You know who you are.
Let me preface this by saying it may be long but I only care about one specific person reading it. If you're reading and you don't care, then you shouldn't. I wouldn't.
But I'll start with a little of my history: I started posting here in 2004 during the Randolph Morris recruiting saga under the name Paul Caravello (YOU WANTED THE BEST YOU GOT THE BEST THE WORST POSTER ON THE BOARD CAYUTSSSSSS!!!!!). Awful. I was 19 and a moron. Whether I still am or not is another discussion. Around 2006 I started posting under my real name to, get this and the irony is rich in the end, HOLD MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT I POSTED ONLINE. Idiot. Anyway. Life went on, I got an education, doctorate degree, very good career in the medical field, and was able to spend more time than I probably needed posting on this site during down time at work during the day like many here do. At some point a couple years ago I stumbled upon a thread on the paddock that allowed me to post about day to day happenings and like any normal person I joked around and vented. I vented about life, family, hobbies, work, etc. Well the joking about work apparently didn't set well with a certain someone or group of people and they decided over the course of many months to collect some of my posts about work and anonymously email the CFO of the company I worked for to "get me". Well I got fired. I didn't argue it. Didn't dispute it. Hell... my name was right there. I manned up and took it. What was funny was that in the end my real life coworkers went to bat for me and my real life immediate boss went to bat for me during the "investigation" that lasted 3 days and despite my real life pristine work record, 5 years of real life no patient complaints whatsoever, countless real life patients coming back for services and asking for me specifically, and various real life awards won for patient satisfaction, it was corporate that made the call that they could no longer employ me based on what I had posted on the internet as jokes. No HIPAA violations to speak of because I was very careful in how I posted info. It was very basic and non-detailed. It was just the "character" of my posts. So in essence, what basically was the equivalent to bar talk or living room joking ON THE INTERNET, A LITTLE THREAD ON THE GENERAL FORUM OF A SMALL UK SPORTS MESSAGE BOARD was what got me fired IN REAL LIFE because I posted under my real name. ****ing moron. Oh well. You live and you learn. How they figured out where I worked... I'll never know. Don't care. I had a rough 2 weeks. Got over it. Got a new job.
Here's the kicker. This new job has afforded me:
1. work 3 miles from home vs 16 previously, never have to touch the interstate traffic. Can wake up 30 minutes before start time and be there early.
2. a $4k raise from my previous salary and bonuses to come based on work rate
3. more vacation days
4. paid vacation vs having to use PTO hours accrued
5. better hours
6. working with my preferred patient population/what I'm best at
7. much less stress
So in the end, I thank you... person that got me fired that posts/reads on this board. It was a lesson learned and if that was your end goal then God bless you. You did it. I learned a lesson... a big one. Leave personal happenings off the board. I'm 90% sure it was someone that posts in the D-League thread as that group of people is the only group that has ever visibly been offended by anything I've ever posted rather than go along with the joke, and I'm even more certain it was 1 of maybe 2 or 3 people that post there based on the nature of prior confrontation/interaction and having a history of handing out real life personal threats to other posters. I've been away from the board for about 2 months now and probably won't ever be back. I'm sure most won't miss me. But I'm a big fan of closure and I just wanted you to know that if we ever met in real life and I knew who you were and the role you played in my real life (not internet life) at some point prior, I'd thank you and shake your hand... probably buy ya a beer and talk about the Cats. I really don't hold a grudge and things have ended up working out better for me. My wife thanks you. My daughter, if she could talk and knew what was going on, would probably thank you. My bank account and more free hours away from work has only made me happier and I'd give you a hug if I could. Sometimes ya take for granted what people assume from this board... that it's not real and doesn't affect your real life, that we're all Wildcat friends and don't really dislike each other based on postings. Well... guess I'll be the example. There's someone/people that read this board that can't differentiate between real life and internet message board postings/jokes.
It's been real.
Let me preface this by saying it may be long but I only care about one specific person reading it. If you're reading and you don't care, then you shouldn't. I wouldn't.
But I'll start with a little of my history: I started posting here in 2004 during the Randolph Morris recruiting saga under the name Paul Caravello (YOU WANTED THE BEST YOU GOT THE BEST THE WORST POSTER ON THE BOARD CAYUTSSSSSS!!!!!). Awful. I was 19 and a moron. Whether I still am or not is another discussion. Around 2006 I started posting under my real name to, get this and the irony is rich in the end, HOLD MYSELF ACCOUNTABLE FOR WHAT I POSTED ONLINE. Idiot. Anyway. Life went on, I got an education, doctorate degree, very good career in the medical field, and was able to spend more time than I probably needed posting on this site during down time at work during the day like many here do. At some point a couple years ago I stumbled upon a thread on the paddock that allowed me to post about day to day happenings and like any normal person I joked around and vented. I vented about life, family, hobbies, work, etc. Well the joking about work apparently didn't set well with a certain someone or group of people and they decided over the course of many months to collect some of my posts about work and anonymously email the CFO of the company I worked for to "get me". Well I got fired. I didn't argue it. Didn't dispute it. Hell... my name was right there. I manned up and took it. What was funny was that in the end my real life coworkers went to bat for me and my real life immediate boss went to bat for me during the "investigation" that lasted 3 days and despite my real life pristine work record, 5 years of real life no patient complaints whatsoever, countless real life patients coming back for services and asking for me specifically, and various real life awards won for patient satisfaction, it was corporate that made the call that they could no longer employ me based on what I had posted on the internet as jokes. No HIPAA violations to speak of because I was very careful in how I posted info. It was very basic and non-detailed. It was just the "character" of my posts. So in essence, what basically was the equivalent to bar talk or living room joking ON THE INTERNET, A LITTLE THREAD ON THE GENERAL FORUM OF A SMALL UK SPORTS MESSAGE BOARD was what got me fired IN REAL LIFE because I posted under my real name. ****ing moron. Oh well. You live and you learn. How they figured out where I worked... I'll never know. Don't care. I had a rough 2 weeks. Got over it. Got a new job.
Here's the kicker. This new job has afforded me:
1. work 3 miles from home vs 16 previously, never have to touch the interstate traffic. Can wake up 30 minutes before start time and be there early.
2. a $4k raise from my previous salary and bonuses to come based on work rate
3. more vacation days
4. paid vacation vs having to use PTO hours accrued
5. better hours
6. working with my preferred patient population/what I'm best at
7. much less stress
So in the end, I thank you... person that got me fired that posts/reads on this board. It was a lesson learned and if that was your end goal then God bless you. You did it. I learned a lesson... a big one. Leave personal happenings off the board. I'm 90% sure it was someone that posts in the D-League thread as that group of people is the only group that has ever visibly been offended by anything I've ever posted rather than go along with the joke, and I'm even more certain it was 1 of maybe 2 or 3 people that post there based on the nature of prior confrontation/interaction and having a history of handing out real life personal threats to other posters. I've been away from the board for about 2 months now and probably won't ever be back. I'm sure most won't miss me. But I'm a big fan of closure and I just wanted you to know that if we ever met in real life and I knew who you were and the role you played in my real life (not internet life) at some point prior, I'd thank you and shake your hand... probably buy ya a beer and talk about the Cats. I really don't hold a grudge and things have ended up working out better for me. My wife thanks you. My daughter, if she could talk and knew what was going on, would probably thank you. My bank account and more free hours away from work has only made me happier and I'd give you a hug if I could. Sometimes ya take for granted what people assume from this board... that it's not real and doesn't affect your real life, that we're all Wildcat friends and don't really dislike each other based on postings. Well... guess I'll be the example. There's someone/people that read this board that can't differentiate between real life and internet message board postings/jokes.
It's been real.
