His decision to discuss company policy without getting approval from HR caused it. He knows that, it sucks, but it's not the result of anyone's actions but his own. I feel for the guy, hopefully he lands on his feet.
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Chris Pranger, Out-Spoken Nintendo Treehouse Localizer, was Fired
- Thread starter Tom Nook Sawyer
- Start date
His decision to discuss company policy without getting approval from HR caused it. He knows that, it sucks, but it's not the result of anyone's actions but his own. I feel for the guy, hopefully he lands on his feet.
pinkurocket
Member
I can't say whether or not he deserved to get fired, but with his name being 'out there' and tied to Nintendo negatively forever on the internet.. I guess I understand why. What he said was dumb and in poor judgement, as a Nintendo representative you can't just voice opinions like that about the fans without a backlash. I feel bad for him.. Even when I also called him stupid for saying such things in the first thread. ):
Neff
Member
Perfect summary. From some of the defensive posts in this thread, you could get the impression that some in here have never had a job with any kind of organised company at all.
Pranger seems like a nice guy, and I actually agree with much of what he said, but holy shit the naivety of the dude is shocking and difficult to listen to. He threw a dream job away right before our ears.
I struggle with this too on my Facebook. Part of me really wants to vent at times, but I'm friends with my co-workers and clients, so it would just end up biting me in the ass.
Sucks when work/personal life start to become intertwined.
If you think he wouldn't get fired if he was working for NoE or any other company in Europe, you're sorely mistaken. NDAs and PR is universal.
It was mostly sarcastic, a joke if you will.
Wyndstryker
Member
More like the internet never forgets. Once it's known, even if deleted it's still somewhere.
Not even similar to what just happen....
You don't have to do anything. I could have gone to the college of my choice and ended up with ~150k in loans but decided to go to the local college instead, paying around 5k a semester with no loans involved at all. Sure, my college isn't as prestigious as the other school, but it got me an education, and that education got me a job, which I should be able to turn into a much better job in the future, since work experience is what matters now, not where you went to school.
TheBryanJZX90
Member
It's a result of the fans' reactions as a whole. Those reactions could easily have been predicted by this guy, and he could have avoided the situation, but that doesn't make the ridiculously overblown fan reaction appropriate.
Yeah, I guess you're right. I would love to see more of these things happen, but I can see why companies want to avoid it, especially in an industry so full of loud angry internet voices.
Yeah I know, he actually defended the name. Its a joke :/
Estimated total for in-state is still $25,167 a year, multiply that by 4 and there we go, $100k student loans
protomouse
Member
Tertullian put it perfectly.
Has more to do with the student debt part I suppose. Not that Europe as a whole is all sunshine and roses, but 100k is an obscene amount of money. Cost of living in the US is lower than many European countries, but places like Germany and Sweden have abolished tuition fees.
Has more to do with the student debt part I suppose. Not that Europe as a whole is all sunshine and roses, but 100k is an obscene amount of money. Cost of living in the US is lower than many European countries, but places like Germany and Sweden have abolished tuition fees.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
Is he? It was under the impression he moved to Oregon for school.
Don't use that one everyday. Most people here don't have jobs, which is fine, which is why we make nice posts like the one you quoted. I genuinely hope some people have learned some things from this both work (do's and dont's) and school related (how crippling debt can be if you spend a lot on a major that isn't worth that value).
No matter how much enthusiasm and genuine attachment to the company he had this guy suffered a tremendous lapse of judgement and it doesn't seem to be a one off from his very public display on facebook, would you expect someone to be kept on if this was another line of work, or for another industry? If you were his line manager would you not be concerned that something like this would occur again?
I feel great sympathy for him, and I truly wish him the best because you can tell he is creative, driven and motivated, but this whole situation seemed like an exercise in naivety from both the hosts on the show and Pranger. It would seem they thought this would be said in some hermetically sealed bubble.
Had this been an employee of Facebook, or EA, or Apple (three companies with somewhat subtle but distinct management cultures) publically going on record without any thought to the consequences I doubt we'd see as many people defending him or criticising the employer, should it be different because it's Nintendo?
I feel great sympathy for him, and I truly wish him the best because you can tell he is creative, driven and motivated, but this whole situation seemed like an exercise in naivety from both the hosts on the show and Pranger. It would seem they thought this would be said in some hermetically sealed bubble.
Had this been an employee of Facebook, or EA, or Apple (three companies with somewhat subtle but distinct management cultures) publically going on record without any thought to the consequences I doubt we'd see as many people defending him or criticising the employer, should it be different because it's Nintendo?
I realize that and going to college isn't cheap especially out of state. Still, if someone's dream is to work for Nintendo you'd think he'd better understand how Nintendo is when it comes to be tight lipped then again any actual organization is when it comes to talking publicly. I have no ill will towards him but I also don't care what happens to him.
You really just need the first bullet point and you're already in trouble.
SliceSabre
Banned
Too late now. Its already out there in the ether.
AlimNassor
Banned
That's not how it works.
akidnamededdy
Banned
I can't feel too sorry for someone who knowingly racks up that much student loan debt for an English degree without actually wanting to teach English for a living.
Is it really that hard to comprehend though? The golden rule for social media: when in doubt, don't.
Is it really that hard to comprehend though? The golden rule for social media: when in doubt, don't.
And always be in doubt. So basically never social media, ever.
That's if you're taking out loans for all other expenses, which is beyond stupid. You can work part time, damn probably even full time, if you're getting a fucking English degree.
And he should have paid off a significant chunk of that by now if he's been out of college for 3-4 years. I smell bs.
The Jackdog
Member
uhhhhh in this case the line is whatever the company paying his salary says it is
Prestige is important for certain things, like academia. I went to a cheap school and graduated debt free but got into a professional school that has sunk me into $250,000 worth of loans, and I go to one of the cheaper schools for my degree.
Neff
Member
Absolutely, it's a valuable life lesson. If you ever join a big corporation, you've gotta be a team player both in and outside of work.
You understand people sign contracts saying they won't do what you just said right
shanafan
Member
Besides having an English degree, he has also worked as a SEO specialist. Seems like a pretty talented guy, he should be able to right back on track.
https://twitter.com/TheChrisPranger/status/629057456857952256
https://twitter.com/TheChrisPranger/status/629057456857952256
I'm going to wholly agree with this.
And if you can't be just stay the hell away from social media. It's not hard really.
VeryGooster
Banned
Nintendo's gonna do what they gotta do I guess. Podcast seemed tame to me. I honestly hope the guy bounces back.
Paltheos
Member
Yup. That stuff just doesn't fly. I'm more concerned actually that he was this naive. Even if the company hadn't made up sign an NDA (I'd be surprised if they didn't), you don't do something like this. You just don't. It's not just dangerous for your job, it's dangerous for the company and the people who work for it.
I don't know how he didn't know this, but I hope he uses this opportunity to reflect on himself and his way of life and to find something that fits him and his family.
He didn't have a job right out of school, that was in his facebook post, and I'm sure his job at Nintendo was probably on the order 40-50k. After taxes 30-35k, after insurance and savings for his family, 25-30k, and then life expenses (mortgage, etc). He'd be lucky if he had an extra 10k to put into student loans which at 100k and 5% you're paying off like 20k in principle in 3-4 years. Sounds like you don't understand how crippling debt works, which is a good thing (;
papercan55
Member
You need to add after getting fired for obvious reasons making a long public Facebook sob story to make the company seem like the devil.
Guy was asking to get fired if not sued for speaking out like that against the company and it's fans.
He must be braindead or got to big for his boots and presumed he was untouchable, no-one with a sane mind does someone like that and then let the podcast go public and leave it public to this very day.
LiveFromKyoto
Member
It's pretty clear why this guy got canned. He was in a highly competitive position with people lined up for it, and he went out and trashed his own employer and the fan base and started a shitstorm.
Plus, there may be more to this behind the scenes. Dan Adelman spoke out but managed to survive a round or two, IIRC.
This has to be the worst post of this thread.
MushroomSamba
Member
I could be wrong, but I'm guessing the GAF demographic skews younger, so I'd say your impression is quite likely. Hopefully, this serves as a good heads up for some folks entering the professional world.
This is actually pretty fascinating to me...a lot of young professionals these days basically grew up with social media. Airing their thoughts without hesitation on facebook, twitter, etc. is like instinct to them. That can be so friggin' dangerous when it comes to your job.
I understand that I did my undergrad in state at the university of minnesota for slighty more annual tuition than the university of Oregon and I graduated in 2010 with 2 majors and a minor, with 30k in loan debt. It's already paid off. So i don't think you understand my point that there is absolutely no reason this guy should have 100k in loan debt this far out from graduating. Except laziness for not working while in school and financial stupidity in taking out that much in loans in the first place.
Calamari41
41 > 38
You're right. Billion dollar international companies should just unleash their employees to spout off about whatever they feel like at any time.
People do stupider mistakes when they're young.
In fact, everyone makes mistakes, young or old. They could have used other means to stop him repeating his mistake. He could have been given a warning. Firing the man seems excessive. But I guess that's how Europeans tend to see it. People seem to get fired in USA so easily.
nah, the post about how Iwata probably wouldn't have fired this guy was way worse.
Totally agree! Just saying how I could see him still having 100k in student debt, you said you called BS; I call stupidity. And his salary didn't fit his debt, doubtful he'd of paid that off in 20 years with a family. I see people with those amounts in loans at my work that make far more than he did, it crushes me inside to see people being so fiscally horrible with life decisions, mostly because nobody every taught them any better. It's a failure of society as a whole to educate our kids on life finances and it's a sore point with me. I came out with 80k, paid it off, and am doing fine, but had I known better I'd of done two years of community college and saved myself 40k.
crooked spin
Member
I'll bet part of his reasoning was "this is some obscure, no-name podcast, I can speak frankly because anything I say will fly under the radar." And then it didn't work out like that.
I agree with this list, even the obviously, but Nintendo is now getting bad PR (at least the Kotaku story) from the firing, which I think is fair too. Nintendo could have smacked his hand hard and got the compliance they want. Being draconian is within their rights, but so is being called out for being draconian.
Absolutely, I don't see how people are painting Nintendo as the bad guy.
Right, that's how..
Ok. We don't need to let this sub-thread descend into typical forum fodder. I'll try to explain my point as plainly as I know how and if you still feel differently, then cool. We can leave it there.
My point is simply that I can understand why somebody would not be able to continue enjoying a hobby which is tied to the loss of their job. I can understand why somebody would not want to be reminded of such a thing every time they went to fire up Mario Kart. I mean, who would want to be taken back to that time when they lost their dream job and were temporarily unable to support their family every time they saw a Pikmin or every time they heard 'It-sa Me, Maaariooo!'?
Don't get hung up on my use if the word 'disastrous'. Of course there are more deserving scenarios, but my choice of word was made to reflect how he probably views the situation - not to literally mean something along the lines of permanent ruin. As I said in an earlier reply; scale and context. Still, I could have formatted the text to make that more clear.
it is not draconian to fire someone for breach of contract...