Captain Fuck-Up
So, what a truly shite note for re-starting my LJ blog on.
Today I lost my job as a tech/engineer at the O2 Academy. This is the biggest blow to hit me since I was sacked from Respond, over 2 1/2 years ago.
Last week, whilst working at the Academy on the Kate Nash gig, I made a post on my Twitter account. It was essentially this - "Kate Nash's monitor engineer has used nearly all the channels, leaving the support bands with 8. Seems bloody stupid."
Somehow, this was seen by her management, and reported to my boss. Despite damage limitation (ie, deleting my account and denying all knowledge, despite it being fairly innocuous, or so I thought), they took the issue to the highest level (the Academy manager) and it was deemed to have brought the venue into disrepute. It was therefore decided that I could no longer be employed due to my negative impact upon the reputation of the Academy.
I honestly can't express how completely destroyed I feel about this. My boss rang me earlier to give me the news. I do not blame him at all - it was not his decision, but he had to go along with what his boss had asked. I also feel horrendously bad for putting him in this position - he had to deal with the fallout from something I had done, which was nothing to do with him. He's been good to me since I started working there, and in fact on the day that this all happened, had told me he wanted me to start doing more mixing rather than just teching and crewing. I feel I've let him down, especially as he told me that I was the first engineer he'd taken on who hadn't been personally recommended to him, or that he already knew.
I'll be honest and hold my hands up - saying things like that in my position is somewhat irresponsible. But, no-one should have been able to read it except my friends on Twitter. And I never signed anything forbidding me posting comments on my opinions. I'd have accepted a suspension from work, or a warning, or something similar - that's fair, if I'd said something out of line and if it caused offense then I should have been punished for it. That's how life works, I'm aware of that. But to be told I can never be hired by the Academy again was a huge shock. I've made a lot of friends there in the last few months, and the experience has been great. To know I can never go back there as part of the team, to do the job I love with people I enjoy working with, is horrible.
There is also the effect this could have on my career. How are people to react when they hear I have been sacked from the O2 Academy? Not well, in all likelihood. This could have repercussions for a long time.
In the 8 or so years I have been involved with live audio, nothing like this has ever happened to me. There have been arguments, bollockings, and differences of opinions with employers, clients and artists - that's all part of the game. But never anything like this, from one comment.
In all honesty, I feel totally crushed. Getting the O2 work up here was the best thing that had happened to me since I moved back to Newcastle (I don't mean any disrespect to anyone else, seriously) - hells, I got the call-up on my birthday! - and now I've blown it completely. It was a way to meet other people on the scene and in the industry; to learn new things and step up a level in my chosen line of work. And now it's all gone, permanently.
Yes, I can turn it around. There are other companies to get work with; there are places to go and work. But it just felt so good there with the people I was working with, regardless of the moaning we inevitably did from time to time.
I told my boss earlier to tell everyone else what had happened - to use it as an example, so that other people don't make the same mistake. Maybe something good can come out of this, I don't know.
I'm going back down to the Midlands in a couple of days, for a spot of work. It'll be good to get away just for a day or two. Have a couple of drinks, immerse myself in work, and try to forget this. I don't think I can though.
Hells, bizarrely the one person I'd like to talk to about this right now is my dad, but he's away in Australia for my cousin's wedding. Just feel like I could use his advice right now.
I should sign off, I'm halfway through a bottle of vodka, and I'm only going to get more rambley/depressed. I leave you with the lyrics to a song I've been listening to all evening. It's the Grateful Dead, "Touch Of Grey".
"I will get by,
I will survive"
I'm not the person I used to be. I will get over this, somehow. We'll just see how long it takes.
'ta luego amigos.
Today I lost my job as a tech/engineer at the O2 Academy. This is the biggest blow to hit me since I was sacked from Respond, over 2 1/2 years ago.
Last week, whilst working at the Academy on the Kate Nash gig, I made a post on my Twitter account. It was essentially this - "Kate Nash's monitor engineer has used nearly all the channels, leaving the support bands with 8. Seems bloody stupid."
Somehow, this was seen by her management, and reported to my boss. Despite damage limitation (ie, deleting my account and denying all knowledge, despite it being fairly innocuous, or so I thought), they took the issue to the highest level (the Academy manager) and it was deemed to have brought the venue into disrepute. It was therefore decided that I could no longer be employed due to my negative impact upon the reputation of the Academy.
I honestly can't express how completely destroyed I feel about this. My boss rang me earlier to give me the news. I do not blame him at all - it was not his decision, but he had to go along with what his boss had asked. I also feel horrendously bad for putting him in this position - he had to deal with the fallout from something I had done, which was nothing to do with him. He's been good to me since I started working there, and in fact on the day that this all happened, had told me he wanted me to start doing more mixing rather than just teching and crewing. I feel I've let him down, especially as he told me that I was the first engineer he'd taken on who hadn't been personally recommended to him, or that he already knew.
I'll be honest and hold my hands up - saying things like that in my position is somewhat irresponsible. But, no-one should have been able to read it except my friends on Twitter. And I never signed anything forbidding me posting comments on my opinions. I'd have accepted a suspension from work, or a warning, or something similar - that's fair, if I'd said something out of line and if it caused offense then I should have been punished for it. That's how life works, I'm aware of that. But to be told I can never be hired by the Academy again was a huge shock. I've made a lot of friends there in the last few months, and the experience has been great. To know I can never go back there as part of the team, to do the job I love with people I enjoy working with, is horrible.
There is also the effect this could have on my career. How are people to react when they hear I have been sacked from the O2 Academy? Not well, in all likelihood. This could have repercussions for a long time.
In the 8 or so years I have been involved with live audio, nothing like this has ever happened to me. There have been arguments, bollockings, and differences of opinions with employers, clients and artists - that's all part of the game. But never anything like this, from one comment.
In all honesty, I feel totally crushed. Getting the O2 work up here was the best thing that had happened to me since I moved back to Newcastle (I don't mean any disrespect to anyone else, seriously) - hells, I got the call-up on my birthday! - and now I've blown it completely. It was a way to meet other people on the scene and in the industry; to learn new things and step up a level in my chosen line of work. And now it's all gone, permanently.
Yes, I can turn it around. There are other companies to get work with; there are places to go and work. But it just felt so good there with the people I was working with, regardless of the moaning we inevitably did from time to time.
I told my boss earlier to tell everyone else what had happened - to use it as an example, so that other people don't make the same mistake. Maybe something good can come out of this, I don't know.
I'm going back down to the Midlands in a couple of days, for a spot of work. It'll be good to get away just for a day or two. Have a couple of drinks, immerse myself in work, and try to forget this. I don't think I can though.
Hells, bizarrely the one person I'd like to talk to about this right now is my dad, but he's away in Australia for my cousin's wedding. Just feel like I could use his advice right now.
I should sign off, I'm halfway through a bottle of vodka, and I'm only going to get more rambley/depressed. I leave you with the lyrics to a song I've been listening to all evening. It's the Grateful Dead, "Touch Of Grey".
"I will get by,
I will survive"
I'm not the person I used to be. I will get over this, somehow. We'll just see how long it takes.
'ta luego amigos.