I used to work for a music PR firm in midtown and my boss, who was also the company founder, was a complete pyscho. The type who would breeze into the office no earlier than 1pm and then scream at us for not doing things she never asked us to do. She also had a considerable coke habit (dealers used to come to the office to make deliveries), which may have contributed to her paranoid delusions.
One evening after I'd left work, she went on my computer and read all the emails in my sent file. When she found several pitches I'd sent editors seeking freelance writing assignments (to supplement the pathetic "salary" she paid me), she assumed that I was doing publicity for my own clients using her resources and contacts - which was an absolutely absurd accusation. She stuck to her assumption that Monday morning however, when she fired me and went so far as to accuse me of planning to start my own PR firm to compete with her and steal her business.
(Posted by Anonymous)
Thanks for the link!
Lobster Boy
The emails and the computer, belong to your company. Employees should expect NO privacy at all. Unless your company allows paid time and use of equipment to search for other jobs, you're probably in voilation of company policy.
Even if you were looking for work "on your lunch hour" the use of equipment, and more specifically use of the company's email account to solicit other work.
It doesn't really matter what her management style is, if in fact, you broke the rules and/or behaved unprofessionally.
Get a yahoo email addy or hotmail or whatever, if you must solict freelance work - and delete your cookies, cache, and history every night.
My $0.02, but I wish you well.
HI Lobster Boy!!! I love your site!!!
I gotta agree with NOT PRIVATE.
There is no expectation of privacy at work; computer included.
Be real; don't do anything when the boss is NOT around that you would do when the boss IS around.