Better watch what you drink...

Poststructural Pub
1

…someone might photograph you with the ‘wrong’ beer.

Miller Distributor Employee Fired After Having a Bud



AP


Isac Aguero used to tote cases of Miller beer for a living, but Bud Light is his brew of choice. And that, he says, got him fired.





RACINE, Wis. (Feb. 11) - A local man may have found out first-hand just how nasty the competition is between the world’s two biggest beermakers.

Isac Aguero, 24, said he was fired from his job with a Miller Brewing distributor, the same day a picture appeared in The Journal Times of Racine of him drinking a Bud Light, which is brewed by Anheuser-Busch Co.

The photo, taken Feb. 5, was part of the newspaper’s weekly “On the Town” feature, which depicts the city’s night life.

Aguero, who had been a forklift operator at CJW Inc. for four years, told the newspaper he was informed by co-workers when he arrived at work Monday that he was in trouble because of the picture.

He said he was called into the general manager’s office and told he was fired. Aguero said he was not given a reason and claimed he never had problems with his bosses.

“It was a Saturday and I wasn’t at work,” he told The Journal Times. "They can’t tell me what beverages I can drink.

“Bud Light’s my beer of choice, I always drink that. Just because I work there, do I have to change what I drink?”

The Journal Times quoted a CJW employee who refused to give her name as confirming that Aguero had been fired, but declining to comment about the circumstances of his dismissal.

A woman at CJW who refused to give her name Friday to The Associated Press declined to confirm that Aguero had been fired. She said the company could not legally release information contained in Aguero’s personnel file.

Repeated calls Friday by The Associated Press to the phone number listed for Aguero went unanswered.

Dave Hock, vice president of Beechwood Distributors, which supplies Anheuser-Busch products in southeastern Wisconsin, said:

“We hate to see anybody get let go who’s enjoying a nice cold Bud Light on his own time. We hate to see that come from any competitor, be it CJW or anybody. We don’t think it’s fair to the individual to be fired based on what he was drinking.”


02/11/05 13:01 EST

2

Sort of not related, but…

When for a little while I lived in the Distric of Columbia a year ago, we were told not to drink the water because it was poisonous.

The bottled water in the stores seemed to double in price, too.

3

Crazy. I hope this guy is in a Trade Union.

Slan,
D.

4

Not poisonous, just a little suspect under a microscope.

5

You wouldn’t know it from the way people were acting…I got the 3rd degree given me because I drank from a water fountain. It seemed they found a way to blame it on Bush.

6

What is the world coming to?

7

The people who fired the guy have created a terrific marketing splash for Budweiser, their competitor, because of the media attention they created.

If they had just ignored the thing and let the guy live his life, there would have been no publicity at all, other than the original, offending photo, which few would have noticed.

Management contemplates
response to employee
photographed drinking
competitor’s product:

Best wishes,
Jerry

8

The defence rest. :slight_smile:

Slan,
D.

9

In the 1980’s I was a public school teacher in a small town in Arizona. If you think that your life outside of the classroom was your own, then think again. It was understood that you could not enter a bar in town. Teachers were suppose to be above that sort of thing. I guess they wanted you to stay home and grade papers on weeknights, work for a charity on Saturday, and attend church all weekend. No wonder teachers get a little wild now and then.

Also, as an employee of one of the largest banks in the US, it was explictly stated in the employee manual (that I had to sign that I had read and agreed to the terms) a number of legal activities that was not acceptable for an bank employee to engage in during their off-work hours. Political demonstrations was one of the items. Talking to the media about the banking industry was another.

10

I teach social studies and was vocally active in several anti-war demonstrations around town. Guess I’m skating on thin ice.

:astonished:

11

So I suppose gay strip clubs were taboo as well?

12

Quite. They should have offered him a job on the spot, for extra publicity. If they didn’t, they missed a trick.