In January 2005 Gordon was fired by his long-term employer Waterstone's after 12 years of service for negative comments about working life at his branch in his blog.
Many were upset that a bookstore which had run campaigns celebrating the freedom of speech would try to gag their own staff in such a heavy-handed manner, especially a long-serving employee who had also represented the company favourably discussing literature on a number of media programmes over the years.
On a later appeal Gordon, with representation from his union, the RBA, was successful and it was admitted that the dismissal was wrong, although the company still disapproved of the blogging comments but acknowledged it should have been dealt with in a less severe manner.
However, by this point Gordon had been approached by comics and SF bookstore Forbidden Planet International; an amicable agreement was reached with Waterstone's.
Gordon works for Forbidden Planet International's website and, ironically, set up and maintains their popular blog as part of his duties; he is still fielding questions from individuals, law students and the media on the subject.