la petite anglaise

Catherine

“Asked to collect my belongings together and leave the building immediately. The words ‘faute grave’ were used. Translated into English: gross misconduct. Petite Anglaise: the blog that got me fired. Call me naïve, but I really didn’t see that coming.”

Catherine Sanderson

Today I stumbled across a charming Parisian blog which has recieved a lot of attention in recent days. Petite Anglaise (translated as ‘Little English Lady’) is a witty and wonderfully written blog by an English secretary who onced worked at accountacy firm in Paris.

That is, until she was fired for her website.

Her blog is an engaging equivalent to a Bridget Jones’ Diary where she writes about, among other things, her single/romantic musings, the enormous difficulties of maintaining a french girlfriend, and her pleas to get married soon. There’s certainly more than enough charm to win me over as a reader.

In her July 18, 2006 post, ‘things falling apart’, she explains that her mysterious two week hiatus in April was caused by a short meeting with the boss of her accountacy firm.

The meeting began with “Can you come down to my office for five minutes please?” and ended with “I’m going to have to ask you to collect your belongings, and you will then leave immediately.”

The reason? Her internet website was cited as evidence of “gross misconduct”, though,

“This was revised ten days later to “licenciement pour cause réelle et sérieuse - perte de confiance” - (dismissal for real and serious cause - breakdown of trust). Something of a relief as gross misconduct involves immediate dismissal, whereas “cause réelle” involved a paid notice period during which [her] presence in the office was not deemed necessary.”

Petite Anglaise, July 20 2006

“b…but I hardly ever mentioned work…”, she stammars.

She’s right. Her collection of work-related posts are nothing more than a few scattered recountments of cute encounters with colleagues . Certainly nothing malicious or worthy of being labeled as a “gross misconduct”. Certainly nothing worth losing a job over.

But lose her job she did.

Then moments later, the shit hit the fan. And boy, did it fly.

Articles from CNN, British and French newspapers reported the news. Television and radio interviews pepper the press portion of her site. Her readers wrote in hundreds of comments.

Sympathetic comments. Angry comments. Worried comments.

There’s been so much inprecedented attention that her site continues to have problems keeping up with the traffic. As a closing remark, she modestly adds,

er, frankly I’ve stopped counting these…but also in Seattle Times, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, USA Today, Chicago Tribune, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, WJLA-TV Washington D.C, Canada.com, ABC News, San Jose Mercury News, Telecomasia, Ely Times, Sun Sentinel (FL), Houston Chronicle, Hamilton Spectator (Canada), Wyoming News, IT Week (UK), Salt Lake Tribune, Jackson News Tribune (WY), Globe & Mail (Canada), CBS News, Cherry Hill Courrier Post (NJ), Mainichi Daily News (Japan), Bailtimore Sun, What PC (UK), Niagara Gazette (NY), Sacramento Bee, Hinesberg Journal (Canada), Lexington Dispatch (NC), Macon Gelegraph (GA), The Ledger (FL), Myrtle Beach Sun News (SL), Edmonton Sun (Canada), The Benton Crier (Iowa), Monterey County Herald (CA), News and Observer (NC), Salon.com, Forbes, San Francisco Chronicle, Orlando Sentinel (FL), San Luis Obispo Tribune (CA), The State (SL), Dominica Today (Dominican Republic), Kansas City Star, Political Gateway (FL), Daily India, Chicago Sun Times, Irish Independent, Seattle Post Intelligencer, Washington Post, Ann Arbor News (MI), Bismarck Tribune, Biloxi Sun Herald, Newsday (NY), Pineer Press (MN), Bradenton Herald, Fort Wayne News Sentinel (IN), Cay Compass (Cayman Islands), Charlotte Observer (NC), Town Hall (DC), Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX), Contra Costa Times (CA), Centre Daily Times (PA), Grand Forks Herald (ND), Times Picayune (LA), Duluth News Tribune (MN), Columbus Ledger Inquirer (GA), Arizona Daily Star (AZ), Wyoming News (WY), Arizona Republic (AZ), Times Daily (AL), Belleville News Democrat…

Petite Anglaise, July 2006

So what does this all mean? What valuable lesson have I taken from our Parisian friend?

Certainly, it means that I’m going to have to be careful about what I say in the future. Doubly careful. Even some of the most subtle and innocent comments have a way of embedding themselves into Google’s crawl.

And kicking you in the face when you least expect it.