23 People Who Didn’t Think Before Posting On Social Media And Ended Up Losing Their Jobs

Nicole Crowther was a one time extra on Fox show Glee who became known for posting spoilers of the show on Twitter. Unfortunately for her, one of the spoilers was a nail in the coffin of her career as she spoiled who was Prom King and Queen in the second season of the prom episode. This prompted Brad Falchuk, one of the show’s producers and creators to tweet “Who are you to spoil something talented people have spent months to create? Hope you’re qualified to do something besides work in entertainment.” Nicole later admitted that the tweet basically ruined her life as she was blacklisted as an extra, so instead of pursuing her acting dreams she had to go work for her family's roofing business.

A daycare worker from Mesa, Arizona posted some questionable images on social media that got her fired back in 2016. The woman shared a series of images and videos that included one where she is flipping off the kids she was looking over with a caption that said 'swear i love kids!' Once the owner of the Kid's Play Learning Center received messages about the incident from angry parents, she terminated the employment.

As surprising as the fact that cricket teams have cheerleaders, the reason for Gabriella Pasqualotto's termination is just as baffling. In 2011, pro cricket team Mumbai Indians fired the cheerleader for blogging. Which later came to light was what she was hired to do. The team was aware that she could write, so they encouraged her to keep "The Secret Diary of an IPL Cheerleader". Reportedly, Pasqualotto was too honest on her diary and wrote who was flirting with who and the way her squad was treated by players during parties. After being given the boot, the South African cheerleader reported that she felt mistreated and thinks that it was one of the Australian cricketers who became upset with what she wrote about him and complained to get her fired.

After spending a New Year's Eve dinner in Kilroy's Bar N' Grill in Indianapolis, one hairdresser wasn't too happy with the experience and decided to take to Facebook to express her feelings. Holly Jones posted an emotionally loaded message back in 2016, but it probably still haunts her. After complaining about staff's reaction to saving a "junkie" who "overdosed", the lady received a reply from the restaurant manager who explained what really happened. Turns out, the person who Jones referred to as 'dead person' was actually a 70+ year old lady who suffered a heart attack and had to be taken to hospital. Luckily, the woman survived, though the same couldn't be said about Jones' career. After public outrage and personal attacks, the salon where Jones was working was bombarded with negative reviews and threats. The woman was soon fired from her job and has since disappeared from social media.

Back in 2012, one Taco Bell employee, Cameron Jankowski, decided that it was a good idea to tweet this image to a controversial internet figure and a now-convicted criminal Hunter Moore with hashtags #pissolympics, #nacobellgrande and captioned “guess where I work”. While Moore declared Jankowski the “winner of the piss Olympics”, the public only had outrage to offer. While plenty of people sent him angry messages, the 'vigilante' internet group Anonymous released his personal information. While the young man claimed he never served the food in the photo to anyone, some Twitter users claimed that putting human waste into food by a food handler could be considered a felony. While no charges were pressed, Jankowski had to find a new job as Taco Bell didn't share his carefree way of thinking.

Over a decade ago, this New England Patriots cheerleader was kicked off the squad for posting a photo online. The picture showed her posing next to a passed out guy with a sharpie in hand. While Caitlin Davis found the situation amusing, her management did not and she got the boot. Reportedly, what caught everyone's attention was the things that were drawn on him, like "I'm Jew" phrase and a penis. Davis defended herself saying that she's only to blame for poor judgment for taking this photo as she wasn't the one who actually drew on the guy's body. Still, the photo posted and the scandal that followed was enough to get her fired.

In 2015, Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo employee Rochelle Robinson decided to complain about being ignored by visitors at the zoo. Naturally, the woman took to Facebook, announcing that she's serving "rude ass white people". A situation that, according to Rochelle, made her quit her job. Robinson received many complaints and comments about her post that all resulted in a wave of negative attention. Brookfield Zoo representatives issued a statement on their Facebook page that said this: "Yesterday, we became aware of the actions of a single employee which we agree are unacceptable. This employee's statements in social media are in violation of our policies and do not reflect our institution's values. We have zero tolerance for these kinds of divisive behaviors. We treat all employment matters confidentially but please know that we took prompt action to remedy the situation this morning." They also later confirmed that Rochelle was no longer an employee at their zoo.

While on flight from New York to Cape Town back in December 2013, Justine Sacco made several tweets to her 170 Twitter followers. Among some of them was the unfortunate "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just Kidding. I'm white!" which Sacco claimed to be a satire intended to mock American ignorance of South Africa, as she's South African herself. Despite her comments, people on the internet weren't happy with the original tweet and started #HasJustineLandedYet hashtag, referencing her loss of job. Sacco's case became one of the most prominent examples of how a vigilante campaign of public shaming can affect and even destroy a person's life and career.

On May 2, 2011, observing the American reaction to the death of Osama bin Laden, the a former NFL running back posted his thoughts on Twitter. His criticism on the celebrations resulted in a backlash and soon afterwards Mendenhall lost his endorsements and was traded from Pittsburgh Steelers to the Cardinals. In 2014 he retired from a professional football career.