Employers claimed they were flooded with negative emails and phone calls after their employees were photographed participating in post-Stanley Cup rampage
The prevalence of picture-taking technology has allowed for the quick identification of many participants in the June 15 riot in Vancouver following the final game of the Stanley Cup finals. And this identification has had consequences for some of those participants’ jobs.
Burrard Acura, a Vancouver car dealership, found out one of its part-time employees, a university student who worked on weekends, had been caught on video leaving a looted store with what appeared to be merchandise in her hand and a beaming smile on her face. After the video became public, the dealership started receiving emails and phone calls from upset people, including ones Patrick Almeida, the dealership’s manager, characterized as threatening.
“It’s been pretty ugly,” Almeida told CBC News.
Almeida confronted the employee and fired her when she admitted her part in the riot.
Another participant in the riot, a carpenter, posted status updates on his Facebook page calling the riot “awesome” and “Vancouver needed remodelling anyway.” However, his page also listed RiteTech Construction as his employer. Like Burrard Acura, RiteTech also claimed it received negative responses from the public in the form of numerous emails. The company fired the carpenter the morning after the riot, it told the Toronto Star.
In another photograph taken during the riot that was widely circulated, a man was seen posing in front of a burning car while wearing a t-shirt with the logo of Oakley, a sunglasses company. The man was later identified as professional mountain biker Alex Prochazka and Oakley was one of his sponsors. Oakley immediately ended its sponsorship, the Star reported.
