Just the other day I touched on the issues that Brian Maupin was having with Best Buy in the wake of his (hilarious) video about the average iPhone consumer. After the video got viral, Best Buy got upset over...something, and suspended him, with firing him completely in mind. Now just a couple days later, Best Buy's reaction to the video is just as viral as the video itself, and suddenly a few days later the company seems to have "pulled a 180" and Maupin is clear to come on back to work.
“I don’t know if it’s because the media got involved or maybe because they took a step back and saw that it was just a funny thing not intended to be mean,” -Maupin
“We have completed our investigation into the videos created and posted by Brian Maupin, the aspiring filmmaker and Best Buy employee. This is an important situation for us because it involved balancing our social media guidelines with a commitment to creating a supportive environment for our employees. It's important to note that our investigation involved three videos that were posted in late June because they were openly disparaging of our employees, our customers and our vendor partners. Our investigation is over, and these videos are no longer on the web. Contrary to rumors, Brian has not been fired and is scheduled to return to his job at Best Buy this Friday.” -Best Buy
I've had my own share of experiences with corporations. None that ever gotten me such notariety, or nearly lost me my job like this particular case, but it's clear and obvious that corporations can and will throw the little guy under the bus in order to keep themselves safe, or save money, and this case is exactly the same. Keep in mind that if Best Buy hadn't gone out of their way to persecute Maupin, then practically no one would have known that he worked at Best Buy at all. On top of that, Best Buy suddenly claiming that the issue was centered around the other videos that he'd taken down, videos that weren't viral at all, is classic cover-your-ass strategy. I find it hard to believe that they would have known about the videos that got removed at all with out this "investigation" that they've done.
Maupin says he's not sure that he's going to return to work. Can you blame the guy? If I'd gone through this sort of thing I'd want to leave Best Buy behind, too.
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