Alice Van Ness, Yoga Teacher, Fired From Job At Facebook Over Smartphone Ban
18 replies, posted
[quote=Huffington Post]
It's common practice to be asked to turn off your smartphone during a fitness class. But one Bay Area yoga instructor's device ban cost her a job at Facebook.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Alice Van Ness routinely started her classes at the social networking company's Menlo Park campus with a request that students stow their phones.
In March, one student started fiddling with her device at the front of the class while in the middle of an acrobatic half-moon pose, MSNBC reports.
Although Van Ness didn't say anything to the student, she did give a disapproving look. And the look didn't go unnoticed.
"I'm sure my face said it all," the 35-year-old teacher later wrote in a blog post. "Previously, I had been asked by management to just let the students do whatever they wanted."
The student later complained to the fitness center management. Two weeks later, Van Ness received her termination notice from Plus One Health Management, the contractor that employed her, which cited poor customer service as the reason.
According to the Chronicle, the dismissal also cost Van Ness a chance at a job with Cisco.
While she was outraged at first, Van Ness ultimately decided that she was happier not teaching class at tech companies, where "she routinely found herself dealing with students who came in late, left early, and fidgeted during short meditations."
"The culture of these places is to let them do whatever they want," she told the paper. "And I'm just not really okay with anarchy."
According to her LinkedIn profile, Van Ness has taught yoga, Pilates and spinning in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than six years. Comments on Van Ness' personal website laud her attentiveness to students' individual needs. [/quote]
[url="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/alice-van-ness-yoga-instructor-fired-facebook-smartphone_n_1661986.html"]Source[/url].
So asking someone to turn off a phone is poor customer service?
[B][I]Really?[/I][/B]
You have got to be fucking kidding. I didn't realize you could get fired for silently being annoyed at someone breaking a rule in your own class.
the title is kinda confusing
it looks like she works at facebook and is a yoga teacher
[QUOTE=TheStateTrooper;36771487]the title is kinda confusing
it looks like she works at facebook and is a yoga teacher[/QUOTE]
She was a Yoga Teacher for Facebook's Fitness Department.
[QUOTE=TheStateTrooper;36771487]it looks like she works at facebook[/QUOTE]
She [i]used[/i] to work there.
[QUOTE=Mombasa;36771471][B][I]Really?[/I][/B]
You have got to be fucking kidding. I didn't realize you could get fired for silently being annoyed at someone breaking a rule in your own class.[/QUOTE]
Yeah, well some people are assholes unfortunately.
I have a feeling this is not the full story. This isn't the first time an asshole used an excuse as to why they were fired.
[QUOTE=Glorbo;36771693]I have a feeling this is not the full story. This isn't the first time an asshole used an excuse as to why they were fired.[/QUOTE]
I have a feeling those working at facebook do this sort of thing more than often.
[QUOTE=Glorbo;36771693]I have a feeling this is not the full story. This isn't the first time an asshole used an excuse as to why they were fired.[/QUOTE]
In most situations, I'd agree, but in this case it seems all too likely.
Honestly, consider the reputation Facebook has as a company in terms of work environment.
At the same time, if that's the type of environment Facebook wants to encourage, then perhaps finding a new teacher is a good thing.
Still though, it's just sad. If you're checking your phone every 5 minutes, it defeats the entire purpose of yoga and meditation. I don't know how you can be a grown adult and be incapable of going without entertainment for more than a few minutes.
And this is coming from someone who doesn't like spend more than a few hours anywhere that doesn't have internet access...
It's for the best, everyone knows that yoga is a form of devil worship.
[s]Christians[/s] Facebook: 1 Yoga: 0
no strike through?
[QUOTE=draugur;36774292]It's for the best, everyone knows that yoga is a form of devil worship.
[s]Christians[/s] Facebook: 1 Yoga: 0
no strike through?[/QUOTE]
it's [noparse][del][/noparse] also that's a stupid joke and you should feel bad for making it
[QUOTE=Mombasa;36771471][B][I]Really?[/I][/B]
You have got to be fucking kidding. I didn't realize you could get fired for silently being annoyed at someone breaking a rule in your own class.[/QUOTE]
You can't upset the client, the persons dick you gotta suck to get their business.
Besides, she already got hired to a new job and is still enforcing the phone ban.
I had sympathy till I read the part where she was previously told to let the students do what they wanted.
So it sounds to me like she expects to have command of the class while her employers simply wanted her to babysit her students.
If she was asked to let the students do what they wanted then she should have listened. It's pretty dumb to restrict the use of cellphones anyway, unless someone's being rude or disruptive about it.
Facebook has a campus and a yoga club?
[QUOTE=cccritical;36774812]it's [noparse][del][/noparse] also that's a stupid joke and you should feel bad for making it[/QUOTE]
Well, ajrhug and Ninja Duck seem to disagree with you.
[QUOTE=Sharker;36775159]If she was asked to let the students do what they wanted then she should have listened. It's pretty dumb to restrict the use of cellphones anyway, unless someone's being rude or disruptive about it.[/QUOTE]
Cellphones distract from the whole point of doing some particular tasks, to the point where they might as well not have bothered to do the task at all; this is very much the case in this instance. If these students can't even make room in their schedules for a little yoga, why in the hell would they show up to begin with? She is approaching this from a very logical standpoint, and it sounds to me like her students were only taking this class to say they were taking it, rather than actually trying to benefit from any of the yoga.
[QUOTE=tinhead50;36775699]Cellphones distract from the whole point of doing some particular tasks, to the point where they might as well not have bothered to do the task at all; this is very much the case in this instance. If these students can't even make room in their schedules for a little yoga, why in the hell would they show up to begin with? She is approaching this from a very logical standpoint, and it sounds to me like her students were only taking this class to say they were taking it, rather than actually trying to benefit from any of the yoga.[/QUOTE]
Then that's their loss.
[QUOTE=Mombasa;36771471][B][I]Really?[/I][/B]
You have got to be fucking kidding. I didn't realize you could get fired for silently being annoyed at someone breaking a rule in your own class.[/QUOTE]
It was probably the blog post that caused the problem.
It's unprofessional to discuss problems in the workplace outside of the workplace.
Even if you don't name names.
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