The receipt from a few euros for a taxi ride – in all likelihood – you will be reimbursed promptly by Fincantieri. In a Sabrina Di Stefano the company did not forgive the attempted scam. So that request made to a Roman taxi driver to inflate the invoice cost the now ex-manager of the shipbuilding group very dearly, fired after being recognized in the video shot by the taxi’s internal camera, which went viral on social media.
Anonymous complaints
The incriminating race dates back to May, but the video was released just three weeks ago on the Instagram page «Welcome to Favelas» (June 7). From that moment on, it took Fincantieri little to trace Sabrina Di Stefano, an employee from Roseto, Abruzzo, a graduate of Bocconi University in Milan, a historic militant of Forza Italia – in the image of his parents X and Facebook profiles he appears next to the late political leader Silvio Berlusconi – as well as regional coordinator of the pro-Knight movement «Silvio’s Army». To ignite the case within the company – with the mechanism of whistleblowing – a flurry of anonymous reports that identified the passenger in the taxi as the manager. Fincantieri collected the complaints, reconstructed the episode and in no time arrived the dismissal. The attempted fraud, moreover, would have undermined the company’s relationship of trust towards him, which also opened an audit to understand whether there had been similar cases in the past. And he must not have even digested Di Stefano’s aggressive attitude towards the taxi driver.
The argument, between swear words and insults
But let’s get back to the video. The images filmed inside the white car show the final stages of the taxi ride: Di Stefano pays by credit card and then asks: «Can you give me the receipt? But can you do it for me for 20?”. The answer is blunt: “No, I’ll give it to you with the amount you paid me,” says the taxi driver. But she insists: “What changes you, sorry?“. And he sticks to his guns: “What does it change for you?” And here comes the attempted scam: “What they refund me something more», confesses the manager without shame. The taxi driver, however, replies: “Nothing changes for me.” So the argument starts, with insults and swear words. «It doesn’t change anything for you. That is, stay the way you are.“, attacks the manager from Abruzzo who in a few seconds goes wild: “I understand that you are a frustrated person who drives people around… keep your wed frustration...». And he gets out of the taxi, slamming the door. The taxi driver’s reaction is calm and ironic, complimenting her with a hint of irony: «You are very nice, polite. Have a good day».
Reactions on the web
A bad meeting, the manager must have thought. A pointless discussion. A failed attempt to “top up” the salary at the expense of Fincantieri. And instead – power of the web – the one received from less than 20 euros cost her her job. Sabrina Di Stefano’s social media profiles are now private, while online her keyboard lions go wild in merciless comments: «People parked by politics to suck public money», «A public manager who knows how much she earns. Shame!», «She is certainly a real vulgar!», «We are talking about 20 euros and for so little you make a miserable figure». From media pillory to dismissal, a question of clicks.
