Would you add a boss or supervisor as a friend on FB?

Backstory, I got into a political argument with someone on FB, not one of my friends. I then found out that the person is a supervisor at my husband's place of work (oops!) and my husband ended up deleting the entire post rather than risk it getting any worse than it already was (yes, once I found out who he was I stopped posting, but it was a little late at that point).

I've never had a boss or supervisor as a FB friend, and even with co-workers I only added a few people who I would actually talk to outside of work.  My husband is at the other end of the spectrum, if you end up waiting in line at the supermarket next to him he'll probably hit you up for an add.  

Is it normal to add supervisors and bosses to FB?  And if you do, do you find yourself holding your tongue on political issues?  Obviously I would never speak my mind at work, I am of the thought that you can believe whatever you want in your own time (whether it be liberal views or conservative views), but at work you leave that sh*t at home and stay neutral.  This is one of the reasons why I, personally, like to have a clear delineation between work and home.  Am I in the minority with this?

Nope. I do not friend them. I am friends with a former boss but only after he left the company. My current boss is my friend on FB but we were friends before he became my boss so I can't remove him, it would be awkward. Also I keep my political comments as civil as possible, my office is full of closeted Trumpists. Can't trust them.  

Also when Obama won in 2008, I had his pictures, speeches, slogans, bumper stickers all over my cubicle. Some people are still mad about it to this day.  

I think if you post photos of family and food once in awhile, it's safe to have work superiors. If you post very frequently or more than that type of content, or a lot of things they wouldn't be interested in (local issues), I would say no.

ElizMcCord said:

 Also I keep my political comments as civil as possible,   

I didn't resort to name calling or cursing at the guy, but before I knew who he was I did ask him when I could expect a rational and intelligent response.  

apple44 said:

I think if you post photos of family and food once in awhile, it's safe to have work superiors. If you post very frequently or more than that type of content, or a lot of things they wouldn't be interested in (local issues), I would say no.

Yeah, my husband had posted a political meme on his FB page.  Admittedly, he hadn't fact checked the meme before posting it, so the premise of it was wrong.  But the Trump supporters (when you have 400+ friends on FB you're bound to have more than a few of those) used it as a jumping off point to start screaming about immigration, why immigrants of previous generations were "different" than the ones today (no actual reason given, by the way) and how illegal immigration is causing a huge financial strain on the country, etc. etc. 

I would never allow a Facebook friend from my employer. And my Facebook friends are with only a very small number of friend of friend exceptions people I have met in person. 

If I want to say something crazy or get into a fight I will do it here

I would not want to be friends with a an employer or a boss.  I don't even like to be friends with my co-workers, but felt I had to when they sent me friend requests. It still makes me a bit nervous.  It might be OK if you just post pictures of your kids or cat, but I share strong political beliefs and they are not the norm where I work. Probably, I should be posting upder a pseudoname since I may need another job sometime and they might take a look.  

Gilgul said:

I would never allow a Facebook friend from my employer. And my Facebook friends are with only a very small number of friend of friend exceptions people I have met in person. 

If I want to say something crazy or get into a fight I will do it here

I have no issue with arguing on FB with people, I don't need to be anonymous to do that.  Hell, I'll even do it face to face. I can be an opinionated b*tch like that, and don't pretend otherwise.  The reason I prefer anonymity here is because with a group of people I don't know this large  I just feel it is somewhat safer to not have my actual name and information out there. I just reign it in when I'm at work.  That's different, I'm being paid to do a job and to be professional, not to argue politics. 

Oh, and to REALLY stir the pot?  I wholeheartedly believe in the Oxford comma, and I use TWO spaces after a period. 

You only use two spaces after 4 of 6 periods followed by another sentence in the same paragraph. So you are not consistent.

When I do a lot of editing I tend to forget to reformat it.    I'm also the queen of the run on sentence, and freely admit to rampant parentheses abuse in my informal writing.

No.

I don't think it is a good idea, no.

spontaneous said:

ElizMcCord said:

 Also I keep my political comments as civil as possible,   

I didn't resort to name calling or cursing at the guy, but before I knew who he was I did ask him when I could expect a rational and intelligent response.  

That's a pretty funny response I wish I could use it in a debate with a coworker on FB and get away with it. Unfortunately, freedom of speech is a bit of an oxymoron. It's consequences can be far reaching. 

I'm retired now, but I never would friend anyone at my place of employment.   It's a bad idea on so many levels.

spontaneous said:

I just reign it in when I'm at work.

I'm also the queen of the run on sentence ...

Ah. No wonder you reign it in.

(If I were on Facebook, comments like that would be why I'd have no friends at all.)

I do not friend anyone from my current place of employment.  Past jobs, yes, or people who no longer work there, but no current bosses or peers.

I am friended with a few of my spouse's co-workers, though.  (But spouse is not on Facebook, FWIW.)

My boss is a facebook friend of mine, and it works for us, but there are lots of situations where it wouldn't work. He doesn't post political stuff. I do, but he knows and respects my opinions, and I know and respect his, even though they're different. It's just a topic of occasional conversation, and we don't get mad at each other, so I guess we have a good rapport.

What in the world happens to people when they get on Facebook that makes them think it's ok to get into  a political argument with someone they don't even know.

Let it go, people!

Let. it. go.

I do not think that discussing politics is the issue. I wish we could do so more. The problem how vehemently people react to opposing political views these days.

If I know a colleague well enough to have a beer with them, I'm happy to FaceFriend them. Like Gilgul, I keep my politics here or sometimes on Twitter. LinkedIn is for all the others.

No.  Wait until either one of you leaves the company.

My company told all supervisors, managers, and executives to not be friends with current colleagues on FB.

never. No work friends (especially not a boss) are FB friends no matter how much I like them. Until I don't work with them anymore, then FB to keep in touch is fine

I guess the horse is out of the barn on the issue of friending bosses and supervisors.  My husband apparently has half of his co-workers and supervisors on his FB page.  He can't delete them without it being noticed.  Though when he got home last night and I apologized he said not to worry about it.  He was driving most of the day so he didn't even know half of what I wrote, but was laughing when he told me of his partner's reaction when she was reading the argument going on on his FB page.  When I told him the gist of what I had said he laughed even harder.

master_plvmber said:

What in the world happens to people when they get on Facebook that makes them think it's ok to get into  a political argument with someone they don't even know.

Let it go, people!

Let. it. go.

 

I had actually gotten into a discussion with a former co-worker of his whom I knew.  I should have known better, I remember how she thought that George W. was God's gift sent to save us from all the "damage" that Clinton had done to our country.  I remember how she even had a framed picture of George W. in her living room back.  The discussion with her got heated quickly, and the person in question whom I didn't know basically jumped in to defend her stance on the political issue.  I didn't start off arguing with a stranger, technically he started with me first.  

FWIW, both people in question weren't able to defend why they thought their position was correct other than to say "it just is."  That is when the comment about waiting for a rational and intelligent response came in.

If he wanted to, your husband could simply change his privacy settings and change what his boss can see of his Facebook posts.  You can also "unfollow" people so you don't see any annoying things they post.  They will not know their view is limited and its less dramatic than unfriending someone.

I only have one FB friend from work, but she doesn't go on much--often even suspends her account, we share political ideology, and we are friends in real life. But no, I don't think it's a good idea to friend colleagues.