sat in on termination this morning

[Dominic]

I actually enjoy firing people when they deserve it. In the film business I've fired (and been fired) many times. It comes with the territory.

[GambleGamble]

Ill agree with Dominic....

...there is nothing more satisfying then s-canning someone who has a total and utter disregard for there job, and makes no attempt to better themselves at it...

...I understand in some industries it is difficult to gauge someones ability to handle there job but in a cut and dry position where its based on performance goals or output expected and that person can't, either because they can't meet the minimum working standards, or because they know its just something to put money in there pockets temporarily...

...just rememebr most of the time the person you are firing did it to themselves, and even when I had to clear out an office because it was closing, the only people to blame were the employees who didnt meet standards set by the company...and those thay were doing what they were supposed to were given good/great recommendations and got jobs that paid equal or better...

...so dont ever feel bad, how would you like to be fired because you wouldnt fire someone...

[Oski]

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I know this is kind of pedestrian by 2+2/OOT standards being as nobody went postal (or even cried), but it was a new thing for me.

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It's always the guys who go quietly and calmly that you have to watch out for.

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In December 1999, I worked at an Oakland law firm near Lake Merritt. We had a very strange male secretary (temp) who was definately going to get fired.

Before that happened, however, he was reported headed towards the office building (the Ordway building for those familiar with the area) waving a gun and threatening people on the lake path.

He was shot in the leg by police. He was found with $3,000 cash, some drugs, and a "hit list". He was yelling that his bullets wouldn't fit his gun.

Turns out he had a .22, but his ammo was .38!

- Anyhow, from the hospital, this guy actually send a request for a recommendation so that he could get another job!

- We actually had to have a meeting to discuss what we were allowed to tell prospective employers about this guy. I suggested we tell them to just look at the front page of the Oakland Tribune for December xx, 1999.

[Leaky Eye]

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Today, another department's manager asked me to sit in on a termination as sort of a witness.

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Wtf. This is what HR is for...

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On one hand, it was an awesome sense of power

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I think you better learn quickly just how little power you were exercising there.

[MicroBob]

blarg - wow. that really sucks. I would hate to ever have to be in on something like that with a nice person who desperately needs the money. wow wow wow.

managers "in the mood for a firing" is just sucky.


I have been fired once, it was by a small organization and the president/owner pretty much liked to fire one person a month. Yes, the president was a woman. Make of that what you will.

I didn't see it coming in the least though. Was told my job was totally safe or that if they had problems with me they would certainly work with me to try to straighten them out because they don't want to let any more from their staff go.
The others who had been fired were told 1-million times that they needed to do this or that or the other thing and simply never did it. etc etc.

A few weeks later, without being talked to at all about any problems or anything, I was fired.
I was a bit shaky because I was so surprised but I was actually much more composed and cool about it than I ever would have expected.

Almost all my co-workers liked me and vice-versa.
We all went out for Margaratias. They seemed more freaked by it than I was.

[adanthar]

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I actually enjoy firing people when they deserve it. In the film business I've fired (and been fired) many times. It comes with the territory.

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stories please. especially if they're the 'he can't get it up and breaks down' kind.

[Hopey]

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Almost all my co-workers liked me and vice-versa.
We all went out for Margaratias. They seemed more freaked by it than I was.

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This kind of thing kills companies. If you truly weren't a bad employee, but were just fired to "send a message" to the rest of the employees, it will inevitably have the opposite result than what management desired. People start realizing that no matter how hard they work, they can still get fired ("just look at what happened to Microbob!")

If a company shows no loyalty to its employees, its employees will show no loyalty back. It's a total morale killer to see good employees getting fired for no reason.

[Blarg]

I agree. But management has to be smart enough to realize and value loyalty in employees, and how much more a loyal employee will bring to the job than a disloyal one -- and how much less he is likely to steal and sabotage, etc.

But many managers and owners just believe that a climate of fear is what brings the best out of people. They look at employees as people who are not quite human and don't function according to normal and quite obvious human motivations, such as giving and getting tit for tat. Instead they get complicated schemes in their minds of how to "manage" them, and feel clever for it.

Actually, what happens is the only people who stick around are those who have no ambition and/or no better alternatives than a terrible job because they're lousy workers, or else people with the sole ambition of sucking up and looking good doing it. So pretty soon you have nothing but the worst employees possible, and some sycophants to create havoc they can profit from and blow up your ego that you're one pretty smart fellow. These yes-men and toadies you will see as clear-headed hard workers with good people skills. *sigh* Sooner or later, everyone worth a damn will leave or get lucky by being fired, and you'll have exactly the employees you deserve.

[Orangeheat]

My first one was scary, but you do what has to be done for the organization.

The employees who are blatantly incompetent are easier - but I still don't like it. I can't block out my soft side and the rest of the day I generally think about how someone lost their livelihood and how it would feel to be on the other side of the desk.

The worst are the ones who didn't do anything wrong - but have to go for business reasons.

Orange

[youtalkfunny]

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Actually, what happens is the only people who stick around are those who have no ambition and/or no better alternatives than a terrible job because they're lousy workers, or else people with the sole ambition of sucking up and looking good doing it. So pretty soon you have nothing but the worst employees possible, and some sycophants to create havoc they can profit from and blow up your ego that you're one pretty smart fellow. These yes-men and toadies you will see as clear-headed hard workers with good people skills. *sigh* Sooner or later, everyone worth a damn will leave or get lucky by being fired, and you'll have exactly the employees you deserve.

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That's an astonishingly dead-on description of a place where I used to work. Not coincidentally, the only employer to ever fire me.

I now work for a competitor, and I speak to customers ALL THE TIME who remember me from the old place, and are reminded when they see me that they don't business with that place any more.