Ah, the hazards of social media and attempting to do business with Fed Ex if you don’t want to live in Memphis, Tennessee.
I’m a fan of Twitter, a profoundly simple way to have semi-
engaged conversations with hundreds of people at once. A never-ending flow of “Tweets” (140 character messages that answer the question “What are you doing?”) about what people feel, think and do are popping up every minute of every day. With hundreds of thousands of participants, including representatives from major corporations, there’s an audience for any given Tweet.
Apparently, some folks hanging out at Twitter believe they can understand someone’s intentions and ascertain their professional worth from reading a 140 character Tweet. This is what happened to a fellow Tweeter, Mr. Andrews, who was en route to pitch digital media services to a group of Fed Ex employees in Memphis.
Being an individual, with an individual mind that’s capable of forming individual preferences, Mr. Andrews posted a Tweet that said:
True Confession but I’m in one of those towns where I scratch my head and say “I would die if I had to live here!.
An employee at Fed Ex, who ironically was probably tweeting on the job (I suppose for the betterment of the company), escalated the tweet up the chain of command at Fed Ex. Apparently, some natives in Memphis take other people’s impressions of their city very, very 
personally. The powers that be at Fed Ex were so personally offended about Mr. Andrews seemingly not wanting to live in Memphis (there’s really no way to determine if he was indeed referring to the entire city of Memphis); they in turn found it appropriate to attack Mr. Andrew’s professional character and reputation. Fed Ex even forwarded the Tweet to the chain of command and Mr. Andrew’s company.
Think about this for a moment.
Nothing negative was said about Fed Ex. Nothing was said about the good people who call Memphis home. There weren’t any negative comments shared about Fred Smith, the founder of founder of Fed Ex, or any Fed Ex employees. Yet, someone at Fed Ex, presumably one of their great leaders, sent a letter to Mr. Andrews scolding him for expressing he wouldn’t want to call Memphis home (again, there’s no way to know if the 140 characters were actually about the city of Memphis as a whole) .
Think about this.
Fed Ex executives personally and publicly attacked a man’s professional character because they thought he said he wouldn’t want to live in Memphis. They “feel it’s inappropriate” to say you don’t want to live in Memphis. While they admit the area around the airport is kinda funky (my words not theirs), they go on to defend the efforts that are underway to make Memphis a better place. And this has what to do with one’s ability to provide digital media services to Fed Ex?
It seems Tom Hank’s character in Castaway was completely Hollywood.
The most comical part of Fed Ex’s response to Mr. Andrews is the admission that they didn’t know what prompted his comments about not wanting to live in Memphis. So they reacted, and attacked this man’s professional character without any effort to understand what he meant? And I thought executives were mature, inspiring type of individuals, with a talent for leveraging different opinions to provide a better product or service… you know, leaders.
Do Fed Ex executives believe their reactionary response was appropriate, professional or even logical? What if Mr. Andrews wasn’t even talking about the entire city of Memphis? Do they even know?
Perhaps this provides some insight into why their employees have had to take a 5% pay cut (this was twisted into the letter to Mr. Andrews as well). My impression of Fed Ex is that you must be, think, and act in a way that validates the egos in power in order to do business with them. There are probably hundreds of Fed Ex employees with phenomenally profitable and job-saving ideas that’ll never see the light of day because of the censorship that seemingly prevails. This situation so clearly illustrates why so many people hate their jobs.
Relevant Simply Do Youisms
- If you truly love a thing, you’re unaffected by another’s opinion. What is it about Mr. Andrews that made his personal preferences so powerful to the folks at Fed Ex?
- If you’ve accepted your Self (or your city, shoes, car, etc.) you’ll be unmoved when someone else doesn’t. What’s the real fear of the Fed Exers? Do they believe people won’t want to move there to work for them if Mr. Andrews (or anyone else) doesn’t like Memphis?
The essence of simply doing you lies in your ability to be comfortable with who you are.. and where you live.
Well, the damage is done; I’ll never have a job at Fed Ex.
I don’t want to live in Memphis. I hope FedEx doesn’t ban me from paying them to deliver my letters and packages because I’m not fond of their town. It’s not the crime, commercial decay or the prostitutes (I never associated these things with Memphis until Fed Ex reps painted that picture of their city in the letter to Mr. Andrews). I
Now, that's where I want to live.
Come to think of it, Fed Ex had absolutely nothing positive to say about Memphis in that letter to Mr. Andrews. Hmmmm. This must explain their extreme defense. It seems Mr. Andrews tapped into an insecurity these folks have about their city. Don’t you hate when someone shares something you secretly believe, but don’t want to admit or face?
What’s good Memphis?
Fed Ex has left such a repressive, flat image in my mind – my impression can’t be right. I’m sure Memphis has wonderful pockets of creative diversity, blah strip-mall infested suburbia and crappy neighborhoods around the airport just like every other U.S. city. Let’s show Memphis some love by sharing what makes it unique and fabulous!
They say Memphis is “funky, fun and fresh” over at memphistravel.com - now my interest has really peaked.
Do you have a dream of living in Memphis?
Does Memphis provide the space and vibe that best supports you doing you?
If so leave a comment telling us what’s good about Memphis.
Oh, and here’s a link to the letter Fed Ex wrote to Mr. Andrews.
Simply do you.
5 Comments
The whole time I was reading this I just kept saying over and over…You’ve GOT to be kidding me! What a mess! Thanks for letting us know! Who knows what other companies or cities you cant tweet about, right!
Worst of all is the fact that Mr Andrews (in his own defense) was reacting to an individual intolerant event that occurred after he got off the plain. We can argue that he shouldn’t lay the actions of one intolerant person at the feet of an entire (un-named!!) town, district, city, or state… but that’s not the point here.
I agree with you, the Fed Ex employee over-reacted and he over-reacted in Public. Yowza. In trying to complain about Mr. Andrews, they made themselves look bad. No win.
Nice post Kimberley. I wouldn’t want to work for Fed Ex either.
You know what….after reading your post and re-reading the FedEx employee’s letter, I realized something…Keyinfluencer should have just replied, “No, you actually misinterpret my post.” Because clearly, that’s what happened. Keyinfluencer’s post said “place” and at the time, he happened to be in Collierville, TN. ‘nough said in my book. dude got it all wrong and should shut it.
We need to look at the cause here – racial intolerance. Mr. Andrews did absolutely nothing wrong. Frankly, we need to hear it when this kind of trash occurs so we can continue to work against it. A great and thought-provoking post, thanks.
Brilliantly put.
What a sobering reminder to take a few minutes, step back, evaluate before sending out a letter that the entire world might eventually see.
True leadership is also in the ability to put things into perspective. The fact that the 140 character message was taken completely out of context, twisted into a warning/explanation of pay cuts, is further proof to me that no one needs a social media expert on their side now more than Fed Ex does.