This former T-Mobile employee learned the meaning of "mess around and find out" the hard way
It seems like one T-Mobile employee found out the hard way that sharing information ahead of schedule, even if it's about upcoming deals, can have unexpected consequences. A person who worked for the phone company shared details about a future promotion on the social media site Reddit, and this action led to their job being terminated.
The worker, posting within the T-Mobile Subreddit, revealed information about an unannounced promotional offer that was scheduled for Valentine's Day. While this kind of early release can be seen as helpful to consumers looking for deals, it clearly violates company policy.
Businesses often maintain strict guidelines regarding the timing of when deals are announced. Unintended leaks can usually disrupt marketing strategies and potentially provide a competitive edge to rivals. The worker’s post, though likely intended to be informative, was deemed a breach of company protocol.
The former worker continued on his post, explaining the fact that although they were a top performer in their district and had a track record with the most activations in the state, that didn't stop the company from taking this action. Additionally, this person added that the offer reveal had been done within just two hours of it going live. Needless to say, it seems like a lesson was learned.
Ya.. I shouldn’t have posted at all. Like my wife said. I don’t get paid for marketing. Let the marketing people do their job and I stay out of it.
r/awashbu12 (OP) on Reddit
Adding to the complexity is the fact that this former worker's username on Reddit is similar to the username (NTID) they used to log in to log in to T-Mobile's system, prompting plenty of ridicule from the community for making it easy on the company to identify the culprit. "Why would you use a username that is almost exactly your employee login at T-Mobile?" Many exclaimed. Some community members went as far as calling this former employee out as someone whose name they themselves recognize. It also appears that this user's account is now suspended on Reddit, although the post in question is still up at the time of publishing this article.
This situation highlights a few things. First, the outcome clearly shows that companies do check the internet — and especially large forums such as Reddit — to monitor what is being said about them. Second, it goes without saying that one's identity should be more carefully guarded when posting online — particularly if you do not want to be identified. This former T-Mobile employee just learned that very valuable lesson.
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Things that are NOT allowed: