Presley is frozen in her tracks and she can feel her heartbeat in her throat. She had no idea what her boss was about to say, but Presley knew she had done nothing wrong. She was just expressing herself, and women are allowed to do that, right?
The hundreds of questions racing through Presley’s mind are soon shattered by her boss’s loud voice booming throughout the fire station. “Come in,” he says, and Presley follows him, but she had no idea what was coming to her.
Presley Pritchard had a perfect life. She had an incredible job, a gorgeous home, and some fantastic friends. You see, Presley’s job was a firewoman, and it was a job she absolutely loved.
But Presley had no idea her world was about to be turned upside down.
Growing up, Presley always felt like she never really fit in. She was never one of the popular girls or pretty girls. She was just little Presley sat at the back of the classroom.
Despite this, Presley had big dreams. For as long as she could remember, she knew she wanted a job that would make a difference in someone’s life, and that job was firefighting. But little did she know this dream job would end up tearing her world in two.
When she started her career as a firewoman she was over the moon, bursting with excitement at the thought of being able to help others.
Her whole family was proud, albeit worried, but they knew she was doing something she loved. However, as Presley’s career progressed, strange things started happening.
Her male colleagues would often make remarks about Presley; talking about her appearance and her ability to work etc. They would also flirt with her and seem angry whenever Presley rejected them.
Presley just dismissed their behavior as a typical man’s behavior. She had three brothers so she knew what men could be like. But Presley had no idea what was coming.
Being a firefighter requires a lot of physical activity so Presley became a total gym-goer. She constantly worked out in order to be in tip-top shape for her job, but Presley didn’t mind. She loved the way she felt after a workout.
Soon, Presley started to share gym selfies and workouts on her social media pages, which seemed harmless at first. But she never expected that these innocent pictures would turn her world upside down.
Soon enough, Presley’s followers increased massively, and Presley was loving all the attention her posts were receiving. People all over the globe had taken an interest in this beautiful firefighter.
But it wasn’t just people worldwide paying attention to Adrienne. Her colleagues had started paying attention too.
Gaining more and more followers by the minute, Presley started to upload photos at least once a day. She didn’t see any conflict with her firefighter job though, she made sure she gave her job 101% in the day, and then on a night, she used her social media as a place to unwind from a long day.
It was just a bit of fun, right? Presley had no idea how wrong she was.
It was a warm summer evening when Presley was at her local gym, testing out their latest swimming pool. Her good friend Roxy was there too, and the two friends had spent the past two hours gossiping while working out.
“Here, let me snap a pic of you, you look good!” said Roxy, before picking up her phone. “Ok,” replied Presley with a smile. Roxy snapped a pic and sent it to Presley to post on her Instagram. Presley uploaded it without a second thought, but she was soon going to regret it.
The following day, Presley arrived at the fire station ready to start her shift. Today was going to be a good day, Presley could just feel it. However, when she walked inside the station, everybody’s eyes were on her.
What was going on? Why was everybody staring? Suddenly, she saw her boss and he indicated her to come into his office. And a terrible feeling hit the pit of her stomach.
Presley tried to calm herself down by reassuring herself that the reason for this sudden meeting could be anything. But she couldn’t stop the hundreds of questions that ran through her mind.
Presley waited patiently for her boss to tell her his news. She was normally an optimistic and hopeful person but she had no idea what was coming.
“I’m sorry Presley, but we’re going to have to fire you,” said her boss, in a stern tone. Presley’s mouth dropped and her heart started to race. What was going on?
“I’m confused,” she said. “Have I done something wrong?” The boss looked at another fireman in the room. “Take a look at this,” he said, before handing Presley his phone.
Turned out the fire department was firing Presley because of a picture of her in a bikini that she posted to her Instagram. According to her superiors, the pictures were “too provocative” for a female firefighter.
Presley could feel her blood boil. This whole situation made her sick to her stomach. But she wasn’t going to stand for this. She was going, to tell the truth about everything.
A few months after getting fired, Presley filed a complaint against her former workplace and she even sued them for lost wages, time, and the stress she had endured the past few months.
But that wasn’t all that Presley was going to do to the company she spent the past three years with. She knew she had to take them down, for good.
Presley then went on to claim she had experienced sexual misconduct numerous times while working there. Her male colleagues were allowed to post pictures of themselves topless, so why wasn’t she?
But how would the fire department react to Presley’s life-altering accusations?
Although Presley claimed that her former workplace doesn’t have a social media policy, the fire department begs to differ.
They claimed that Presley “posted a photo of herself at the scene of an accident, which was a misuse of taxpayer money.” Still to this day, the case hasn’t been resolved. But what are your thoughts? Should she have been fired for her “provocative” photos?
