I like to blog about amazing ways technology is used and I couldn’t pass up the chance to mention a great way crowdsourcing has lead to the identification and reprimand of two Domino’s employees who posted some very disturbing and disgusting videos on YouTube.

Before I continue, I want to point out that these two employees shouldn’t represent the 125,000 or so other Domino’s employees around the world. There are some great people out there working hard and acting professionally who shouldn’t have to feel the heat of this fire.

What is crowdsourcing
For those who don’t know what crowdsourcing is:

…taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call

Here’s what happened
A couple days ago, someone named “Whiteair2″ posted at least four videos to YouTube. These videos were all recorded at a Domino’s Pizza restaurant by one employee, Kristy and feature her being incredibly annoying and another employee, Michael, doing very unsanitary things with food items. At one point, he pulls down his pants and uses a sponge the way a person would use toilet paper, before cleaning a pan with it. Not long after the videos were posted to YouTube, the incident was documented on the Consumerist website, leading to far more exposure than the two employees were comfortable with. It wasn’t long before the videos were removed and the account eventually closed.

Here’s where the crowdsourcing comes in. While these rocket scientists were removing the videos from their YouTube Account, a couple Consumerist readers put their heads together and harnessed the power of the internet to find the exact Domino’s store where the events took place. Consumerist readers, Amy Wilson and whyerhead saw a Jack in the Box and a sign about change in the background of one of the videos and went to work. Searching on a name associated with the videos’ uploader and searching Google Maps for the right store and found it. Confirmation was achieved with a phone call to the store’s manager.

In less than 48 hours, Domino’s corporate was alerted to the issue and was quickly working to resolve it. Domino’s VP of Communications, Tim McIntyre, also expressed the possibility of legal action against the two employees for damages, and made clear his frustrations in an email to the Consumerist:

Our chief of security has spoken to the franchise owner this morning, who was dumbfounded, to say the least. He has told us that he will be terminating their employment today. The “challenge” that comes with the freedom of the internet is that any idiot with a camera and an internet link can do stuff like this – and ruin the reputation of a brand that’s nearly 50 years old, and the reputations of 125,000 hard-working men and women across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.

Finally, an email from Kristy
In response to all of this, one of the employees, Kristy, is reported to have sent this email to Domino’s in an attempt to smooth things over. I don’t believe her claims that it was a prank, nor do I think it matters all that much.

The gross videos
Kristy Kristy
Sent: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 1:38 AM
To: Tim McIntyre (COMM – Communicat)

I am sorry about all of this! It was all a prank and me nor Michael expected to have this much attention from the videos that were uploaded! No food was ever sent out to any customer. We would never put something like that on you tube if it were real!! It was fake and I wish that everyone knew that!!!! Michael never would do that to any customer, EVER!! I AM SOO SORRY! You see all the time of the pranks that people upload and the pranks need to seem real in order to get a laugh out of people but this prank was very very immature and I am sorry for the embarrasment that I have caused your company!

Personally, I hope the NC Board of Health revokes the food handler’s licenses of these two clowns right away. I’d hate to think they would every be able to work around food ever again.

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