This security guard from Reliant Stadium in Texas, home of the Houston Texans, claims that he was fired for taking this picture with Tom Brady. The stadium owner, the guard’s employer, has a rule against employees taking pictures with any players. This makes sense; players don’t want to be annoyed by every hot dog vendor sneaking a picture, and the security guards should be securing the premises, not following Tom Brady around with a camera.* The guard claims that he was off duty, thus not in violation of any rules. Conspiracy theorists think that the guard was fired for taking a picture with the “enemy,” the leader of the team that had just beaten the Texans. My son points out that any self-respecting football fan would want a picture with Tom Brady, as he is a legend. My son went as far as to say that, “even a Jets fan would want a picture with Tom Brady.”
Pop quiz time: does it matter whether he was on or off duty when he took the picture? This is a fabulous test question, by the way.
*Let it be known that in Hawaii in February 2002, I spent an entire two week vacation chasing Tom Brady around with a camera. I did get a few pictures, but have no idea where they are now. I did not violate any stalker laws, as far as I know, although my husband accused me of doing so. I didn’t get fired, either.
4 Comments
Brian Carroll posted on December 28, 2013 at 8:14 pm
I don’t think it matters whether he was on duty or not. Since he works at the arena he most likely has access to parts of the facility that the general public does not. Was this picture taken in the stands, or was it taken in a restricted area? My guess is the latter. If so, then it was his status as an employee that enabled him to get access to Brady.
Basically, he’s an employee whether he’s on duty or not, and so the rule applies to him. He’s even wearing his uniform in the picture. If you’re in a uniform, then you represent what that uniform stands for… whether you’re on the clock or not.
Y. Daniels posted on January 10, 2014 at 12:30 pm
Also, it seems that it would be important to know if he told Tom Brady that he was a security guard as Brady would potentially be more likely to take a photo with him knowing this fact. If the security guard did share this info, then he did use his status as an employee to take the picture.
Aeriel Emig posted on January 12, 2014 at 4:07 pm
I agree, Brian, that Williams was still technically at work, especially after reading other articles on this debate that state that the security guard was “ready to clock out” when he ran into Brady. This indicates that Williams was still on the company’s clock and still working.
While I realize this is not the same situation, could a parallel be drawn to the Domino’s delivery example? If a Domino’s driver performs a company task and an accident occurs, Domino’s could be held accountable for the accident as long as the employee is still associated with the company at the time of the incident. In this case, Williams is still clocked in and at work, and therefore he is associated with the company and liable to be held to company standards.
I think this piece of the puzzle is also interesting (pulled from KHOU 11 News http://www.khou.com/news/local/Reliant-Stadium-security-guard-claims-he-was-fired-for-taking-photo-with-Patriots-Tom-Brady-234151831.html):
“Williams’ co-worker Christopher Moore also took a picture with the Patriots star quarterback. He wonders why they were targeted, especially since he says he has seen other employees do the same.
‘What they say and what they practice are two different things,’ Moore said, ‘What we see on a daily basis, whether it be Reliant or CSC employees, is them taking picture and asking for autographs from players.'”
If taking pictures with athletes is common practice in this work environment, is CSC acting discriminatory in whom they decide to fire? Perhaps it’s not a case of pure discrimination, but rather an issue of the company wanting to prove a point and found an easy target. If Williams and Moore were actually seen taking a picture by another employee, firing them will prove the point that employees can be held accountable for this type of action.
I’m reminded of my friend – an Ivy League graduate – who got caught smoking marijuana in Nicaragua while on vacation and was thrown in Nicaraguan prison for three years, without bail. This seems a harsh sentence especially considering he wasn’t the one dealing and it was a first-time occurrence. The Nicaraguan police’s argument was: we want to set an example so foreigners stop coming to our country to do drugs.
But all things considered, maybe the real question should be: is a picture with Tom Brady worth getting fired for? Maybe.
Professor SPooner posted on January 12, 2014 at 6:57 pm
For the record, I spent an entire two weeks chasing Tom Brady around Hawaii in February 2002, at his first Pro Bowl. So the picture might be worth it.