How Were You Fired? 399
IanBevan asks: "A couple of years ago, the company I was working for was taken over by a larger competitor. I was told, right up until the last minute, that my development job was safe. Shortly thereafter, our illustrious team leader issued a new project plan, and I discovered that all my tasks were suddenly due to finish in about one week's time. Not being a great believer in coincidence, I asked my boss if there was 'anything he would like to tell me'. Of course, there was. Looking back this seems quite amusing now, but it could certainly have been better handled by the PHBs. I was just wondering, how have other Slashdot readers discovered that they have become 'surplus to requirements'?"
what my last job did (Score:2, Funny)
Now, the headless maniquine with my name across the chest and a knife in the book with fake blood collecting in a pool was *totally* unnecessary and maybe a little tasteleless.
Re:what my last job did (Score:2)
I'll say. I've never had an employer assault my reading material.
via P45 in the post (Score:4, Informative)
I was off sick at the time and instead of the payslip I was expecting I opened the envelope and it was my P45. It was a Saturday morning too so I had to wait until Monday before I could even speak to anyone about it.
(a P45 is the document you present to your next employer regarding the tax etc. you have paid)
Re:via P45 in the post (Score:2)
I assume from context that you're in the UK.
Is dismissing someone like that (with no notice) even legal here?
When I was laid off... (Score:2, Interesting)
My boss came to my desk and said he had to talk to me. So, I followed and in there was his boos also. I figured I was about to get laid off, since there had already been two rounds of layoffs before. So, pretty much I said when I sat down, "I'm getting laid off, right?" They nod, "We hope to have work again within a month though." I say, "Sounds good, I hope to be employed elseware within a month." The say that the layoff goes into effect at the end of the
Always request holidays BEFORE you quit. (Score:5, Interesting)
Once my replacement was adequately trained I applied for my holidays to begin the following week. On friday afternoon I handed them my resignation and walked out the door (to cries of "you can't do this to us!").
Funnily enough, one of the other employee tried to emulate my technique but did it the wrong way around (hand in resignation, then request holidays for the remaining notifivation period). Strangely they didn't grant her holiday request. :)
Of course I still had to serve them documents explaining what laws they were in breach of when they tried to screw me out of the sick pay/time-in-leiu and the penalties if I had to sic the government on them. Very typical of the scams they played.
Their response to my leaving was to fire half of the remaining staff... I felt bad about that for some time. They also demoted one of their most loyal employees to cover the gap (or at least ensure the directors wouldn't be bothered by customers) and he was so shocked that they would repay him in this way that he quit, taking about half of the companies servers with him (they were his).
Ironically the replacement I trained and I have remained good friends and our kids play together most weeks. He has just resigned from the same company with the difference that they had not let him hire/train a replacement.
Oh and they have just released an enormous update to their software. They are soooo fucked....
I love my current job and the people I work with. They respect me and I respect them. It's amazing what a difference it makes.
Q.
"We're just here to train as backups!" (Score:5, Interesting)
One random day, during the first day of a TV shoot for our primary third party client, several members of our "parent" cable station (a facility several towns away) showed up unannounced to work on the production. When asked why they were there (by the office PHB, who was as clueless as the rest of us) they said it was "to train as backups" when we were shortstaffed. Rumors started flying, and we "trained" them, which is a lot different than actual training.
The VERY NEXT DAY, the same people showed up for day two of the TV shoot, with the parent office's PHB in tow. The visiting PHB immediately called each person into our PHB's office one by one to fire them, as the "trainees" from the day before kicked us out of the studio and took over the third party production.
After everyone (including our PHB) had been fired except for myself and one full time employee, I was told I could keep my job if I was willing to commute several towns away for a one-hour "team meeting" every afternoon before driving back to my job in the regular facility -- an impossibility given my college schedule and the deteriorating condition of my car. I not-so-respectfully declined. The one remaining full-time person was told he was being kept on, at which point he quit (also not-so-repectfully). We all left the building en masse, and started helping each other look for jobs.
The end result: we all found placement elsewhere very quickly, the lucrative third party 2nd day shoot was a disaster, and the client never rented the space again -- in fact, they immediately shifted their business to a facility that one of the fired full-timers went to after the disaster. With the satellite office's primary source of revenue gone, the office was more or less shut down...which was probably the point in the first place.
Nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Read my old journal entries for how this nearly ruined my life, yay!
Re:Nice (Score:2)
Re:Nice (Score:3, Funny)
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Re:Nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Turned out that no, we never did get our money. Fucker called us in a few weeks later and asked us to continue working for free. Meanwhile he got his daughter a modeling agent, cell phone, various invitations to hoity-toity parties... a real class act.
T'ain't nothin'.
I have an association with (and that's as far as I'm gonna go here) a company which hadn't paid its employees regularly for over a year, though they were all sticking it out in hopes that things would get better. Well, the company got about $50K, just enough to make payroll for the first time in three months. The CFO was getting ready to cut checks when the CEO walked in and told him to hold up, he needed a check for $28,000 first, so the employees would have to get what was left. When the CFO inquired as to what unexpected expense had cropped up that had to be paid now, the CEO replied that his daughter had wrecked her car and he was going to buy her a new one.
The CFO threatened to blow the whistle and walk out with the entire staff, so after some heated words the CEO finally relented and let him pay the employees. It was a private company and the CEO had the legal right to take the money, but the walkout would have killed the company dead (not that it lasted much longer anyway).
Got it all from the bookkeeper who was in the room at the time this went down.
Absolutely unbelievable, but about par for the course for this particular CEO.
Re:Nice (Score:3, Interesting)
I do the following, I have my lawyer draft up an IOU signable by an officer and 1 witness. What happens is that I became a bond holder of the company, that gave me rights to assets above the shareholders. Which in many cases turned out to be a great thing. I exercised this right recently and became second in line to all the assets of a firm ( first was the IRS )
as for the right's of the ceo to take th
Locked Doors (Score:5, Funny)
So, I was escorted to the room, where the corp counsel was waiting; he went through my severance package: essentially 2 weeks salary IF I agreed to sign of saying I wouldn't sue them; I didn't, because It appeared to me that they were violating WARN
The funny part: this guy then demanded my company ID, since it was company property. "Fine", I say, "after I retrieve my personal belongings from my desk." He says I can make an appointment to come get my stuff next week. I say "fine. You can likewise make an appointment to come by my house and get your ID next week." He says, you don't understand, we need your ID, it is ours. blah blah blah. End with "You don't understand: I am not turning it over until I get my stuff. You can't make me, and you can't threaten me; what are you going to do, fire me? It's a matter of principle, and there is no room for negotiation. Besides, I intend to get my stuff, today, regardless, so you can just make this easy on both of us and avoid an ugly situation if you just let me collect my belongings, which is what you SHOULD do anyway
I was escorted to my desk to get my stuff. Who knew that they wanted it back that bad? (I was the only one that left with a box; everyone else got a laugh out of that one...)
Re:Locked Doors (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Locked Doors (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Locked Doors (Score:2)
Nope. But after seeing (former) coworkers being escorted to the door, I decided that better safe than sorry.
If I were laid off, the last thing I'd want to do is make a scene that would look like I was throwing a hissy fit. And quite frankly, unless you are willing to do that, you'll end up compliyng with the company's request that you leave inmediatly and make an appointment to retrieve your belongings.
Re:Locked Doors (Score:2)
Why wouldn't you want to make a scene over that? I damn sure wouldn't mind... if there's stuff in my office that **belongs to me** you can damn sure believe it's leaving with me, when I leave... I don't care if I
Re:Locked Doors (Score:5, Interesting)
I was "let go" a year and a half ago.
I packed my things, and as I was leaving I remembered that half of the RAM in my workstation was mine - I'd installed it after an upgrade at home.
The network admin knew this, as I'd cleared it with him and done the install in his workshop, but he hadn't come in yet.
I mentioned it to my escort and got a noncommital grunt.
I was peeved, but not much, and I let it go.
Good thing, because eight months later I got a call from the same company - they needed someone to take over their core program and my name had come up.
Now I'm back, making twice the money, and because of the wording of our agreement I own every LOC I produce.
That didn't seem like a big deal (to either party) when I took the job, but now I'm rewriting the entire application.
Don't burn bridges when you can bomb cities.
Re:Locked Doors (Score:2)
Only thing I had there was my keyboard, mouse, and headphones
Like I said, it was a matter of principle
Re:what is WARN? please define (Score:4, Informative)
Sorry. Should have made that a link in the original.
Only fired once (Score:2)
Not fired, more like... abandoned. (Score:5, Funny)
1) A very polite policeman at the door.
2) No electricity.
3) No management people.
4) Confused employees.
5) An envelope at my desk with a check for 1/2 of my pay.
6) On the memo line, it read: "WYSIWYG"
7...
8) no profit.
Virtual +1 hilarious mod point to you (Score:2)
Restructured... (Score:2, Insightful)
I was told that it was due to restructuring of the company. I just happened to be the most well paid programmer on staff. Let that be a lesson...don't stick your head up too high - you might get it chopped off.
I was the
Re:Restructured... (Score:3, Insightful)
Sorry to hear this. You will learn to differentiate between 'loyalty' and 'professionalism'. Loyalty is dead, professionalism is not.
Never be afraid to stick you heard up as high as you can; as long as we're on the metaphors, it makes you more visible for all the other people out there who might want to hire you.
Re:Restructured... (Score:2, Interesting)
At my last company, there were several layoffs. Each one was followed by an email to the entire company along the lines of "So and so is no longer with the company." After a few months of slow and steady layoffs, a lot of people were unhappy, and worried about their jobs.
So what's the owner do? She calls a company meeting and tells ever
divorce (Score:5, Funny)
Re:divorce (Score:2)
This is somewhat typical (Score:4, Insightful)
Besides, they can tell you anything they want. Unless you have some sort of terms in writing, you are at the mercy of their whims. Even then, it is typically so much in the company's favor that you are still out of luck.
Re:This is somewhat typical (Score:4, Insightful)
It works the other way around, too. How often to employees feel any obligation to stay on the current project if something better comes along? They'll keep silent until they phone from their new job saying "I quit, by the way."
There is also the very real threat of revenge by an employee. If your business is failing and people absolutely must be fired to keep the company alive, warning them two weeks in advance is going to get your assets destroyed or stolen. You're going to put yourself at serious risk for those two weeks.
It's really too bad things are like that. The possiblility of incivility by one party forces both to act uncivil to each other. Either you're fired with no notice, or you quit with no notice. Courtesy is thrown out the window.
When society at large returns to the idea that things like ethics, civility, and morality are worth at least talking about, things might change.
Right now it's everyone for himself.
You don't have to act badly (Score:2)
I gave notice at an old job, explaining that I saw no further room for advancement in an IT dept of 2 people, and other inherent problems with retail support. I purposely chose a time when my departure should have minimal impact. Still, they came back to me & asked what it would take for me to stay on for four more months. I explained that a 50% increase in salary and more consideration at holiday time would keep me for that length
Unpleasantly. (Score:2)
They started about 10AM, dropping about 15 workers at each meeting and multiple meetings going on simultaneously. This occured at 15 minute intervals for at least the rest of the day-- my group got dumped at 4PM; we hadn't even heard they were laying us all off until they got to us. Of course, they had security "escort" all of us from the building after giving us 10 minutes to pack. All of this was back in late July 2000.
Of course, all the
My best one dates back a few years, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
I pointed out that all of last night's work will be pointless if it's not documented so you might want to let me at least finish my current task, but they refused to let me touch a computer after that - they offered to let me write it on paper, though... I heard that months later they were still employing that same consultant (who made about 4 times what I, as an entry-level guy, was pulling down!).
A week later I found a job at 50% more pay - and this was 1995, well pre-boom. (not quite a happy ending as I've been underemployed for 2-3 years now, but...)
This one happened to my Dad. (Score:5, Interesting)
So my Dad has to fire about 10-15 people - friends of his, etc.
End of the day, the PHB asks how it went, finds out everyone has been fired, and then FIRES my Dad, after making HIM fire everyone. What a cowardly prick the PHB was.
Re:This one happened to my Dad. (Score:2)
Re:My best one dates back a few years, but... (Score:2)
not-so-subtle (Score:2)
I haven't (Score:5, Funny)
you.. (Score:2)
.
really.
Re:you.. (Score:2)
Yep, just a haircut's good enough for me. A lot cheaper, too.
Startup ISP in Spokane (Score:2)
I just Chalk it up to work/life experience, young enough it h
Re:Startup ISP in Spokane (Score:2)
Pretty Humane In My Case (Score:2)
Jerry Jerry Jerry (Score:2, Funny)
After a few minutes, I got to go up to my cubicle and there I saw it. My computer was being manhandled by another geek. The geek told me it was over but I had to hear it for myself. But, the computer never uttered a sound. I made that long walk out of that cubicle to never see my precious baby again.
I still love her Jerry
My story (Score:3, Interesting)
Early on in this process my boss had told me that I was one of the key people of the team and when I was gone, there would be no more team.
From November on, we knew the rest of us were dead and the question was just when. Couple days before Christmas I was called (on vacation) by boss and HR lady to tell me that I had 3 months of transition work to do, and then March 31 I'd be gone along with a few other people. The rest of the team (hardware and ops) would be gone in June.
The funny part was how my boss and HR lady were so apologetic because they preferred to give such news in person. Meanwhile I was laughing telling them "So I'm getting 3 months notice that the rest of the team didnt get? And you feel guilty about that? I should be thanking you."
Life Imitates Office Space (Score:5, Interesting)
I had a job where I really didn't get along with my boss, and I really didn't like the way the organization was run. I'd said so multiple times, sometimes very loudly and publicly.
Then one day, the re-org hit the fan. We were told that we'd have to re-interview for our own jobs. I knew which way it was going to go, so I decided to have fun. I blew into the interview, and was brutally honest about everything. My interviewer was shell-shocked by the time I was done.
Short form: I was one of the only people in my group to keep my job. The carnage was bad: maybe 90% of my coworkers and even most of the managers were canned. It turned out that one of the people in charge of the re-org really liked me because I was the only one with enough of a spine to talk honestly about the problems in the organization. Everyone else just kissed ass and pretended that everything was okay.
Why is my boss posting this on slash dot? (Score:2, Funny)
I couldn't log in (Score:2)
"There's some kind of a problem with my network account" and he was like
"Yeah, we sort of need to have a little meeting..."
The day went downhill from there.
After 3 more years of doing $8/hr ISP tech support, the remaning sheep received nice severa
Just a FYI for those still looking (Score:3, Informative)
which time? (Score:3, Interesting)
The first one hurt the most. It got easier over time, possibly because the jobs got less... fulfilling over time. I may have my problems with the first company, but they sure handled the layoffs well. Good severance package, not having the security goons to escort us out the door immediately, having a chance to talk to co-workers before disappearing. A class act, and well appreciated, even if I am still a little bitter about the whole thing.
Layoffs done right (Score:5, Interesting)
The CEO seemed genuinely aggrieved at having to lay many of us (40%) off, reassured us that even then, at the peak of the dot-com bust, we would be getting 8 weeks of salary as severance, and our health coverage was paid through the end of the month. He asked us to return to our desks, where we would begin having one-on-one meetings with our immediate supervisors to learn the details of our layoffs, or new job responsibilities.
As I returned to my desk, I was considering all the projects I would need to wrap up and hand off if I were among those laid off, but when I got back, my computer no longer had access to the network.
I picked up my phone to call IS, but it, too, was disconnected.
It was by then obvious what was about to happen, and I had a pleasant enough conversation with my boss when my turn came. Turned out he had also been let go, and we discussed people we knew at other companies that might have use for me or him.
1) Early in the day, early in the week. Time to head home and immediately get started on the job hunt.
2) Early in the month, so I didn't have to worry about COBRA for a few weeks.
3) Real severance package.
I'm not sure what they could have done better, other than not laying us off in the first place.
Chris Owens
San Carlos, CA
What a timely topic... (Score:4, Interesting)
This story showed up at a very appropriate time, as I was let go only a couple weeks ago.
I showed up to work slightly later than usual. Everything seemed normal until I tried to log in to one of my accounts, which wasn't working. This was immediately suspicious as everyone else's accounts were fine. Still, I went ahead and worked on my e-mail for a bit to see if things cleared up. About 10 minutes later my manager pops by my cube saying he needed to meet with me in his office. I asked him to let me just finish this one e-mail and I'd stop by. He looked obviously concerned. I finished the mail and noticed that my mail checks had started failing as well, meaning another account had been turned off. There was little doubt what was waiting on me in his office...
I got in there and he along with a person who just screamed "HR" by looking at her were waiting. As I sat down he pulled out a piece of paper and read a prepared statement. "Due to a restructuring of resources... blah, blah... you no longer have a position..." He then left the office as fast as he could to leave the HR person to explain my severance.
Once that was over they assigned me a shadow while I cleared out my desk and left. Apparently they also scheduled a meeting to distract the folks on my team while I was packing. (I suppose that's for the best... I doubt I would have liked to have one of them walk up and ask why I was packing.)
One thing I found humerous when I got home was a message on my machine... as I said before, I got in to work a bit late. Just before I got there my manager had called my house. "David, I have an urgent matter to discuss with you. Please call..." I'm almost surprised he didn't just say it on there, since the tone of his voice gave everything away...
It's amazing how quickly stuff like this can happen... you go in to work business as usual and suddenly you are out the door.
My experience and others.... (Score:4, Interesting)
About 2 months later I get a job offer from IBM.com through a new agency, which I take. That week, I get a call from the rep from the previous agency askinng me to take a job with him at some company, and he would offer me more money than what IBM was offering. I told him no.
------------------
Someone who worked with me at another dot com was asked to have a meeting with management around 3pm. They told her they had to let her go, immediately, but he's a two week serveance package. She then told them she had a new job lined up already that starts monday.
I was glad it worked out for her in that case because management was a bunch of dumb fudges which is fodder for a whole nother post.
---------------------
When I worked at IBM, during my first few weeks there, we had a small group of html monkeys, including myself there working on their redesign. One person wasn't doing well, and she was let go. Unforunately she wasn't told she was let go until she showed up monday morning to find someone in her seat. I knew as of that friday (3 days prior) she was being let go (because the project manager was cool with me and was a big mouth). Neighter him nor the temp agency had the respect to call her and tell her prior to monday.
She called the agency and had it verified. They asked her "what are you doing there, you don't work there anymore". Mind you the agency was sued by IBM later on due to their business practices.
Re:My experience and others.... (Score:3, Funny)
A long time ago I saw an ad in the Sunday paper for a receptionist position at the company where I worked. On Monday I congratulated the current receptionist on her promotion and she had no idea what I was talking about.
Ooops. And would you believe I actually caught crap from my boss for leaking what was in the paper the previous day?
Laid off / resigned (Score:2)
They tell me the department's being phased out and I can either go b
A Match (Score:2)
Last man standing (Score:4, Interesting)
So my coworkers took me out to lunch to cheer me up, wish me well, and offer advice, tell me it would all work out for the best, etc.
When we came back from lunch, all of them were called in to HR, laid off, and told to clear out IMMEDIATELY.
So beginning that afternoon, and for the next month, it was just me and their empty desks.
I was fired in a good way (Score:3, Interesting)
It was not really a surprise. I could see it coming. Others had been fired before me, as the company slowly nibbled away at us. I was one of the last non-Indian people in the department. I'm not being racist here: in fact, it was an Indian who helped me to get this job in the first place! I'm not blaming the Indians at all for this, and in fact, two of my best leads for finding another job are through Indian managers or owners. There's no denying the simple economic difference in wages between India and the USA, though.
They did a really cool thing for some H1-B Indians who would also be affected by the layoff, though: in lieu of being laid off, the company gave them the option of returning to India for a guaranteed job at the company's Indian office, paying local India wages (much less than USA wages, even for H1-B's). Many Indians took this option, including my boss. The layoff was across-the-board, affecting Indians as well as USA citizens, but USA citizens bore the brunt of the layoff. I believe that the company was preparing to transfer the entire office to India eventually, so they were taking steps in this direction, and it would have been only a matter of time.
My boss simply called me into his office, shut the door, and that was that. It was not a surprise to me, because I could see it coming for several weeks. On the same day I was fired, about 20% of the company was also fired! This is a company that had about 1000 workers at the time, so it wasn't a small layoff by any means. There was extra security around, but no harassment. They had brought in lots of cardboard boxes for packing. I was able to back up all of my personal stuff (bookmarks, etc.) that was on their computers, and burn a CD to take it home with me. In fact, they let us work through the end of the pay period (several more days)!
Because they were kind, I was kind to them in return. I cleanly documented things I was working on at the time, and organized things in such a way that anybody coming in would be immediately able to find what they were looking for (I was in charge of an internal Linux distribution at the time). When it came time to go, I said my goodbyes, gathered as much contact information from my coworkers as possible, left my contact information, gave my card to my boss, and walked out. No unpleasantries at all.
And the best part? The company was later called on the carpet for violating the WARN Act, so they ended up having to give everybody 60 extra days on the payroll! The WARN Act requires 60 days of notice before a large layoff, and since they failed to do this, they had to make up the 60 days. It was wonderful to get a mini-sabbatical of two months of full pay for sitting around at home and resting! Nice.
Now, unfortunately, the savings is beginning to run a bit thin so I'm looking for another job... not much to be found....
It went something like... (Score:5, Funny)
Boss: Uh, you're gonna have to talk to Payroll about that.
Me: I, I did and they, and they said -
Boss: Uh, we're gonna need to move you downstairs into Storage B.
Me: No...I...I...
Boss: Uh, we have some new people coming in and we need all the space we can get.
Me: No...no...no...no...but...but...but...I, I, I -
Boss: If you could just pack up all of your stuff and move it down there, that would be terrific. See ya. (He walks away.)
Me: I can't...Excuse me. I believe you have my stapler?
Fired (Score:4, Interesting)
BTW, I was at home taking care of my sick, disabled wife and infant son.
Nice that they kicked me when I was down.
What was fun was AFTER the layoff. (Score:2)
"Should we go out there and just stare at everyone?"
Someone else "How bout we throw a hysterical tantrum in the middle of the reception room?"
"come back tomorrow wearing a black trenchcoat with a suspicious bulge?"
"With a smoking,ticking box labeled "to the management?""
This sort of thing went on for 30 minutes, we were all laughing hysterically by the end of it. I wish i
Vacation Gift (Score:2)
One day, I get an email from my now-roommate Mike, saying I should probably talk to Gerhard [slashdot.org] before I got back. I emailed back to ask why, and he pasted an IRC conversation.
The long and the short of it was that my boss had apparantly found a PHP programmer to replace me, because
I should have seen the signs 3 months before (Score:2)
When hardware asked in the quarterly meeting why the company wasn't doing anything with their group - Plenty of smart people, enough to design the next version of the product, but it wasn't happening. He got the run-around.
About the same time (latter I'd guess) the general manager of our branch "resigned for personal reasons". Rumor immesadiatly was he was demanding a roadmap for the next version of our product, got a promiss to have it by (about a month before this date) and didn't get it.
The entire
Here's a quiz... (Score:4, Funny)
I was asked to come to a meeting where my knowledge would be evaluated (job was dbase in the dos days).
About the 2nd or 3rd question was: "How many files can you have open at one time [on a DOS system]?"
To which I replied "Yer kidding, right? I have no idea, nor do I care. I've never hit it, but I know that there's an environment variable that will let me change it at boot time. Could we just skip the questions that don't matter and could be looked up trivially?"
My "boss" wasn't impressed - mostly embarrassed, I hope. Anyway, I wasn't renewed, which was fine by me
Re:Here's a quiz... (Score:3, Informative)
The answer is "3". The environment variable was NFILES.
Frankly, I think it is a pretty reasonable question.
Re:Here's a quiz... (Score:2)
Default was 8, not 3.
--DM
Re:Here's a quiz... (Score:2)
Given that another followup says you got the number wrong, and
Frankly, I think it is a pretty reasonable question.
I don't think I'll be working for you
Really, if it'd been a sysadmin job, I might agree with you. But what it boils down to is that it's a trivia question; the answer is in some book, and I just shouldn't need to care. Windows was rolling along anyway, and soon enough it wouldn't matter at all.
If he'd asked "what's recursion?"
Re:Here's a quiz... (Score:5, Informative)
DOS limitations (in config.sys)
- 5.0: files=99
- 6.0 and up: files=255
dbase limitations- dBaseIV had a hard-coded limit of 99.
- dBase5 had an (again) hardcoded limit of 255 (which you would never hit because you also lost 5 to dos, for a net of 250).
- The default number of files open at one time with the compilers available in those days was 20 - 5 (again, stdin, stdout, stderr, aux, prn open at program start by dos by default)
So if you had answered them something along these lines, they would have been suffering from TMI.The worst I know of (Score:2)
Me, I was ushered out quickly because I made the mistake of actually giving them a heads up since I was a fairly critical employee and was planning on moving to be with my (then-future) wife-- as soon as I could find a job and give proper notice. Turns out they'd already removed my salary from the current FY's books (it's all about the numbers, baby)
Bait-and-switch (Score:3, Interesting)
My most recent layoff experience was pretty obnoxious. I was a senior systems administrator for Global Crossing's Denver office in 2001, when the first round of layoffs were coming.
We all knew which Monday would be "axe day," and I'd even discussed that previous Friday with my manager what steps I should take once the layoffs started. He said I'd get a list, I'd need to deactivate the appropriate accounts, and might be needed to help update the phones and access card lists.
Monday came. I went to work, got started on my usual tasks, and it seemed like a normal day except for the air of dread hanging over everyone since they knew what day it was. Around 2:00pm, my boss came by and said "hey Will, you got a second?" I said "sure," and followed him to is office, expecting to be handed a list of people whose accounts needed to go away. Instead, as we approached his office, I noticed a woman sitting there waiting for us who I'd never seen before, and immediately recognized the classic "two witness firing trap" with my name all over it.
Getting fired or laid off never takes long. It took less than five minutes to explain my severance benefits (which they stopped paying when the company filed for bankruptcy -- the bastards) and to hand in my badge and keys. They'd set up a "career counselling" service that began with a twenty minute meeting right there at the office, which I annoyedly sat through. After that, they handed me a box, and let me collect my own things (under supervision of course). I would later learn that the very instant my boss collected me from my cubicle, another manager raced to it and ripped the power cords for my workstation out of the wall; apparently they were doing that to everybody worried that we'd all installed "dead man's switches" on the boxes or something. Heh.
That Friday, four days after my employment with GX ended, I got a call from one of the survivors asking for help on how to remove my accounts from their systems (I was their only remaining systems administrator for the office servers at t that point). Heh.
secret meetings (Score:2)
cruel (Score:5, Interesting)
First all we employees had to gather in the main meeting room. Management told us to reach under our seats. Below about 5 seats were taped slips of paper. Those five people had to perform in this humiliating contest. They had to do something or say something to embarass themselves. The president of the company is sitting there as judge. Whoever has the right to be the most mortified, in his judgement, won the showdown. I lost, but it was close. Had I won, I would have kept my job.
Then he starts calling us, one by one. Each of us goes up. Some were told to go back to their desks. They were the lucky ones. They survived to work another day. The rest of us had to pick up our commerative plates--the ones we got when we started--and hand them to the president. He said, "So-and-so, you're dead to us." Then he throws the plate into the fireplace (the office was an old mansion). Then we had to leave. People were bawling. Women were fainting. It was something I'll never be able to forget.
I don't think anybody can beat that one.
Re:cruel (Score:2)
My glorious redundancy experience (Score:2, Interesting)
This had been going on for a while - shaky dot-bomb, done well for its first year then took on a load of people and started to go down the tubes.
We'd already been through two redundancy waves across all departments (we did tech training and consultancy, with a bit of s/w dev on the side), and so were feeling a bit jittery anyway, when my extremely-non-PHB boss came in and told us basically that the receivers had taken over the company
Not fired, but was wondering. (Score:2)
On a day of layoffs, I got an email from the boss of my three-man (not including the boss) team. It said to come to a meeting, and was addressed to me and one other coworker.
So come the question: were we being laid off, or is he?
Now, the remaining guy (who didn't get the email) was the most hard-working guy on the team, and not somebody I'd expect to get laid off. But it seemed strange to be laying off 2/3 of an already understaffed team.
When we got to the meeting, the boss started talking about the la
How it works at restaurants (Score:2)
I was fired by Santa (Score:2)
Re:I was fired by Santa (Score:2, Informative)
the whiteboard did it :) (Score:2)
When the day came, we were all called in a meeting room, where we were told that if you're name isn't on the whiteboard, you're fired
During a Conference Call (Score:2)
I'm happier now than I ever was working for that organization. I can't help wondering how many senior managers there are Out There who blame the deaths of their companies on the recession when in reality their own arrogance and inflexibility were actually to blame.
YAFS (Score:2)
About three weeks ago (On Sept. 11. Timing is everything, isn't it?), my team was sitting around, discussing plans for a major overhaul of our software, when another developer came over.
"Are you guys talking about (our Chicago office)?"
We told him we weren't. He then explained he had just received a call from one of them. That office had just been informed that they were all being laid off and the office was being shut down in 60 days.
We all wondered why 60 days, because in the past, layoffs were imme
I remember it like it was yesterday... (Score:3, Interesting)
PHB called me into his office and starts getting down on me for using Hungarian notation in my Java code. One of the guys on team had complained to him about it (that same gimp that always insists on prefixing every java instance variable with a 'this.' suffix). My boss of course, the typical PHB, blows the entire thing way out of preportion starts lecturing me about being culurally sensative (you see, my PHB is ACTUALLY Hungarian). But at this point I still think its about my coding style and hadn't realized that there was any misunderstanding. Figuring since we are wrapping up the Java-based project anyway and will soon be moving to an MFC-specific client-side app I say something to the effect of "Serge, slow down, if you don't like my style I can switch over to reverse polish if Hungarian isn't good enough for you". Well, at this point, he just lost his shit. He starts screaming at me thowing his arms left and right like a George Kostanza 'Koko The Monkey' imitation, screaming in some half-english, half-hungarian mish-mosh. At this point, I notice that people in the office have stopped working and just staring at us (the cubicle space is wide open and his office is against one of the walls with one of those big glass windows.) Then, I notice my buddy Higgins in the back laughing his ass off in the corner behind my boss. At the exact second I see my buddy, I realized my boss's confusion and just totally lost it. I just couldn't help it. I started laughing so hard I was in tears and I had to violently fight the urge to start rolling around the floor in laughter. Needless to say, the 'crazy Hungarian' (one of his many nicknames) was not impressed. He ordered me out of his office, so I just shook my head and laughed it off back to my desk, took an early lunch and didn't come back.
It will be interesting to see what happens tommorow. Worst case scenario, I've got my consulting side-line to hold me over until something better shows up. I also just finished burning a CD with the last dev version that has all sorts of GPL-infringing code. We'll see who has the last laugh in this one, which I guess is me already anyway...
Re:I remember it like it was yesterday... (Score:2)
I also just finished burning a CD with the last dev version that has all sorts of GPL-infringing code. We'll see who has the last laugh in this one, which I guess is me already anyway...
As presumably one of the developers who wrote the code, I doubt you'll be laughing when you incriminate yourself. You also won't be laughing when the company sues you for violating your employment agreement by taking t
Swell Timetable (Score:2)
Hired at DigitalGoods.com (saw brushed metal conference room door, oddly shaped, very colorful furniture, conf. rooms named after foreign currency, thought "uh oh").
Two weeks later, boss on vacation, I get a note at my desk to see HR Manager. HR Manager hands me a key and a note that I'm supposed to disable the accounts of 40% of the staff, including one of the internal IT Ops people (I was Pr
How a whistleblower gets fired (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How a whistleblower gets fired (Score:3)
Remove the drive from the 286 and install the drive in your current PC.
Insert the floppy.
Open Microsoft Access.
File | Open (Files of type dBase 5, dBase IV, or dBase III)
Attack.
Perhaps you might think about saving the table in a more universal format, and saving it to your HDD.
5+ years, and this never occurred to you? I smell a big pile of bull droppings.
Dot com, down the drain (Score:2)
They had 4 rounds of layoffs, but I was a key developer (team lead), so while all my direct reports were let go, I remained. Our development group went from 7 down to 3. Those of us who remained were given our "severance" in-advance so that we wouldn't worry about not getting it if the company ran out of cash. Pretty neat idea.
Anyway, on Sept 10, 2001, the rest of my te
Let me count the ways. (Score:2)
Laid Off Late (Score:2)
There was an e-mail about a meeting set to take place in 15 minutes, so I headed down to the break room - the only place
Coolest. Firing. Ever. (Score:4, Interesting)
Got another job the same day. Aah. dotcomm days, where are ye?
Re:Coolest. Firing. Ever. (Score:2)
Re:What a sad, brutal story! (Score:3, Informative)
The evidence is there for leet haxorz like myself willing to follow the "Trail of Tears." ARE YOU ONE OF US?
Like this? (Score:2)
Re:I was (Score:4, Funny)
*phone rings*
Matt: Hello?
VP: Hey there, Matt...so, what are you wearing?
Matt: *vomits noisily*
VP: That's it *pouts* You're fired.
Re:racist troll (Score:2)
Re:How? (Score:3, Funny)
You didn't get the e-mail?
Re:How? (Score:2)
Fired or Laid Off? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:I wasn't.... (Score:2)
SealBeater
Re:HP (Score:2)