The McChrystal Effect: Mouthing Off To Your Boss Can Get You Fired

June 24, 2010 — -- No one, not even a high-ranking military official, can bad mouth the boss with immunity.

Dissing the guy in the corner office often has the same effect in the civilian world as it does for someone like Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

David McDowell got the ax at a credit union where he worked in Navarre, Ohio, after he was caught talking about his boss with another employee.

"In the workplace you have to be very careful who you speak to because you don't know who it will get back to," said McDowell. "It could be a small credit union like my case or a large company or it could be the [President of the United States]."

McDowell told ABCNews.com that he was fired after he told a female co-worker who had been out of work taking care of her injured son that the CEO of the company was thinking about replacing her.

"My co-worker confronted the CEO and I was fired for not addressing this with the CEO directly, even though she had been the one to commit the infraction," said McDowell. "I believed I did the right thing and still stand by it even though it cost me my job."

"I was pretty darn shocked," McDowell said of his firing. "I think that they didn't like that I was speaking up."

McDowell said that he thinks he got fired not only for the comment he made to his co-worker, but also because he had spoken up in the past about other procedures at the bank that he didn't think were working.

Lou from Dallas, Texas, said that he had to beg for his job after his manager found out that he had thrown a temper tantrum after he angrily left a meeting.

"I messed up and got frustrated and a bit angry at my office manager, so I went to my desk and threw my papers down and said a cuss word," he said. "I got called in [by my boss] and was forced to beg for my job."