I'm appealing
Okay, that's a matter of opinion, I grant you! But I refer not to my own (obviously wonderful) personal charm but to the fact that the union and I have drafted and sent in our appeal letter after I received my official notification of dismissal. Looks as if the appeal will be before the end of the month, quite possibly on the 25th of January. Which is, by coincidence, Burns Night, and also the night our SF Book Group was due to meet. If the appeal fails then the next step would be an industrial tribunal.
I'm glad to say the regulars of the Book Group still want to meet - obviously outside of my former bookshop - so we're still planning to get together to discuss Susannah Clarke's remarkable debut novel, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (great review here by Andy Sawyer on TAO). Again I've had terrific support from them and it is rewarding to know they want to continue the Book Group.
At the end of the week I was on a phone interview for a radio show in Eire and then was interviewed by a journalist from Italy and also a journalist from Germany. As if this were not enough I'm informed by a person I worked with many times over my years in the book trade that the story also made the lofty heights of the Dundee Courier! Quite a number of fellow bloggers have been continuing to mention the events on their own blogs - again I simply haven't had time to go through everyone's and post the links here (I have managed to read through them though - thank you all again for sending them).
I have now had comments on the blog and direct emails from every continent on our little wired planet with the exception of Antarctica (the penguins will be preparing for the Antarctic winter so will have little time for emailing) and the story has gone through a number of languages - it really is quite remarkable.
a truly cracking book indeed. Anyway good luck with the appeal, I hope all goes well, I continue to watch with interest. it's good to see how many papers have picked up the story and reported it well. I'm never surprised when people do petty or stupid things such as sacking someone for having a blog. I am pleasently surprised however, as well as given new hope, when people gather in support of someone or something like this.
ReplyDeletematt - lowkeyknight on lj
Joe- of course you may choose not to take advantage of it (ie, by applying immediately to employment tribunal if your first appeal fails), but Waterstone's does offer two stages of internal appeal.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, hope it won't come to that. Good luck on 25 January.
Bill McComish
w_mccomish@yahoo.com
Oh yes we wrote about you alright!
ReplyDeleteIve chanced upon some fools who were lambastin and mockin you for your current plight...i hope you dont post their links!
I know you'll be writin bout the results of ya appeal...
From Singapore and soon Melbourne...im behind you all the way!
:O
Give 'em hell. I'm not going anywhere near Waterstones or HMV. Keep smiling, and good luck!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the appeal. I've been curious about something, though...after all this, and everything Waterstone's has done and put you through, do you still want to work there? I mean, that is what the appeal is about, right? You were wrongly terminated and would like your old job back?
ReplyDeleteAnd in regards to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, a fantastic book. I just finished reading it a week or so ago. Took me a few months to get through it, but it was difficult to find time to read.
If your group does get together to discuss it, I'd be curious as to your thoughts.
i'm reading that book right now and am loving it. good luck with your appeal. i read about you and your *dangerous* blog on the guardian's site and am rooting for you. straight from the westcoast in vancouver, bc, canada!!!
ReplyDeleteI read about the case in the Il Mercurio of Valparaiso Chile. The words Blogger de Edimburgo kind of sprang out the page at me.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Strange... is a great read. I've since also read a short story by Clarke about Wellington misplacing his horse. V good.
ReplyDeleteJust a little note to say please say Ireland(or republic of Ireland) not Eire, unless your whole sentence is in Irish. I know that the oficial constituional name is "Eire, or in English Ireland" but it often seems Oirish when used in an English statement. After all you didn't say a journalist from Deutschland or Italia.
It is a pet peeve, probably brought on from hearind certain NI politicians refer to us as "the south" "the free state/Eire" and "the 26 counties". It sounds petty, I know, but what the hell, I have the right to be petty.
Urgh, this comment has gone on for far too long. Good luck with the appeal and whatnot.
Just a little note to say please say Northern Ireland(or Ulster), unless your intended meaning is purely geographical, not political.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pet peeve, probably brought on from hearing certain RoI commentators refer to us as "the north", "the Orange statelet" or "the occupied six counties". It sounds petty, I know, but what the hell, I have the right to be petty.
Best
Floreat Ultonia
It was actually a Dublin-based radio station I was interviewed for. I referred to Eire in much the same way O often refer to Scotland as Caledonia - thought I was showing Celtic fraternity! No insult intended, obviously. I normally refer simply to 'the Republic' in conversation, since everyone in Scotland knows what that means, but I thought it wouldn't be as clear to readers outside the British Isles.
ReplyDeleteJoe :-)
Nah I wouldn't regard it as an insult to say Eire, just as I said a pet peeve. Not too sure what the comment after mine was about, seeing as neither I, nor you, mentioned Ulster at all.
ReplyDelete'Floreat Ultonia' explained (albeit facetiously) why some politicians (and others) in Northern Ireland refer to the Republic of Ireland as they do. As was obvious from the context. It wasn't a dig at you personally.
ReplyDelete'Free State', btw is used largely by older people- on both sides in NI- rather than exclusively by unionists.
To me, not coming from Ireland, 'Ireland' is the name of the whole island, Northern Ireland is the occupied part, occupied by the English, -sure, along time ago, but 'occupied' is 'occupied', however long ago. To me,'Eire' is free Ireland, a sovereign state. Unlike Northern Ireland.
ReplyDeleteGood luck tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering what will happen to the manager that fired you though, as he seems to have caused Waterstones name to become mud and done far more to bring them into disrepute than he possibly could have imagined.
Never heard of the book - might have to buy it, not from
Waterstones though :)
To me, coming from Ireland, 'Republic of Ireland' is the name of one part of the island, 'Northern Ireland' is the other. Northern Ireland is broadly 'occupied' (you mean 'inhabited') by the Northern Irish, a large majority of whose ancestors have lived there for generations, many for centuries. Both parts of Ireland are part of sovereign but separate countries, and both are equally if not self-evidently free.
ReplyDeleteBut maybe your non-Irish correspondent knows better, eh?
PS Hope the appeal went well Joe.
For'Anonymous', FBill, as ever you are 'rewriting'history as the Puppet state has been occupied/inhabited since the Planters were imposed there 400 yrs.or so ago.
ReplyDeleteSince it was an Illegal occupation, I'd save further talking out of yer anal aperture & accept the real indigenous population don't want you, Unless .......you Integrate!
Ireland is One Country;About time the puppet-staters realised this!
Mr.Dav!