I wrong?

Milly33

Ah im getting it now, does sounds like maybe the supervisor is covering their ass and maybe blaming you..

Call me Al

Milly33 wrote: »

Ah im getting it now, does sounds like maybe the supervisor is covering their ass and maybe blaming you..

But blaming the Op for what?

languagenerd

Call me Al wrote: »

But blaming the Op for what?

Using Facebook? I *think* the supervisor messaged the OP on Facebook, the OP didn't see it until the next day and replied via FB then asking them to call her/him. So if the manager didn't know the supervisor had used Facebook the day before, then they might assume that OP had ignored a text message and then initiated a Facebook conversation with the supervisor (who hasn't admitted they started it).

If I've understood correctly, the OP has no case to answer. You can't be harrassing someone if you send a reply via the medium they contacted you!

Call me Al

But I think the OP says the manager asked the supervisor to contact him via Facebook! So this manager knows Facebook was used in the first place. Unless we are talking about 2 different managers?

Dodge

1) Manager asked worker A (a supervisor) to contact worker B via facebook
2) Worker B replied to Worker A (a supervisor) to ask the Manager to phone Worker B (as she had no credit to make the call herself)
3) Manager informs Worker B that it is against company rules for employees to contact company through social meda

In this case, Worker B (the OP) should inform the Manager that she was only replying via the method she was contacted and that if she was contacted by phone, she would have answered etc.

Bit rich for the Manager to ask his staff to contact their mates (some of whom they supervise) about work issues, but then look to have their replies blocked. Sounds like he/she is being awkward for a reason

Stealthfins

This is a total mess, it sounds like incompetence to the highest degree.
Totally unprofessional and contradictory in its essence.

I'd basically tell them as it is,it's almost bullying and not fair.

Some people are absolute assholes,I myself have taken on people trying similar **** with me.

They always end up having to apologise in writing so I have a record.
I love turning the tables on so called uppity people.

I'd say what's happened here is this.

It's not the manager that asks for Facebook to be used. She just asks the supervisor to get staff in. Supervisor started using Facebook to do so. Manager unaware.

When OP asked supervisor to get manager to call her, supervisor told manager "OP just send me a Facebook message asking you to call her". Manager went mad. Supervisor realised she wasn't meant to be using FB and didn't have the balks to tell manager what really happened.

I at least hope it's something along these lines, because I cannot get my head around the fact you could be given a warning over replying to a message via the means it was sent.

bmm

Sounds like the company in question does not have allot of respect for their employees.
If you like the job or need the job you might have to suck it up. Otherwise escalate the issue thru hr or union.

xband

Replying to a message is most certainly not harassment!

Sending unsolicited messages could be considered spam though.

Report them to Facebook for spam!

xband

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'd say what's happened here is this.

It's not the manager that asks for Facebook to be used. She just asks the supervisor to get staff in. Supervisor started using Facebook to do so. Manager unaware.

When OP asked supervisor to get manager to call her, supervisor told manager "OP just send me a Facebook message asking you to call her". Manager went mad. Supervisor realised she wasn't meant to be using FB and didn't have the balks to tell manager what really happened.

I at least hope it's something along these lines, because I cannot get my head around the fact you could be given a warning over replying to a message via the means it was sent.

You would see a conversation thread in Facebook messenger.

FrStone

Unless you are being paid a standby allowance I wouldn't bother responding to any contact from work during your own time off be it facebook or by phone.

In college, I worked in a place like that where you would get phonecalls asking could you come in on your day off etc. I used never answer anyway, but someone people could never enjoy their days off as they were always waiting on calls.

In the end we threatned to walk out if any staff member was called. They now pay some people a standby allowance in case they are short staffed.

Also you should send them a letter by registered post explaining you dissatisfaction with the whole them contacting you by facebook being fine, but you responding being a problem.

Shadylou

Dodge wrote: »

1) Manager asked worker A (a supervisor) to contact worker B via facebook
2) Worker B replied to Worker A (a supervisor) to ask the Manager to phone Worker B (as she had no credit to make the call herself)
3) Manager informs Worker B that it is against company rules for employees to contact company through social meda

This is exactly what happened, we would never have been contacted in this way before, the manager actually looked us up on Facebook to see who they could ask to contact us and I had previously declined a friend request from this manager ( they tried to add me after 1 day of working together)
The staff that sent the messages were unhappy to do so but were pressured to do this by the manager.
I brought the whole thing to the attention of the general manager who is looking into this

Dodge

Good stuff. Let us know the outcome