Reply to Author's book publication cancelled after a tweet reporting on a WMATA employee eating on the metro

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]For those of you who think the employee was the problem:

Barry Hobson, the chief of staff for the Metro workers union — Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 — said in a statement the Metro employee was taking her meal break while in transit from one assignment to another. The statement notes operators have "an average of 20 minutes to consume a meal and get to their next access point to ensure all buses and trains are on time, safe, and ready to serve the riding public.”

From the article posted by OP.[/quote]

Oh, if the metro UNION says so, we all must be wrong! I don't see how this is an issue outside of the culture now where everyone has to be offended all the time. Metro worker breaking Metro rules, rules which metro enforces (or used to enforce) arbitrarily anyway. Rather than hold metro employees to a higher standard, the internets seem to think a-ok here and the person pointing out the double-standard is the problem. Race wasn't an issue until the offended parties (including WaPo) made it one - it wasn't an issue for the woman pointing out the rule breaking.[/quote]

If you don’t like the way an employee is behaving, you contact the company. You don’t take that person’s picture without permission and then post it for all the world to see. I don’t know if it was racially motivated or not, but Ms. Tynes’ behavior was unethical, and I don’t blame the publisher for dropping her. She did this to herself. Her publisher is in the business of making money first and foremost, and no company wants to be associated with someone who will affect its profit margins.[/quote]

I think there's an issue of proportionality, as well.

In this case, eating on a train isn't great but it's not like the Metro employee was kicking a service dog or screaming profanities at an infant. The transgression was extremely minor - and taking the photo, tagging WMATA, seemed mostly like the author was irritated that the Metro employee wasn't deferential enough after being called out for eating. The author's reaction seemed disproportionately harsh and petty - and could have had serious consequences. It seemed like punching down, too. I think that's part of what people are reacting to - like why the h*ll would you make life difficult for a Metro employee over such a minor thing?

As for the book being canceled - blach, I don't know what I think of that. I do think the author should be publicly shamed. Losing her book contract also seems disproportionately harsh. But the publisher must have just freaked out bout what they worried would be a PR nightmare if they kept her. I think if she'd immediately apologized and explained that she was in fact having a terrible day and took it out wrongly on this Metro employee, and she'd like to make up for it, it might have blown over.

Anyway, as a communications professional she should have known ebtter than to issue that tweet.

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