A UX Design “Influencer” Tried To Get Me Fired From Teaching

It is illegal to try to get someone fired using false claims

“Fred, I have a call from Human Resources on the line, they wish to speak with you, however, the matter is unrelated to your teaching here,” said the substitute teacher coordinator in a worrisome tone at the high school where I was employed as a permanent substitute special education teacher’s assistant for the 2022–2023 academic year.

As a worry wort/catastrophizer, my heart was racing as I could feel the adrenaline flood my system. My panic mode kicked in. What could it be if it had nothing to do with my teaching? Was it an interaction I had with a student? Was it an angry parent? Educators today have to watch every word they say to students due to the all-out assault on teachers on issues like race, gender, and sexuality.

I kept on telling myself “I haven’t done anything wrong. I HAVEN’T DONE ANYTHING WRONG!”

The head of HR was patched through and told me they had got a complaint from a woman in Germany who said I had an “inappropriate online interaction with her” on her Medium blog post concerning User Experience Design titled:

“Still can’t get a UX job? Give up”
Because let’s face it, you probably can’t get one because you suck”

When they said that, I knew EXACTLY who they were talking about.