Monday, March 3, 2008

URGH

So I was just online doing that stupid google your own name thing (oh, come on, we all do it). And I found out there's another person with my exact name in Chesnee, SC! Hello, other Shelly! And then I googled my maiden name. (Really, I was trying to find out how hard/ easy it is to find this blog. I didn't find it.) And I found a person with my maiden name who is an event planner in Hawaii. I cannot begin to tell you how jealous I was for a split second. I mean, an event planner in Hawaii?! How fucking cool is that?! I have always wanted to go to Hawaii. Wow.

And then....Then, I found my salary information from when I worked for a US Congressman. Yep, my. actual. salary. Posted online. I still want to throw up.

14 comments:

TSintheC said...

throw up because you can't believe how well paid you were or how underpaid you were?

Tess said...

SHUT UP! GAH! That's terrible. I once Googled and old boyfriend and found his campaign contribution to Rudy Guiliani. WTF?

Shelly said...

Hot - just throw up that information that personal is out there. (Says the girl who writes a blog under her own name.) I don't know. It just made me feel weird that someone else had put my salary out there without my knowledge with my whole, real name attached to it. I'm so glad I only worked there 4 months.

Shelly said...

Tessie, thank you! Eww, Rudy Guiliani? What were thinking when you dated him? But then, at least one of my exes would probably contribute to Ron Paul.

kirida said...

I don't know about federal employees, but state employee salaries (at least in Washington, because that's where my google-fu ends) are public information.

Also, I googled my exboyfriend and found him on Myspace. And he posted his height as 3 inches taller than he actually is.

Shelly said...

Hey Mona, yeah, that's what it was. Something about "transparency in government" or something. I can see the logic, I guess, now that I've had time to calm down. It was just a real shocker to see that out there. I've lived so long in the private sector that having even a small portion of my life become public knowledge was shocking to me. Well, I already knew that a life in politics wasn't for me, but that certainly clinched it!

And that is hilarious about your ex inflating his height by 3 inches! Wonder what else he inflates? ; )

d e v a n said...

Yikes! Weird that your salary was out there!
I google myself to see if I can find my blog too. lol

Jess said...

That is a little upsetting. I would not appreciate having information like that just sitting there, online, for the world to see.

Shelly said...

Hey devan, yeah, I'm still not terribly happy about it. I can sort of see the argument of "transparency in government", though. Just not me. That's why I'm glad I'm out.

Heehee. Well, that's part of the point of being anonymous, isn't it?

Shelly said...

Hey jess, yeah, still not thrilled. The fact that it has my full name attached was the part I liked least. Why couldn't it be job title - salary? Why did it have to be name, job title, salary?

Alice said...

ewww. i wouldn't like that either.

the further i get out of college, the fewer things with my name are still left in googlespace... it's relieving.

Laura said...

There are millions of people with my name out there, which is why I never felt too "exposed" on my blog. Although now, I sometimes wonder. I've googled and found some very "unfortunate" stuff written about the real me.

Shelly said...

Hey Alice,
Yeah, there's some old college stuff about me out there, too, and I knew about all of that. I expected to find all of it. (All tame, all boring, all getting to be about 10 years old.)

Shelly said...

Hey Laura, That's a hard one. I've never had much of an Internet presence. This blog is really the first thing I've done. I'm trying to be really careful, like using only my first name, and not using my family's names. I can imagine it's a shock to look back years later and see things you've written or things others have written. Or in your case, things others have written who don't know you and don't know the whole story and make unfortunate unassumptions. My heart goes out to you, friend.