Yet another example of how social media can go wrong in the workplace if not managed properly. Australian newspaper The Age has reported how Sydney-based Vodafone employee Arthur Kotsopoulos ridiculed Vodafone customers, suppliers and co-workers on Twitter and Facebook as “mentally retarded”.On his LinkedIn page Mr Kotsopoulos says he has been Vodafone’s “social media expert” since November last year which Vodafone have denied stating that his “self-appointed” title of “social media expert” was “not endorsed” by the company”.Some of the messages from Kotsopoulos include a tweet “HTC rep just walked in get ready for another hour of blabbering about what are the worst phones on the market,”. He followed this a minute later with a further tweet about a colleague. “She changes music & puts on this filthy emo music. Literally want to neck myself,“ he wrote, the newspaper has reported.“If I have to serve another person who repeats everything I say like a parrot or I have to explain the same thing to them more than 6 times somebody is going to cop a pimp slap backhand,” he wrote.“It’s starting to get extremely frustrating right now. Don’t buy a phone IF you have absolutely no idea how to even use the most simple of functions.”“To top it off i’m serving mentally retarded people who buy phones and have no clue how to use them,” he then tweeted before wondering on Facebook whether “the local mental institution shut down today or something”.
Vodafone said it had suspended Kotsopoulos pending a full investigation and apologised for any offence caused by the comments. Vodafone has lost 600,000 customers in Australia since 2010, The Age reported.
