PokerStars sack Dale “Daleroxxu” Philip and Lee Davy stirs up the debate to ask if their decision was warranted or was the Team Online Pro harshly dealt with?
Do you think PokerStars were right to sack Dale Daleroxxu?
Gathering data through the forums, his personal blog and social media space, it seems that the overriding view from the poker playing community is that Daleroxxu was harshly treated and that didn’t come as a surprise to me. I expected the troops to rally around one of their own.
When it comes to sacking people, I can, unfortunately, say I have a lot of experience. I have also done a lot of stupid and regrettable things in my life.
So here’s my two penny’s worth.
Incase you were wondering, Dale Daleroxxu, has been a member of PokerStars Team Online for a number of years now. He had six months left to run on his current contract when, as part of his terms of employment, he travelled to Marbella to play in the UKIPT/Estrellas Poker Tour.
After being eliminated from the Main Event, he decided to join the crowds and watch the Spain v Holland World Cup match at the hotel where there was a free bar.
Spain went one-nil up, and when Robin van Persie headed in the equalizer, Daleroxxu got up from his sun lounger and started to make gestures to the Spanish fans.
On his personal blog, Daleroxxu explains that his gestures are known as get it round ye’ and it is a common term used in Scotland to mean take that!
It seems that the Spanish fans didn’t take too kindly to the gestures and whilst some of them threatened him with physical violence, others complained to PokerStars about his actions and the largest online poker room in the world decided to terminate his contract on the spot.
When I was 18 years old, I was called into the Area Traincrew Manager’s office and told that I was being selected to work on a special project. I was over the moon.
That night I went out to a work’s function, got drunk and don’t remember that much of the night. The next day I was called into the same office and told that my service on the special project was no longer required.
It appears that the drunken version of me was not so very special at all.
I remember complaining bitterly about how harshly I had been treated. I wasn’t even on duty. I was enjoying myself in the privacy of my own time. Everyone I complained to and said I was in the right, and the company was in the wrong.
Why?
I was asking these people specifically because I wanted to get this answer. This is what humans do. We have being told we are wrong, so we go to those we know who will support us and they don’t disappoint.
This has happened in Dale’s case.
I have acted out the same gesture to a lot of people since the incident occurred and asked them all to tell me what it means. I have asked people of different ages, different nationalities and not all of them played poker.
The feedback was unanimous.
I was saying, “Fuck you!”
To argue otherwise is a little like Luis Suarez found not guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra—where he called him a negro five times—because it’s commonplace to say that word in his home country of Uruguay.
As a fervent football fan, if anybody gives me that gesture whilst I am feeling rage and disappointment at conceding a goal then that only increases my levels of rage and anger.
It’s being antagonized.
Isn’t this how most acts of football violence start?
One person taunts another and the other one caves his head in?
Daleroxxu is not only a representative of PokerStars; he was wearing their colors during the incident. He has a responsibility to be an ambassador for the company who pay his wages and it seems like there is no on and off duty as far as his work is concerned.
Whether or not he should be sacked depends on his terms and conditions.
In my previous role, you could only sack someone on the spot; if they had undertaken an act that could be construed as gross misconduct. There was a list of the different acts that could fall under this umbrella; they were all contained within the company’s disciplinary documentation and shared with all employees.
If this had happened in my former business, then it would have been construed as gross misconduct, because it looks like he is telling a customer to fuck off. It doesn’t matter if Daleroxxu’s explanation is an honest one; all that matters is how it affected their customers.
It also doesn’t help Daleroxxu’s case that the Rational Group are making decent headway into the Spanish business and had only just tied up a deal to offer online blackjack and roulette to Spanish customers.
What was the name of the Hue’s Corporation classic?
Ah, yes…Rock the Boat.
The million dollar question is this…
Do PokerStars have a disciplinary procedure that caters for on the spot sackings and if so was Daleroxxu made aware of this procedure?
If he was then I am afraid I have to buck the trend and say he deserved to be sacked. If he wasn’t made aware of such documentation, then if I was Daleroxxu I would be filing a complaint for unfair dismissal.
That’s what I think.
How about you?
