I thought I would take the evening off tonight. I got settled in and turned on the TV, which was set to CNN and Larry King Live was on interviewing Carrie Prejean about her new book.
I vaguely remember her story, which Wikipedia sums up:
Caroline Michelle “Carrie” Prejean (born May 13, 1987)[1] is an American model and former beauty queen from Vista, California. She held the title of Miss California USA 2009, and placed first runner up in the Miss USA 2009 pageant. She gained nationwide attention over her answer to a question about same-sex marriage. She was eventually dethroned on June 10, 2009, with the producers of the Miss California USA pageant citing continued alleged breach of contract issues as the reason. Prejean called those claims false, and filed a libel suit alleging that she has been discriminated against due to her religious views.[2][3] However, the legal battle between her the pageant officials was settled out of court on November 3, 2009 following the revelation of a “sex tape” involving Prejean[4].
Since it would be a shame for me to take the evening off (!)…I happened to tune in to the interview when Carrie was talking about why she was fired from her role. She made it clear that she had not been released from her contract (which involved a highly confidential settlement) because of any moral considerations. Instead, she noted that it was because she was “difficult to work with.” Hmm…
I am not an expert on her case, but further in the interview, she did make a point of saying that she hopes her book teaches other young women to be careful of what they do and that they don’t do anything they’d be embarressed about down the road.
I have some career advice for Ms. Prejean – and everyone else:
Announcing that you are “difficult to work with” on national television is not a great career move. Maybe I am going out out a limb here, but I am willing to bet that there are more people out there who would work with someone who had a lapse in judgement as a teenager than people who would like to work with a self-professed “difficult to work with” 22-year old!
Ironically, the interview continued by Carrie telling Larry King he was being “inappropriate” in his questions to her, and then she almost walked off of the set when he took a phone call that she said was not part of the agreement. (Could she have just reminded him that she was not planning to take any calls?)
To me, it looked like a career lesson. On my evening off. So – there it is for you. Don’t make a sex tape. Don’t be rude on national television. And, most importantly, do NOT announce that you were considered “difficult to work with.” This is not an asset for most jobs.
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