“Turn off the caps lock or you’re fired”

Found this article from one of the people I follow on Twitter. The Telegraph ran a story about an office worker fired for using all caps in e-mail.

Vicki Walker, a New Zealand native, was let go from a job at a health care company after complaints from co-workers about “shouty” and confrontational e-mails, including not only the use of all capitals but colors such as red.

She was awarded a judgment of £7,000 (approximately US$10,500 or NZ$17,000) after a court found her dismissal was in fact unfair, due to the fact her firm did not have an e-mail style guide.

I think it’s kind of silly to fire someone over something like this. From the looks of the story, Vicki was not even warned prior to her dismissal. It’s possible, of course, that she was and the story doesn’t mention it.

Even so, in the absence of an e-mail style guide, the company had no business firing her. And her coworkers need to learn how not to be “too easily annoyed” (as said in FidoNet Policy 4).