How a Tweet Cost me $40,000

If it can happen to me, it can happen to you… keep your social media clean.

So how did I lose an enormous amount of money to a tweet, exactly?

It all started with my applications for various graduate assistant positions to universities I had been accepted into this past spring.

I was interviewing for the position of Sports Marketing Assistant for a small Christian university located in the Deep South.

If I were to receive the position, the scholarship would equate to $40,000 (half my tuition for graduate school).

Out of a pool of 50 applicants, I received an email stating I was one of two applicants selected to be interviewed for the position. I was overjoyed by the opportunity presented for this was a school I was profoundly interested in.

The phone interview was scheduled for Thursday, March 9^th at 10:00 AM. This initially had me unsettled for this was the anniversary of the death of The Notorious B.I.G. (I have no idea how/why I knew that)

I set my alarm early to wake up and review my materials. I had a lot riding on this interview as this was the top graduate school of my choice. Not to mention, Gonazga sucked me dry of all the money I had saved up for my undergraduate degree. This was some money I could really use.

Pacing around my room, I watched the clock tick until my phone buzzed to life with a phone call.

It was my mom. She had opened my bank statement. There was no money in my account.

“You are leaving to Mexico tomorrow for Spring Break. How in the hell are you going to afford it when you are about to max out your credit card?”

This was a very hard question to answer as I had just returned from Las Vegas two days prior.

I immediately ended the conversation for that was something I did not want to be bothered with at the moment.

A few minutes later I received my expected phone call.

The interview went off to a great start! The Assistant Athletic Director conducted the interview and asked me questions about my background, interests, etc. You know, all that bullshit to make you feel less awkward while you are speaking to a complete stranger that your future fully depends on.

My interview began to get more in depth with situational questions relating to the position and its’ responsibilities. The interviewer went on to ask about social media.

“For a guy my age, I don’t know a lot about social media and I know it is a very important aspect in the sports world today. Is this something that you are familiar with and comfortable in?”

This is so up my alley! I have this in the bag… I thought.

“Yes, absolutely!” I enthusiastically responded.

“That’s what I figured,” he explained. “We did a bit of research on you before the interview and noticed you had a Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, LinkedIn,” there was a slight pause before he said, “Twitter.”

The title theme from Jaws became the anthem of my life in that moment.

duunnn dunnn… duuuunnnn duun… duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn

I had made sure all my social media was on private and clean for graduate school interviews but I had forgotten about TWITTER!

While I did obtain a Twitter account, I was hardly active on it as I had only tweeted nine times in the recent year.

My mind went numb while my heart sank. I immediately clutched the edge of my desk and stared blankly at my wall.

The interviewer explained that because this was a large and competitive scholarship, they did a bit of background research to make sure  this was going to the right person.

He was quite impressed with what he had found online: marathon runner, volunteer, various academic achievements…. and some really stupid tweets.

One of which he decided to read out loud!!!

Note: the Twitter picture shows my account as private because I immediately switched my account from public after the interview but ultimately deleted the account

 

Yes, that is the one. My $40,000 tweet.

As he read that aloud to me during the interview I didn’t know if I should laugh, cry or both!

“Coming from a Christian school, we do not tolerate the condemning of other religions,” he explained.

“Condemning?” I thought. This is something my Irish Catholic ancestors have been doing for centuries! I am relishing in my ancestry!!!!

He also alluded to other tweets where I reprimanded the president and his staff. I assumed he was referring to the tweet where I mentioned something along the lines of, “Sean Spicer looks like my big toe #SpiceyToe”

The interviewer wanted to give me the opportunity to “explain” myself.

Explain myself. What is there to even explain in a situation like this?

That I came out of my blackout not during mass, but at least four hours prior. And why isn’t this man giving me credit for actually waking up and going to mass while I am in Vegas? Clearly I am dedicated to my faith and Christ Almighty, dammit!!!

Instead of speaking my true thoughts, I immediately turned on my Public Relations skills and went into crisis communication mode.

“This is not an accurate representation of who I am as a person,” I explained. “This was meant to be a joke, yet I understand how this could misrepresent myself and what I stand for to those who don’t know me. I apologize for this tweet and will use this situation as a life lesson.”

The interviewer responded that it was important to the University to have a person with good moral standards and open to all religions to represent the Athletic Department (which I completely agree with) and they would not tolerate that kind of behavior in person and on social media.

That was essentially the conclusion of the conversation and that disastrous phone call.

I received an email two days later stating unfortunately I did not receive the position while I was on a cruise ship to Mexico.

It was explained that the other candidate simply had more experience and was better suited. While it could have been that the other person was more qualified, I believe a large part of the selection process was due to my tweet.

Much like during the interview, I did not know if I should laugh or cry.

And to be honest, I did both!

That was only after I turned on some really depressing songs from Five for Fighting. I suggest listening to “100 Years” and “”Superman (It’s Not Easy)” when you really want to feel bad about yourself.

But I was not going to let this ruin my Spring Break trip as evident from this picture of me later in the day:

You might be thinking to yourself, “If she already got in trouble the first time for posting this, why is she doing it again?”

It’s because there are some things in life that are just too funny not to share and quite frankly, I enjoy being unapologetically myself.

Some life lessons can be so heartbreaking that literally the only thing you can do to prevent from going insane is to laugh.

That’s literally the only way I get through anything in life when I think about it.

This doesn’t go without saying that I did learn my lesson the hard way.

While maintaining a good sense of humor throughout life’s trials and tribulations are important, so are leaning from your mistakes.

 

Live well. Laugh often. Drink as much as you want to a somewhat healthy extent. But don’t fuckin tweet about it.

 

Cheers,

Erin