Can I Get Fired For Not Being A Perfect Speller?

[iGuest 3]

I?m not a perfect speller, I can spell but not 100% perfect. At work all job tasks are never affected by my spelling, my problem is from time to time when rushing through an e-mail or trying to do too many things at the same time. Yes, I do use spell check which catches my mistakes, although there has been those where I over look the word. My boss mentioned to me about my spelling he asked me to be careful, since then he seems to talk to me in a very degrading manner. He informed me a second time, although this time he was smiling as if he were laughing at me, I felt completely degraded. I?m not a perfect speller although for the past two years I have done my job to just about perfection (only thing wrong is my spelling from time to time), CAN I GET FIRED FOR NOT BEING A PERFECT SPELLER??By the way I didn?t use spell check on this e-mal so you can actually how I spell ?)

[Giraffe355 0]

Well, of course you can get fired for anything Can you tell us what is your job?

[Mich 0]

Yes, unfortunately you can get fired for poor spelling. Since we don't know exactly what your job involves, if the e-mail is a very important aspect of your work, this can be a serious situation. Poor spelling reflects on the company you represent and your boss. If he has mentioned it to you, then if must be important to him. Perhaps you need to slow down and take the time to use spell check every time. Multi-tasking is not for everybody. It can't harm anything, and may save your job. Edited June 8, 2012 by moderator (see edit history)

[insanid 0]

Absolutely you can get fired for poor spelling. I understand what it is like to rush through typing and misspell a few words here and there, but I make a conscious effort to correct them because in my line of work, what I type is considered a legal document. If you are serious about improving your spelling, you should look into taking a English grammar college course, or maybe even a course on improving typing. Of course, the internet may also have information/tutorials for you on this as well, but if you can't spell properly, then you are not going to be able to locate the right information

[Eza 5]

My answer would be: It depends. If good spelling is essential for doing the work in a good way a habit of bad spelling can be a reason to be fired. On the other hand, if the owner of the company knew that the future employee is bad at spelling and the owner hires the new employee anyways it gets a bit more difficult to say that the lack of spelling skills is a reason to fire somebody.If somebody is not able to work with a spelling control program there is more reason to fire somebody. But the reason would be a complete lack and failure of using a common computer program.And if somebody refuses to use an easy grammar school book and a dictionary to look up the spelling of the words then there can be a lack of dedication to the job. And if somebody refuses to use a grammar teaching book and a dictionary after being told several times to improve the spelling quality of the produced pieces of text somebody can be hard headed and unable to understand the own skills. So in both cases the lack of having a good idea about the self can be a reason to loose the worker.When the problem is giving not enough attention to the spelling of the text everybody experiences this. That is not a speciality at all. Probably everybody who sends emails, writes texts and sends messages on the internet makes mistakes. It should make somebody proud to try as much as almost possible to produce almost perfect spelled texts and emails. A way to learn the own skills is to read back the texts and the emails the next day. This makes clear if enough attention is given to the spelling of the words.And being a poor speller is a reason to get treated in a degrading manner. Because probably everybody can give some more attention to the spelling of the words. The problem is not the lack of spelling skills. The problem is that there is a lack of dedication to be a more or less perfect speller.If the problem seems to be very big and if the fear of getting fired gets impressive it can be necessary to start to look for ways to solve the problem. A talk with the boss can be a start. If the boss mentioned it twice there can be a reason to have a conversation about it. Maybe the company is able to pay for a spelling course. Maybe the company can provide dictionaries. The good point will be that you show that you care and that you are willing to listen to your boss and that you try to improve. That is more important than delivering excellent and mistake free texts and emails. Although the attitude that you are willing to do your best to produce mistake free texts is important. It shows that you care about the way the customer thinks about the company. Because the problem is not your spelling skills. The problem is the bad impression a poorly spelled email, message and text makes to the customer. So if you show that you care about that the problem is half solved.

Edited November 21, 2010 by Eza (see edit history)

[sheepdog 10]

Sure you can. Your Boss has already warned you twice. You best get to using that spell checker!!!It really doesn't matter what your job is, even if a spelling mistake or typo isn't critical to a specific job, it can cause problems. And there are a lot of people that are completely annul about spelling mistakes no matter what the circumstances. If you are writing letters to the public for the company, it will make them look bad in the eyes of their customers. And if you are posting here like I am and not being a really good speller, people will just think your a dumb hillbilly and will not have a high opinion of you.