Drunk Tweets Cost Jobs
By: Ray Doughty
Updated: December 12, 2011
U.S. Representative Rick Larsen has fired three staffers who apparently chronicled on-the-job drinking exploits on Twitter, including posts about taking shots of Jack Daniels while hiding behind a desk.
Larsen, a Democrat serving Washington's 2nd Congressional District, fired the three Thursday, about an hour after learning of their Twitter activity.
The Northwest Daily Marker, a conservative political blog in Washington state, first compiled and posted about the tweets.
Kathy Gill, a professor at the University of Washington who analyzes social media trends, sounded off on the behavior.
"Regardless of whether or you not you tweet about it, the fact that you thought it was okay to drink at work kind of blows my mind," she said, noting that she was a former staffer on Capitol Hill.
Jolene Jang, a consultant who runs Seattle-based TheMeetingMaximizer.com, called it professional "suicide."
"Let's say if I'm the employer," she said. "They're damaging my brand simply because they're associated. I wouldn't have it at all."
The Daily Marker identifies the three former staffers as legislative assistants Seth Burroughs and Elizabeth Robblee and legislative correspondent Ben Byers.
All worked in Larsen's Washington, D.C., office.
Their Twitter accounts had been deleted by Thursday, and other efforts to reach them for comment were unsuccessful.
But the Daily Marker caught screen grabs of the tweets.
In one tweet Dec. 1, Burroughs -- whose Twitter handle was "TheRocketShip1" -- describes a co-worker taking a shot "crouching" behind his desk.
"We have unabashedly given up on just about all things work related," he tweeted.
In another tweet, Burroughs calls Larsen his "idiot boss."
