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The Art of The Farewell Email
With so many people losing their jobs, the farewell email, letting colleagues and contacts know where you are moving and how you can be reached, has become common. Writing a really good one, whether it be funny, sad or just plain mad is an art form. Chris Kula, a receptionist at a New York engineering firm, wrote: "For nearly as long as I've worked here, I've hoped that I might one day leave this company. And now that this dream has become a reality, please know that I could not have reached this goal without your unending lack of support." In May, lawyer Shinyung Oh was let go from the San Francisco branch of the Paul Hastings law firm six days after losing a baby. "If this response seems particularly emotional," she wrote to the partners, "perhaps an associate's emotional vulnerability after a recent miscarriage is a factor you should consider the next time you fire or lay someone off. It shows startlingly poor judgment and management skills — and cowardice — on your parts." Let's hear the best and worst goodbye emails you've seen.
I worked in a company once with a guy who was known for sending out long, rambling emails and overwriting everything he got his hands on. I was constantly trying to get him to edit himself better on fact sheets and the like. Well, he gets laid off and his final email (sent to everyone in the office) read simply "Fuck all of you! I'm outta here." I was so proud he had finally learned the power of brevity.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"You should've taken away my database access before telling my I was being laid off."
Yeah.. vengeful geeks. Nothing new there.
Skiffy is Spiffy, but Ort is tort.
In one e-mail I received, the departing employee included the URLs for applying for unemployment compensation and other government programs, for our future benefit, as well as the addresses of low-cost international grocery stores in the area (not really sure why).
It smells like...hollow victory
Not to mention possibly career ending. Someone about 10 years ago was leaving a company I worked at, and wrote a blistering goodbye email. A few years later at another company, a fellow ex employee of the first and I were on the interview team. And guess who walked in!
Needless to say, he got a very short interview and absolutely no consideration. When asked why, both myself and my coworker said 'Unprofessionalism'
is to forward emails to a private email address if there is even a chance of this happening.
You don't always have access to the keyboard when laid off. That is likely to increase after a couple farewell emails viewed as "bad for morale".
We had a couple- that were deleted by the administrators (even if you read them- but I'd forwarded it on to my private address).
I hope companies will switch to pay cuts over lay offs like HP did and like some companies in Germany are doing (nice there, you get a pay cut but you also get hours cut so you have more life to enjoy at least).
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
That's one of the most disheartening pictures of Ron Paul in last year's presidential run, but it was just the look on his face at the moment the picture was taken. He was simply waiting for an interview to begin and doing some pondering.
Colin Dean Go a year without DRM
. . . Good for the managers. Personal problems shouldn't affect their decisions. What, the managers should instead lay off a better employee because they're feeling sorry for this woman?
My sister opened a computer store in Hawaii. She sells C shells by the seashore.
"So long and thanks for all the fish!"
Which is why we should all endeavor to display a complete lack of 'unprofessionalism.'
The funniest "goodbye" email I saw occurred about 10 years ago. A guy down the hall from me was responding to a personal ad--probably in a "casual encounters" section. He gave, shall we say, a very elaborate physical description of himself. He also went into details about his various fetishes and sexual proclivities, as well as some choice moments from his sexual history. He also described exactly what he hoped to do with the person he was writing to, complete with various sexual acts and positions.
Unfortunately, when he clicked send, the mailer garbled the "to" line in such a way that it went to the company-wide email list. (The company-wide email alias was "world"--the email address he was sending to had "world" in it, and I assume he had accidentally put a space the middle of the email address, causing it to be mis-parsed.)
When the email hit everyone's inbox, there was a moment of silence on the whole floor, followed by phrases like "holy shit" and laughter. The last anyone saw of him was him ducking and half-running down the hallway with his backpack. He apparently thought he'd never be able to live it down, called HR later in the day to resign, and never showed up at the office again.
About two years ago, somebody got fired from my company. He happened to be in training for managment at the time, and was reading a book he'd bought for himself. Upon learning he was about to lose his job, he sent out an email containing the first chapter of the book, grabbed the home addresses of all the managers in the building, and shipped copies of the book to each.
The email also contained commentary on how the managment might benefit from a little reading.
I'm an IT consultant - my contract was terminated early, and I wrote a tasteful goodbye email ("was great working with you all" etc. which happened to be true). Good thing I did - 3 days later more funding came through and I was called back!
Russ Pitts tells TechTV that he "couldn't care less if the building spontaneously filled with eagle semen"...
'a';DROP TABLE users; SELECT * FROM DATA WHERE name LIKE '%'... if you're reading this, it didn't work.
In response to the article summary, I don't think Shinyung Oh's upper management knew that she had a miscarriage. It's not like they were waiting for the worst opportunity to lay someone off. It sounds more like she had a basically really terrible week. On a side note I think her response was wholly unprofessional. Let your contacts know you are no longer working for said firm and be done with it. Don't make it a personal vendetta. Junk like that only kills your chances later on in the career path.
When I was given the news, I was able to tell the head of the department:
"Good luck with your layoffs, alright, I hope your firings go really, really well."
Others weren't so glib, but then others hadn't already planned to quit and secured a 40% raise elsewhere. For me, the severence was a bonus.
I know a guy who was laid off and actually heard that he was laid off from the press.
He is a many-storied journalist and the bureau he was running was closed down in the annual "cost-cutting" routine performed by a nameless broadcasting company. Since they closed the bureau he was heading up, he retained no access to the company's mail system and could not send anything.
He found out about his layoff from a competitor. I think he's working for them, now.
I find it interesting how this broadcasting company timed these bureau closings: Inevitably it was right before they needed the resources. They closed down their Denver bureau just before the Columbine school shootings. Other bureaus' closings were immediately followed by a major event.
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
My last farewell letter was to a university lab. We tested all sorts of internet gear. Every summer we hired about 20% of our workforce again, to replace those of us that graduated. Each year, the new kids seemed dumber and dumber. Eventually, I realized that they were just as dumb each year, and that I was actually getting smarter. (Didn't feel like it when I realized that). My farewell letter was a bunch of "cheat codes" basically. I tried to tell people what to avoid, like office politics and committees, which run rampant. I'm sure no one will take it to heart, but it felt really great getting it off my chest. I think that's what a farewell letter should be. Something that can't find you a year later saying "I wish I had said..."
slashdot: where everyone yells sarcastic metaphors to themselves to understand the issue
...is hearing about how poorly the three people that were hired to replace you are doing.
Petty e-mails and parting shots aren't worth it. When they bring me my empty box and escort, I'll be the one smiling.
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/good-bye-from-a-hedge-fund-manager/
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
My personal fav was years ago when a student working for us was returning back and forwaded on his thesis. It basically was "why we suck as an organization." He sent it to the ENTIRE 20,000+ person organization.
Gold.
There was this guy Andy H. who was laid off. He got his pink slip and sent out a looong 2-page email about who he hated and who he hated more... An hour later, his manager (who had not read his goodbye mail) came running out of his room saying, "Hey so sorry for the mistake, the OTHER Andy H. is the one getting the boot, you're still staying with us". Moral of the story - don't blow your mouth, be professional and courteous. Unless you're absolutely sure you're kicked out the door, and then you can say "fsck y'all, I'm outta here!!"
nobody remains virgin, life fscks everyone...
It's sad but true. When an employee does something wrong it's unprofessional. When an employer does something wrong it's business.
UNIX/Linux Consulting
I copied my former coworker's farewell email, switched it to HTML (first time I ever sent an HTML-formatted email), and simply marked out any words that didn't apply to me, added my own next to them, and sent that.
The employee is the supplier. The employer is the customer. In most cases, customers can abuse the relationship a lot more than suppliers.
Having said that, I'm sure that employers who abuse their employees pay for it when times are good and good people find better places to work. Usually the people who leave are those who can find other jobs - which are precisely those you want to keep.
-- Support a free market in the field of government
When the manager entered one of our guys came forward and asked him for a kiss.
Upon the managers indignant reply "Why would I kiss you?" our Hero explained he liked to kiss while being screwed.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."
I had gotten work at one of several small ISPs that had yet to fail in the area. I had actually applied at a computer shop, who passed my resume to the ISP, who then called me and hired me without an interview or giving me any training.
The ISP was an adventure in itself, with the owners, a married couple, going through a nasty divorce. The husband was running the tech half and the wife was running the business half. The daughter (the receptionist) warned me that "things in this office stay in this office, and vice versa."
I quit six hours into the job. It was that bad. I don't remember the e-mail I sent out (because no one on the business half picked up a phone after 3:30) but I do recall criticizing their internal communication: "Such a level of synergy has yet to be reached at many a Fortune 500 company."
Those who believe the Internet is private,
find their privates are on the Internet.
I thought that was pretty clever for a farewell done in good humor.
It seems to me to be more of an exercise in massaging one's own ego. I, personally, find it more productive to use a site like spoke or linkedin to keep connected to my former coworkers. No long winded e-mail necessary.
When employers rake in 9 or 10 digits, there's no such consolation. People can find other jobs, but it hardly affects the business and there's a huge pool to replace them. Times have to be really good before there's nobody applying to be a replacement.
His farewell letter ten years ago says nothing of his personality today, nor of his capability for doing the job, so at the end of the day it was you who lost out on thatone... Further, someone seeking a job does so for the oppertunity to supply the employer with a service, since it is the employer who is the one with an advertised need. Employers who fail to recognise this are generally assholes so, added to the fact that you lost out, I guess he was better off.
Don't be crazy anymore!
Personally, I've tried to keep my farewell messages civil and polite, but I'll never forget this one (paraphrased from memory) from one of the senior devs at one of my first jobs, when I was a junior programmer... He started off by giving a nice farewell to everyone, then put down his personal cell phone number to call in case of emergency... Then he put some helpful guidelines of when to call or not to call...
1) If there's an urgent problem with the system and you need help fixing it, call me.
2) If you're in the [location] area and want to go out for a beer, call me.
3) If you've come to the sad realization that business logic is embedded in every layer of the application, and you need a shoulder to cry on, DON'T CALL ME.
He was so right...
The best Good bye I ever heard was not via e-mail. I worked for a company back when night computer operators we still a real necessity. We did boring things like change out tapes and hit enter to acknowledge messages, for 12 hours straight. The guy who had the job before me, was sitting there one night and looked that the boss. I am going to go get some sweat paints. He never came back.
Yeah, it was in very poor taste to let her go immediately after a miscarriage. It looks bad, it's bad for morale, and on and on.
But I don't like the sense of entitlement she had, either. We all have known people in our careers who needed to be shit-canned but managed to duck it due to pregnancy or medical leave or some crap.
This is NOT the time to explain who you hate and why. It is imperative to be professional about the process (no matter how bizarre the situation might be). Your co-workers already KNOW to the self-promoting a$$holes are, who is sleeping with whom, the golfers, the entrenched dead wood, etc. There is a time and place to orchestrate a response, but it can wait for more favorable circumstances. If you're really pissed off, help find a new job for everyone who is competent and useful. But help yourself first. It starts with being viewed as a resource within your industry, and you can't do that if you have spent your time bad-mouthing anyone. Besides, you never know who you might be working with in the future.
It takes time, but bad things happen to bad people. Always.
We're a close group at work, and all get along pretty well and like working there, but people do move on from time to time. About a year ago, a friend sent a company-wide email with the topic "Out of Office", which is usually used if someone's emailing in sick or going on vacation. Took about an hour before someone actually read the email and saw that he would be out... permanently.
Now everyone reads all the vacation emails carefully, just in case.
The email has become tradition, with every subsequent departure using the same message, verbatim, changing only one thing... the first email said that he hoped the people at his new job would be half as cool; the next said one fourth, then one eighth, etc.
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
What is the context of this picture? I've never seen it before. Is it after he pulled out of the primaries?
p.s. This is a pretty awesome idle article IMHO. !idleispants
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
Executive Summary:
Mrs. Oh was excoriating the law firm's (more precisely the elite senior partners) campaign to blame law associates with a record of _excellent_ reviews for the associates' firing.
Why? She alleged the law firm was not bringing in sufficient business to grow (a partner's raison d'etre), that the firm did not want to publicly admit the fact, BUT, it wanted to maintain an illusion of grandeur so as to entice new elite-law school graduates to continue to apply as new associates.
The miscarriage, her exemplary reviews, one partner's unsolicited glowing! praise days earlier, his about face, her firing, her presentation of an NDA type document for severance pay at the last minute firing, her emotional rawness, her refusal to be stampeded at such a vulnerable moment, her outrage and refusal to submit to the law firm's fig leaf for its own hiring duplicity, her email to "the" partner, et al all make up the rest of the story.
Last heard, months ago when this broke, she had committed major corporation career suicide but she apparently did not let that stand in her way. She's of Korean ancestry and cute though married.
"and wrote a blistering goodbye email."
So? You leave out something rather important here--Was he right in what he wrote? Did he right the truth you didn't want to hear, or just mouthed off?
It seems to me that you left that part out deliberately, but I of course don't know what the content of his email was or the workplace environment he was in. That said, what I do know is what you wrote here, and it sounds to me like you and your friend operate more like a frat, than the role you were supposed to play as fair interviewers. If you were professional yourselves, you were made note of why and recused yourself from the process.
But that's if you truly were fair and honorable people. Unfortunately. Which is why we lay off people in the manner that we do in western cultures...and could explain well the economic predicament we are in. What you do you see as striking back. What I see are a couple of assholes that contribute to the cycle of disrespect.
It's amazing the amount of bs politics that have little to do with getting and keeping good hires that people WANT to go through. People not hiring people who are better at the job than they are, then wondering why their company is tanking or whinign about getting their butts handed to them by overseas companies. Reading your post is like a snapshot of the crap the American workplace is (not sure you are American or not, but it's what I observe readily when I consult)--maybe the individual you rejected changed, or maybe you realized he was right and could whoop your ass at the job he was supposed to do, but being in a position of power (however patheticly small), you took the role of tyrant over judge most favorably.
Then again, maybe there is a reason you and your buddy teamed up. Most people who make these moves tend to play the political role well, to the overall failure of the system. Good job!
Unfortunately employers have the power. Even with internet sites out there where you can rate your employer 1) most people don't use them and 2) when someone is offering you a better paying job you really don't care what those forums say.
So yes, employers can be jackasses, but as those with the power they can get away with almost anything that is not illegal.
I do not support "The Man". I also do not support your irrational stupidity
The employee is the supplier. The employer is the customer.
That's a good point, but I don't think it's the only issue at play. There's also the issue of power, and big companies have much more power than individual people. When I buy something from Best Buy, I'm forced to agree to their terms, take it or leave it. If I work for Best Buy, then I'm pretty much forced to agree to their terms, take it or leave it. It's not a negotiation between equals.
And also businesses can hide behind an organization. When a company acts, it's not always entirely clear whether it's the decision of "the company" or the individual within the company. If I'm a manager and I want to make someone's life miserable, I can do that while justifying it as "policy" or "good for business". I can say, "Sorry, it's out of my hands. It's just policy." If the employee turns around and tries to make my life miserable, he can't hide behind his actions as easily.
That's not to say there's nothing you can do. There are strategies for managing relationships where you're the weaker party. But let's not pretend that power doesn't come into play.
Tell that to a friend of mine, at his job the director has said, Could you replace the power supply on the domain server, fix my computer, and the toilet in the women's restroom is backed up again.
I worked at a place that was obsessed with XML....I wrote the following.......
As today is my last day with Company XXX, I thought I would say my goodbyes as well. If there is one thing I have learned, it is the power of XML. Unfortunately the translations were sent out late, so you'll have to wait until next week to find out how I really feel!!
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE mass-email-template PUBLIC
"-//Bridges DTD 2.0//EN"
"http://realultimatepower.net">
<goodbye date="${today}">
<message>
<p>Dear ${peer.name},</p>
<p>Ive worked here for ${months.of.service} months
and I can honestly say that this is the most ${approp.adjective1} place I have had the ${approp.adjective2} of working for. I have learned ${quantitative.amount} about successful IT development at this ${descriptive.location}.</p>
<p>I wish you and everyone at ${place.of.employment} a hearty ${quirky.idiom}. I am confidant that ${place.of.employment} will enjoy much ${descriptive.noun} in the future!</p>
<p>Sincerly, ${name.of.person.leaving}</p>
</message>
</goodbye>
In all seriousness, I've had an enjoyable 22 months at Company XXX. Good luck to all!
Keep in touch!
It's sad but true. When an employee does something wrong it's unprofessional. When an employer does something wrong it's business.
The term "professionalism", as used around here means employees giving unpaid perks to the company. I've thought about asking the grocery store for a few extra carrots for the same money, then if they refuse, tell them it's "unprofessional".
I am not a crackpot.
kthxbye
Open Source Alternatives
Not to mention possibly career ending.
Well, if you're switching careers anyway, it can be quite cathartic to send off that final blistering e-mail you've always wanted to send telling everyone what you really think of them...
Though, to be fair, I think that sort of thing should be saved until retirement.
We all know what to do, but we don't know how to get re-elected once we have done it
The summaries
PS. I was leaving full in a poor emotional state. More or less astray dog with a heart full of napalm
Many moons ago, I worked for a consumer hardware/software company that no longer exists...but their mascot was a professor. With an egg-shaped head. Ahem.
Anyhoo...a manager was packaged one day. He was well-liked by his co-workers and employees, but butted heads with the exec team. On his last day he wrote a lengthy email to everyone in the company detailing why he was very sad to see a company with so many good people and good products go to hell because of poor management, and proceeded to detail examples of what he deemed to be poor management. As he was packing up his desk and saying his goodbyes, he was pulled into the Operations Exec's office along with two corporate lawyers, and spent the last three hours of his last day apologizing for sending the email, and pleading his case as to why he should still be allowed a package, and not be fired outright and have any severance payments and benefits denied on the spot.
Yeah...oops
My debut novel AMITY now available: http://jeremydbrooks.c
When I left my last job, I told exactly two people: My immediate manager, and the director of the institute. Other than this I kept it very, very quiet that I was leaving. Certainly, I didn't do the usual "send an all-staff email to let everyone know what a waste of air I think they are." I've seen so many of those, and they always seem totally petty and stupid and are always very bridge-burning.
-fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
Though, to be fair, I think that sort of thing should be saved until retirement.
http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/sjclark1967/FarSideLoneRanger.jpg
That which does not kill us makes us... st
You can find a picture here.
You can find the entire email here.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
It is always the decision of someone within the company. There is no self-aware corporate overlord wailing on its human drones. The correct question is "Is the action in accord with established corporate policy and if not who decided on the exception?" You can normally answer the first part with a polite conversation with someone in Human Resources, the Ombudsman's Office, or the Compliance Office. I must stress polite.
If the decision was outside of policy, then you can focus your decisions on possibly useful options (filing an internal complaint, whistle-blowing to law enforcement, retaining an attorney etc.).
I left one company that was in trouble for misspending employee 401K funds. One manager was in a barely concealed affair with his subordinate. Another manager showed up to work drunk.
I don't remember the exact words I used, but it was something similar to:
The management staff here is remarkable. I remain grateful for my short time employed with xxxx. Thank you and best regards.
As other people have mentioned, in some fields (IT in particular) it may not pay to say what you truly feel.
I think if you were getting laid off or moving else where, you'd want to start a linked in account and get as many of your current co-workers on your list.
You might be losing the company contact lists, but it would be helpful to have made your own copy of folks that may be valuable to you before you change employers. I'd suggest making sure that strategic people also have a non-work email address in case they need to contact you.
The Golden Rule here. Never burn down any bridge!
It doesn't matter if you thought everyone there was less than pond slim, you don't/never let them know that! You use them to your advantage to get to some where nicer!
Remember hell/heaven is who you surround yourself with/by.
bgsound and script tags in html emails.
Just saying.
echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
Which every hacker should read.
Best Slashdot Co
"Dear Bob, thanks for giving me the opportunity to work for your company which I really enjoyed and think you've got the smarts to take it big. Shame only a third of your management team are going to actually help you get there, but at least you've got some good people."
For those of you familiar with Half Baked..
"Fuck you, Fuck you, Fuck you, You're cool, and Fuck you, I'm Out!"
My favorite farewell letter was the one I sent out that simply quoted Monkey Wrench by Foo Fighters. I would ask my boss for information and he would just talk of of his ass because he was really quite ignorant (and a jerk). He would tell me I asked too many questions, and I would tell him he provided too few answers. It turns out a lot of my co-workers were big FF fans, so they really got a kick out of it as well.
One last thing before I quit
I never wanted any more than I could fit
Into my head I still remember every single word
You said and all the shit that somehow came along with it
Still there's one thing that comforts me since I was
Always caged and now I'm free
I was a contract employee for a company and had frequently pursued being hired on full time. My direct management had no power to actually bring me on as an employee so eventually I started taking it up the chain of management. My last discussion with management essentially ended with we will let you work your schedule around any potential interviews you have with other companies.
About 6 months after that I had a good offer from another company and sent out my rather standard farewell email. Within the hour, I had a call where management had been pressured to find me an opening, any opening for a full time position with the company. I, of course, didn't accept their offer because they had proven they wouldn't promote based on merit.
It may really be a bad idea to burn all those bridges, especially if the company is the one ending your relationship...
is sent in good grace, with sincerity, good taste and humanity, when the departing colleague has a history of sending backstabbing, flame-war inducing email throughout his tenure. Really - outlook should have not just a spell checker and a grammar checker but a "stop being a prick" checker.
Nullius in verba
yea there's a big difference between losing a fetus and losing a child.
A guy who was laid off from where I once worked many years ago (when bandwidth was precious) sent out a note to everyone saying "thank you for being great co-workers" etc and so on. And then he said, "and the attached JPEG is for the drooling retards running this company. when you downloaded it, it was enormous. I forget how big. giant. and so you had to zoom way the hell out to see it was "FUCK YOU" in red letters on a bright green background. I think the typeface was Futura Black, which seemed prophetic, considering he was homeless 6 months later.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
A few years ago, I changed careers. I cleaned up my desk a couple weeks before leaving, taking home anything I wanted, not a whole lot, just some books and personal effects. I left pictures (of which I had copies), a poster, some books I didn't want, all the company files (of course), my office supplies and kleenex box, some of my lunch food and snacks. I came in in the middle of the night and collected any last things I wanted, and set my e-mail address to bounce. My cell phone contract was up and I was moving, at the same time. So, in effect, I just disappeared. Most people, I'm sure didn't notice or care, but I bet there's one or two people who wonder what happened to me. They deserve not to find out.
has always worked for me.
I hate people that think like you do.
Was he a good employee at the previous job? Do you know EXACTLY why he REALLY got fired? Did he deserve it?
Being unprofessional is one thing, but sending a pissed off email because you were wronged doesn't really bother me, and 9 times out of 10 due to politics you really don't know why someone was fired. You may hear 'because they did XX', but thats likely just an excuse for 'he made me or my boss look stupid, which we are, but don't want anyone to know'.
So if you guys know for a fact that he was wrong and that he was a bad employee at the previous company, then fine. But giving him a crappy interview for something ten years ago that you don't know the full details of is unprofessional of you. Either way, 10 years is a long time and people do grow up sometimes. You could have just cheated yourself out of an excellent employee because you're unable to look over mistakes people have made in the past.
Like I said though, its entirely dependant on the situation, but I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume from the way your stating it that you really don't know what truely happened to him.
For the record though, your bragging about handling the interview the way you did, is extremely unprofessional, and pretty damn childish. You didn't even have the balls to tell them why you blew the guy off.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
Your boss loves it when you write a stupid, vengeful email after being made redundant.
No-one likes laying someone off, unless they're incompetent or have it coming. So receiving the FU email after breaking the bad news makes the task that bit easier. They can go home thinking "Yeah, we made the right decision there, that guy really was a real douche and we never knew it until now", and sleep guilt-free in their beds.
So go ahead, write that email that tells all your colleges what you really think of them. Your boss will thank you for it and everyone else won't miss you once you're gone.
To be fair.. ...even when the person/company on the receiving end deserves a kick in the arse.
Professionalism is acting with grace and civility...
SO when the boss tells you to unclog the toilet in the bathroom you reply:
"No problem sir. Would you prefer I use a plunger or the toilet brush as I am updating my resume and want a good list of what technologies I use in my work?"
What is the context of this picture? I've never seen it before. Is it after he pulled out of the primaries?
p.s. This is a pretty awesome idle article IMHO. !idleispants
Actually he was just thinking about something to himself while waiting for a scheduled press interview. Paul> Obama>McCain
The Three Envelopes.
IT manager starts a new position.
All goes well for a few weeks, then something big breaks. Lots of pressure. Rooting around in his desk, he finds 3 envelopes. The first is labeled "Open at the First Crisis". On a whim, he opens it and the note inside reads "Blame it on your Predecessor". He decides to take this advice and to his surprise, it works like a charm, management is satisfied, he is given time to fix things.
A few months go by and a something much bigger breaks, seriously disrupting operations. He is in trouble. At his desk, he decides to open the envelope labeled: "Open at the Second Crisis". He'd been saving it for something big, and this is it. The note inside says: "Form a Committee to Study the Issue". He does just that and, to his surprise, it works great. The committee wastes time and accomplishes nothing, but blame is diffused.
A few years go by. The third and final envelope is labeled: "Open at the Third Crisis". He thinks about opening it many times, but he waits, saving it for a real disaster. One day, it comes. Catastrophic failure. He takes a deep breath, tears the envelope open and inside, finds a note that reads: "Prepare Three Envelopes".
(I liked this story so much that I left a set of envelopes behind at one job.)
Actually, it was two or three years after he left the company to go to a dot.com startup. His email on the way out was something along the lines of 'so long suckers, I'm going to get rich while you idiots work here, you all suck.." and insults to everyone he worked with. It was like he finally got to say what he had been dying to say for years.
Technically, he was competent, but not stellar. He was about average for the role he was applying for, but his past history was a mark against him. There were better candidates.
I started my graphic designer career in a small-ish town in midcoast Maine, and worked my way up to more prestigious positions at larger companies in Bangor and eventually Portland (Portland being the goal all along). I burned some bridges with a couple of companies along the way. The economy being the way it is, I wound up back in midcoast Maine, and thankfully, I hadn't burned any bridges here, and I now have a great support staff consisting of people I used to work with and employers I've worked for before. Definitely not a good idea to send that email to piss off your former employer. You never know when you might need a good reference, and you can't leave a hole in your employment skills on your resume because you don't want anyone to contact that employer. Just looks odd. Oh yeah, and like me, you might find yourself back in your hometown looking for a job. If you left on good terms, you might be able to return to that job (if you REALLY need the job).
Screw you guy, I'm going home.
You have an odd idea of what professionalism is if you think it relates to perks for the company. Professionalism is not getting angry with people because they disagree with you no matter which method they choose to employ to persuade people. It's arriving at work on time and in proper attire. It means doing what you say you will do and when you say you'll do it. These are not unpaid perks that the company enjoys, they make for a work atmosphere which gets a lot more work done so I guess you could say you are doing more work without getting extra money but its all work you should be doing instead of arguing about stupid things.
Professionalism has a lot of characteristics that obviously vary from profession to profession so I'm mainly focusing on professionalism in an IT position. You need to intelligently be able to defend your position at all times even when someone that has no business making decisions is voicing an opinion and just happens to have the ear of the CTO or CEO in my case. You must be able to illustrate the lack of common sense those that would disagree with you would clearly have through polite means often with careful politicking. You need to be able to demonstrate the business sense in your goals and what you are proposing, how will this help the company make or save money? It's mastery of a craft, confidence that can't be shaken when the wind turns the wrong way which it inevitably does. It almost means consistency in behavior.
In the context of this discussion professionalism is a warm goodbye email that talks about what you enjoyed at the company and most times includes alternate ways to contact you.
Try telling that to a woman who just had a miscarriage, and she'll rip your still-beating heart of your chest and choke you with it.
Seriously - way to be a dick.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
At my last job, I sent out a top ten list of reasons for leaving. I had things like:
*) "All COBOL, All the time" no longer the exciting thrill it once was
and
*) This part of my world domination plans is now complete
Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
A few years ago I worked for a college at NCSU that hired me to redo their website. Interestingly enough another group at the college did the same and we were told to work together. This guy claimed to have years of experience in designing sites and print media... but couldn't even tell you the basic HTML tags for a webpage.
Long story short, I was fired for not working well with him but hired almost 2 weeks later for more pay at a better job, better office, and all around better situation.
He on the hand, failed to bring their site online, convinced them to implement a CRM that he could manage, deleted the ENTER site (15,000+ pages) not once, not twice but three times.
Applied styles around my SQL code and claimed that I didn't know what I was doing... but the best part...
*Drum roll please*
The person they hired to replace me (wtf did they hire someone to replace me if he was so great)... quit three weeks ago with NO notice with the reason...
"I can't take Tom anymore".
I found this out when that college sent out major SOS requests to any developers who could help them fix their site. Tom had deleted it again...
God I love my life.
Truer words were never spoken, but it's a sad indictment of businesses these days.
I've worked for startups, small companies, mid-sized companies and one very large one, and while I was generally treated well, that describes the order of how well I was treated and the respect I had for management, from best to worst. After spending 15 months at AOL a few years ago (in between layoffs, as it were), I finally concluded that we, as a society, have finally and completely lost the ability to manage.
It was a growing thing that I'd observed for more than a decade, but after seeing Dilbert come alive at that place and others as well, I can understand why so many companies and especially our government are in the messes they are in.
I do have to say, though, that my immediate supervisor at AOL and almost every other place I've worked at were top-notch, stand-up people, but the numbers of butt-kissers, numbskulls, backstabbers and all around nincompoops above them reached new highs in the annals of asshattery.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
Oh man, that picture is funny. Even as a fervent Libertarian and Ron Paul supporter, it's hilarious. I feel bad for the poor fella.
I voluntarily left a "back-up" position I was given as an apology for my boss eating my budget and thus having to eliminate my original position in the same-ish department . I was somewhat bitter entering the position, but I knew I could make great changes in my new position. Little did I know that the supervisor was angry, paranoid, irrational, and rather cruel to some people. When I quit, I left her with a long letter detailing each of her major leadership and tact-based mistakes she made in the paltry 3 months I was there. I then told her how disappointing it was that she did not have the necessary leadership skills after 15 years in that position ... also noting that my position having gone through 13 people in 5 years should be a clue.
When I resigned that position, it was required to turn in a copy of my resignation letter to HR. So I gave them a copy. "Somehow" others saw it, too. Those others liked it and expressed their condolences... specifically since the person under whom I was employed is an "untouchable" in our industry. She will always be there because of who she is.
...That you can't flesh out that miscarriage comment with a little anecdote from your family's past.
Preferably as told by your mother, and if possbile from about back then when you were born.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
... and thanks for all the fish.
Colorless green Cthulhu waits dreaming furiously.
When I was laid off in January(no worries new position starts soon), the company immediately made me log out of my machine. They didn't even want me to save the code I had worked on all day, they simple walked me to the machine and said log off. They then informed me my account password was already changed and I wouldn't be getting back in. After this, they said take 5 minutes to pack up and say goodbye to a few people and get out.
On my way out they informed me that they really regretted losing me because I was a good employee, but they had to make cuts. I said I understood.
I never got to send that farewell e-mail, but the joke is really on them. The lay-offs came out of the blue, and I had been working on major updates to the database all day. No one knew this as I was the sole developer. I was going to change the code to reflect the DB changes the next day, but I never got to. If they don't find my backups the code base will never work....
fuck you, fuck you, you're cool, and fuck you, I'm out!
Lawsuit pending.
Recuse yourself? Answering the question "can the team work with this guy" is a very important part of the interview! Unless the guy is the second coming of von Neumann and capable of replacing the entire staff combined, hiring someone who's going to increase turnover is a huge net loss.
Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake founded flickr which was bought by Yahoo! - several years later they left - his resignation letter is a great read...
http://flickr.com/photos/bioxid/2592847594/
it starts...
"Dear Brad,
As you know, tin is in my blood. For generations my family has worked with this most useful of metals.
When I joined Yahoo! back in '21, it was a sheet-tin concern of great momentum, growth and innovation.
It was the place for me..."
Almost a year to the day after 911, our company was considering layoffs and the rummer mill was running at full speed. My direct boss had been laid off a month before and I was handed off to a manager in another state but he never made contact with me. I went to my mail box to check for my pay stub. Seeing that there was one in everyone's box but mine, I started to get a little nervous about my job. I about sprinted to HR and asked where my stub was but when I walked into the room everyone's eyes popped open and jaws dropped, the director turned bright red and shot up like she was a spring, pointed at me with an accusing finger and speaking with a warbling voice, "Wh-wh-wh-what are YOU doing here!?" I could feel my sphincter pucker slightly as I slowly came to realize that her question and the lack of a pay stub was somehow related. I answered in the most articulate and professional way possible by stammering out a reply that sounded like it was coming from my five year old when caught with her hand in the cookies right before dinner, "Huh?". "Stay right there!" I was ordered but after spending a month 10 years earlier in Iraq lighting up towers and communication buildings with lasers for A-6 medium bombers, and then shooting our way out back to a Seahawks, I knew when to duck and run! I made it to my desk in 20 seconds and dumped all my contacts, my Rolodex and miscellaneous office products into a paper box, used my pen knife to open the PC case, yanked the HD out and shoved the old one that the Tech guy forgot six months earlier (he told me the leave it there, he would come by and pick it up tomorrow...) to take with him when he swapped them out and ran for the door. I dumped the box and went back to the building, my badge still worked so I went to the Tech guy and told him about the PC not booting up, he grabbed another Ghosted HD and did the swap in five minutes leaving no trace of my reallocation of data to my car. Email was web based and so I logged in and ran a search for my bosses emails. "Shit!", I blurted as I found his email dated two weeks earlier in my junk box outlining my severance package and deadline for its acceptance. Stealing a quick look at the calendar, I saw that the last day was today, so I got up and made my way down to HR once more. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I walked in again and smiled, "Hello!, I guess I need to ask about signing up for my severance package." I got 26 weeks full pay, yes, even the extra two weeks I worked were added, and a full year of unemployment. I sent emails to all of my contacts and stole about 2/3ds away from my old company a year later after the non-compete agreement ran out. Getting booted was the best thing to happen and I lounged for almost a year with my kids.
but I do run 2 exchange servers..
I believe it.
within outlook a space is as good as a semicolon for separating names....
every day http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
We had a salesman do this after the sales manager told him he was about to get canned before I had been given notice to disable his accounts. He knew the sales manager's password to our CRM application, logged on as him, and attempted to delete every account in the system. Then he switched to the shared file storage and started deleting every file he could get his hands on. That's when my boss called me and we shut down his workstation remotely. Then he started attacking us with a metal yardstick. The receptionist called 911 and the police showed up. He said he wasn't going back to jail and tried to attack the officers, at which point they tazered the hell out of him. Funniest thing I ever saw. We pressed charges for destroying data and assault/battery, and he plead guilty. I forgot what he was sentenced to, but last I heard he was out of jail but still unemployed four years later. Word got around pretty quickly and nobody would have anything to do with him. This is a relatively small town, so I don't understand why anyone would be so stupid as to do something like that.
We ended up needing one all-nighter to recover. Most of it was spend figuring out what exactly he had actually deleted, as lack of permissions had prevented most of it. In any event, I didn't mind, the sight of him doing the tazer dance in front of everyone was totally worth it. I won't advocate tazering people indiscriminately but he totally absolutely deserved it. You had to be there, it defies description how funny it was. He went from attacking people with a yardstick to quivering wreck on the floor in about as fast as you could say "quivering wreck on the floor".
Not sure who this guy was, but he copied a _large_ number of people, including the CEO (bonus points if you can figure out what company it is):
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I've left my job with one company by leaving all of my stuff in the server closet, a piece of paper with the passwords, and a note saying "Good Bye!" They bounced several pay checks, and delayed disbursing paychecks for several months beforehand.
The second time, I dumped my laptop and gear at the data center, and sent an email to the HR drone saying "I can't take this anymore. I'm gone effective now."
This one, we had 3 Canadian contractors who made my life hell, by making it impossible for me to do my work. not giving me access, and fucking with my passwords. They kept their shitty jobs, I got a new one.
A friend and I worked at a major law firm (we have both since left there). He left before I did. About 6 months before he left, the firm decided to do a marketing brochure to show how ethnically diverse we were. They located one of each ethnicity they could find (about 7 lawyers as I recall), and did a photo shoot.
He left voluntarily (was not fired), but I recall that coming in the morning after he left, there was a photocopy picture of the 7 ethnically diverse lawyers at the firm, and he (or someone) had cut himself out of the picture. No note - this was years before email, the web etc.
I thought it a poignant statement, made without words, which of course to my knowledge not a single senior partner understood (or accepted). It would be hard to do that so anonymously today via an email - no one really knew whether he did it or someone else did.
This lawyer today is very, very successful and has a very important position in internet law policy making at the federal level.
Yay for prejudice against a social group.
After years and years of dedicated service a sysadmin is getting fired. He has one day to train his replacement. He says to the guy taking over his job "This is the only training I think you need. In the file cabinet there are 2 envelopes. The first time you get in trouble bad, open the envelope marked 1. If the crap hits the fan again, open the envelope marked 2. That should be all you need to know."
So months go by and the new guy does his job diligently, but as we all know sometimes things just go wrong. He gets in hot water and fears for his job. Luckily he remembers the envelopes in the cabinet. He grabs the envelope and it just has one slip of paper in it from the old Sysadmin. It reads: "Blame it all on me."
he does, and management buys it. He keeps his job.
Unfortunately later in his career things get bad agian and it looks like he's going to get fired. He remembers envelope number 2 is still in the cabinet. Excited, he get the envelope and tears it open. Another note is in the envelope from the old sysadmin.
It starts : " You will need 2 envelopes and some paper..."
In the employee break room of a local grocery store, they have a prominent announcement on their bulletin board, very large lettering, which reads in effect that all employees should remember there are other people out there that need jobs.
I am underimpressed with the owners.
As tempting as it might be, you never know when you might possibly want a security clearance down the road, and someone goes to talk to your former employers.
Hmmm, so you decided not to hire someone who you had intimate knowledge was able to do the job because of a single unprofessional act that, at worst, put a very small dent in the morale of other employees at the company you worked for.
How petty.
Where I work, petty people won't to decide who is and isn't hired for very long. That's usually the case at most companies that are worth working for.
I used to work in a call center for a credit card company as an IT guy. One of my colleagues found a better job; however, he could use the extra cash and offered to work part time nights for the credit agency; well, one of the big boss men in the building said no, because he only gave a week's notice. Thus the boss man questioned his loyalty to the company. Even though my friend had about a week to go, I didn't see him again; however, I did about pee on myself when the big boss man boomed through the IT office door. He was red as could be. His only words were "Where's DONNY!" He left the IT office and stormed through the building looking for him. Donny had hightailed it out of there long before then. Donny found a thank you letter from the boss man on a public share drive. Anyone in the company could have seen it. The thank you letter was for a competitor of ours. Donny took it upon himself to forward that letter to everyone in the building and to everyone at corporate. (My IT manager made me delete the email before I could read it.) Donny called eventually and told us that it read something like the following, "All, I'd just like to point out the loyalty to our company that Mr. X. Attached is a letter that he wrote to Company Y." You all are probably thinking what a riot. The funniest part is yet to come. Evidently, Mr. Boss man was really good at what he did, so a few months later he received a huge promotion from the company. I so wanted to tell Steve, "I guess you should be sending Donny a thank you letter, huh?"
I couldn't disagree more with this. If someone has just had a miscarriage or been diagnosed with cancer or just won a million dollars, I'd use the same method to layoff each one. Business is full of cold decisions, especially when layoffs come around, and there is no "tact" when this happens. People that complain about this stuff would still be complaining even if they rolled out the red carpet and handed them a honey baked ham on the way out. Furthermore, this is America, if you handle the layoff of a woman with a miscarriage differently than you do a man, you could have a lawsuit on your hand. The only thing to be pissed off about getting laid off is them drawing it out and preventing you from entering the interview environment sooner rather than later before more of America gets laid off and you have more competition. I'd rather know now than a week from now. btw, i'm not a manager, I'm a level 1 worker bee.
When I left my last employer, I posted my farewell to the developer mailing list that I moderated. No bridges were harmed.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Dear Co-Workers,
As many of you probably know, tomorrow is my last day. But before I leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a great and distinct pleasure it has been to type âoeTomorrow is my last day.â
For nearly as long as Iâ(TM)ve worked here, Iâ(TM)ve hoped that I might one day leave this company. And now that this dream has become a reality, please know that I could not have reached this goal without your unending lack of support. Words cannot express my gratitude for the words of gratitude you did not express.
Read rest at:
http://www.bloggingwv.com/a-farewell-email-from-an-ernst-young-employee-to-his-co-workers/
I would like to mention that there is a great IT network that helps folks keep in touch and shows your skill set/background to potential employers. The network is called LinkedIn --> www.linkedin.com
Odd. I've worked for startups, small companies, mid-sized companies and one very large one, and I would rate them in the opposite order, worst to best. -And I never quite got Dilbert.
Goes to show that the business world is a varied place where stereotypes don't work very well.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
Actually, the employer is NOT the customer, because we don't actually sell labor here, we contract labor. The employer and employees are involved in a non-sales contract, which should be honored equally and involve consideration for both sides.
And it doesn't matter if they pay for it in the good times, sadly; it's the bad times that give companies the power to chain people to their desks, or to pay below a living wage. Or, as is currently in vogue, to hire people for multiple part-time shifts, to avoid paying overtime.
My past two jobs were ended with
:)
"I don't know half you half as well as I should like and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve."
It always leaves a little mystery.
Help a man when he is in trouble and he will remember you when he is in trouble again.
It's somewhat like the difference between getting turned down for an expectedly successful interview/promotion and getting unexpected canned.
One is a blow against your expectations and dreams. Another is the removal of a long-term part of your life.
As the male counterpart to somebody who has suffered a miscarriage, I'd have to say that it carries a good burden of psychological and chemical (hormonal changes) damage, not to mention the general physical side-effects. That being the care, I couldn't imagine comparing it to the loss of an actual child. With support and nurturing, my girlfriend recovered from the miscarriage. It's the loss of an expectation without an identity, and hopefully we can try again later. To be fair also, this was a few months in, and - among many factors - how close one is to birth is a strongly influencing factor as well.
From those I know who have lost children, it's somewhat of a permanent life-damaging experience. While the initial pain may fade, there will always be scars. Family friends who lost their son in a flooded river still faced confusion and pain during his birthday and other events (and I'm sure in daily life) almost a decade later. I've lost touch with them but I don't doubt they still suffer from this.
A lot of things can make a miscarriage worse. Inability to bear future children. How long you've been trying/planning (or if you are), and how long it took to conceive in that case. Whether you have existing children. The age of the mother and spouse, etc, but I still couldn't imagine having to deal with actually losing a child.
It's inelegantly phrased by the parent, but - yes - there is a big difference.
In his farewell email, my friend used the title/subject line "All Good Things..."
Mine was "What you Leave Behind..."
Good thing we didn't have a third, or people would have panicked when they saw the subject, "Endgame"
Another friend somehow got his hands on a shirt that said "So long and thanks for all the passwords" for his exit interview/layoff "notification".
I had a sucky sig.
Try telling that to a woman who just lost a child.
I'm not arrogant enough to tell you what she would or wouldn't do.
I haven't really been following this case that closely other than catching it initially, but it seems to me that when these things hit the courts, the "career suicide" part of things really depends on who wins.
Facing up against your former firm and winning might make one seem enough of a tiger to get hired on in another.
Usually the people who leave are those who can find other jobs - which are precisely those you want to keep.
I've definately seen that happen. Sadly, I've also seen some very bright people stay behind at the old company because they liked the product and company, and then get incorrectly labelled as just another of those without the skills to get a better job.
On the bright side, the employers can fall victim. A clueless and disliked exec at an older company was job hunting and was interviewing at a startup company in the same field (and same town). He was spotted by several of his former employees as he was walking through the corridors that morning, and they quickly had a chat with the CEO regarding that person's "qualifications". He didn't get the job.
This instantly reminded me of a favorite essay by Mark Twight. (http://www.gymjones.com/knowledge.php?id=15)
Particularly:
"Burn the bridge. Nuke the foundation. Back yourself up against a wall. Have an opinion one way or the other, get off the fence and rip it up. Cut yourself off so there is no going back. Once you're committed the truth will come out. You ask about security? What you need is uncertainty. What you need is confusion; something that forces you to reinvent yourself, a whip to drive you harder."
I always, without exception, do my best when I back myself into corner. Way back.
PM
It is always the decision of someone within the company. There is no self-aware corporate overlord wailing on its human drones.
No, but sometimes decisions happen within groups in weird ways. Sometimes lots of different people can contribute to an event happening even though none of them actually want it to happen. There's also such a thing as a corporate culture, and it can influence individual actions/decisions.
The correct question is "Is the action in accord with established corporate policy and if not who decided on the exception?"
Yeah, that doesn't always get you as far as you think. Often enough, a manager will interpret policy and follow it more or less depending on what he wants to do anyway. Sometimes the policy is there specifically so people can do what they want, and then point to the policy and say, "It's not my fault. That's just our policy." I'm not making this up. Policies are often overtly for the purpose of CYA, not fairness.
I'm from Ohio, but had the fortune to work for several years for a small Catalan consulting firm in Barcelona, Spain. I quit several months before moving back to the United States in order to do some travel, etc... Not least because I was leaving of my own accord, my farewell email was full of the usual well-wishes for colleagues and what not. The subject: Yankee Goes Home
Dear *your company name here*;
I regret to inform you that your services as employer are no longer required. You position has been terminated effective *your last day at work*.
This decision was not arrived at lightly, and is in no way is a reflection on the performance of your duties as an employer.
Signed,
*your signature*
Date: *today's date*
Print the above out on pink paper, and sign it. Lay off your entire company :-)
Ian Ameline
I knew Carly was bad, but I never know anyone who worked for her personally.
PS - they did finally get rid of her, but I heard she's found an organization which matches her personality. I hope the Republicans have plan to get rid of her.
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Whatever you do, don't predict the downfall of the company or your department, or some such... A good friend of mine predicted that a major corporations router tables would fail due to bad practices within six months of his leaving the company. (you can probably guess why he'd leave, as they never did anything to actually fix the problems.) When this happened within a week of his prediction, the management (which was always stellar) assumed he'd sabotaged them, and sent a legal team after him. Needless to say they didn't win. In fact I believe they hired him back for a month as a consultant at top dollar... cuz he understood their problem better than anyone at the company. Morale of the story, if you know that your company will fail, just let it go.
http://www.beanleafpress.com
The world is different today compared to the past (compared to even just a year ago). The constant march of technology makes it possible for a smaller work force to do virtually the same job as a larger workforce. As white collar employees are handed pink slips, an employer like a bank or a brokerage may be prudent to generously retain their e-mail records. The records are a valuable asset to the employer, relating to intellectual property, project management, customer relationships and more. --Ben http://legal-beagle.typepad.com/wrights_legal_beagle/2008/10/retain-e-mail-of-former-employees.html
Benjamin Wright, Dallas, Texas, benjaminwright.us
I left a company about one and a half years ago to move to greener pastures (well to be precise, same global company, different country, but I did still technically quit the old job). I wrote a fairly standard and "nice" goodbye email to everyone and they threw me a nice farewell party.
However, what I found humorous was the emails I RECEIVED as I left. Some were nice ("been a pleasure working with you, blah blah"), a minority were nasty ("finally getting rid of you - fuck off and don't come back"), and some were just incredibly surprising (cute girl: "I'm so disappointed I never got to sleep with you!"... damn, had I only known earlier!).
The best thing though was a large banner that my co-workers printed. As I was the "resident uber-geek", they wanted to try and do something they thought I might appreciate. They used some kind of online tool to convert ASCII to binary, and printed a large poster that was SUPPOSED to say "01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100010 01111001 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00100000 01101100 01110101 01100011 01101011". Unfortunately, it got truncated somehow and ended up as "01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100010 01111001 01100101 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01100111 01101111". Now, they all sort of expected me to decode it in my head instantly, so were a little disappointed when I didn't... but, being the "geek", I did so (slowly, but surely) and about 20 seconds later started laughing... they couldn't figure out why, and so I did have to eventually explain it to them. I do still wonder if someone deliberately truncated it at that point (there were other geeks there after all), but I think it's more than likely just a humorous coincidence.
My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
You obviously have never had children.
My wife had a miscarriage, and she got over it, primarily by having a child. There's no way we could do the same if we lost that child.
I think this all started with Neutron Jack Welch. The thing about good ole Jack is that his purpose, basically was to eliminate American manufacturing jobs and turn his company into something else that didn't do manufacturing. In fact, he turned it, General Electric, into yet another useless financial company, while the jobs that generated the real national wealth shifted overseas. In the future, I think he'll be seen for what he was, a parasite who reduced America to third world status and made billions doing it.
The thing is, if you are essentially just cutting your losses and planning on eliminating business divisions completely, you have no reason to care about the years of experience walking out the door. He's considered a success because he "made money," but he didn't make G. E. competitive with the Japanese. Here's a quote from an article, "I came into a company that had at least an extra 100,000, maybe 150,000 extra people. It was the early '80s. We were making television sets in Syracuse, N.Y., and the Japanese were selling them at the mall cheaper than we were making them." Jack Welch: 'I Fell In Love' So, essentially, he made money from failure.
Well, we've had years of this as the U. S. transformed into a nation of middlemen, shady accountants, lawyers, and "would you like fries with that" type jobs. The U. S. is basically the B-Ark from Life, the Universe, and Everything, with all the thinkers and doers being in the Eastern part of the world now. Good for them, not so good for us.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
I have 'pre-announced' several layoffs for tech companies over the years. None of it was malicious, none of it was meant to harm, it is just news that dropped into my lap. If management lets it get out to the press before they tell the employees, they are doing something very wrong. That said, most companies fall into this category.
*SIGH*
-Charlie
We sign a contract saying "I will do X, and it return you'll be me Y (every week, two weeks, etc.)". Isn't that selling? When you buy anything major, you usually have to sign a contract.
I don't like the employer having that much power over me either. But it's the other side of me being able to go to Wal*Mart or Target, and buy one of a number of options of almost everything.
-- Support a free market in the field of government
I have found that big companies are just as likely to treat you decently and give you a fair shake if they have to let you go. I've heard plenty of stories from people who have worked at small businesses (such as start ups) who were at the mercy of personality wars and psycho owners.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
It's sad but true. When an employee does something wrong it's unprofessional. When an employer does something wrong it's business.
The term "professionalism", as used around here means employees giving unpaid perks to the company. I've thought about asking the grocery store for a few extra carrots for the same money, then if they refuse, tell them it's "unprofessional".
What if you told them the other grocery store was selling more carrots for the same price?
That happens all the time- working overtime gives you an edge over people competing to replace you.
Sad but true.
Goodbye and good luck
Goodbye and go
We had an employee that was let go because he told a customer to F off on the phone. Apparently, he had been doing this quite a bit and finally got caught.
After he was let go, he sent a scathing email back to the company and told me and another supervisor to F off. He also mentioned in the email that he had gotten on at the local sheriff's department and his life was Sooooooo much better now. The idea of him carrying a gun was kind of scary.
A few weeks later, HR gets an unemployment request from the state for this ex-employee. It turns out that he didn't make the first cut during his training and somehow getting cut during training was not grounds for getting unemployment. HR forwarded his email and a request to deny unemployment to the state due to the fact that we were not his last employer. They agreed and denied him unemployment.
It was quite the poetic moment for me.....
RTFG - Read The F#$%ing Google!
What's wrong with that? In the break room, no less: If employees don't want to work, the management can, and will, find more motivated individuals who do. So, take your break when you're scheduled to have it, then go back to work, because you're not paid to sit in the break room all day long.
In a skilled field, you'd of course want to retain your help, but it doesn't take much skill to stock shelves or push carts. As soon as an employee stops putting out the requested amount of effort, they can be sent out the door with very little inconvenience.
"Can not sleep and bad cough - I am still in the shock state after the
death penalty.
Will see a GP later today."
When I put in my 2 weeks notice at my last job, I was sent home on the spot. They deactivated my email login before I even got back to my desk. I couldn't even tell my group members that I was leaving...they probably thought I was fired. -_- At my current job, they seem to do the same thing for the layoffs. When people get laid off, a manager announces it to the team - the former employees immediately lose all access to the email lists and their account...probably to safeguard against nasty emails.
~Lianne
I'd do them, but in reverse order. After not washing my hands.
The more people I meet, the better I like my dog.
My friend Doug wrote just that. "Logout" to the co. Some people were pissed at his lack of sentimentality :)
H.
I had the distinct impression that GP was talking about "professionalism" as defined in his own workplace.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
The toilets backed up? Just call maintenance/local plumber and have them fix it. What's the big deal? The Director is delegating, you friend should, too. That's leadership, or some element of it. Granted, the Director should just call maintenance, but that's life.
This is where I get my recommended daily allowance of "Foot in Mouth."
Having been through one, I know it's a terrible thing to experience, but it's not a justification as the sole reason to give preference to someone where the decision has been made to fire them.
If the emotional response to the miscarriage is the only reason for firing, however, the company should be ashamed and the woman should hire an attorney.
My condolences to her on the loss of her child.
"The "anyone is replaceable" mentality is, IMO, one of the most organizationally destructive in America."
i work for a large cable company, and that is the prevailing attitude here. those of us who have been here for longer than a few months are frustrated at how management doesn't seem to see any inherent value in the tenured employees. they have no qualms about moving the billing monkeys into high speed support. and they wonder why we're all burned out.
the unofficial company motto: "it is what it is."
"If for any reason you're not satisfied with our service, I hate you."
Fair enough, a lot of employers definitely take the idea too far. It cuts both ways, like putting people on salary, if they work 100 hours one week you can't expect them to work a full 40 hour week the next.
Curse my lack of mod points!
"If for any reason you're not satisfied with our service, I hate you."
I so enjoyed punching myself in the mouth when I quit.
flinging poop since 1969
>> With so many people losing their jobs
Really?
I would rather not burn bridges - you never know if you may want to work at a company where a previous co-worker is employed at.
I agree somewhat. It all depends on the situation though. Some places need a response. You don't need to be nasty (for the very reasons you mention), but sometimes you do need to do something. If only to keep your sanity.
Last place I left was so bad I left without putting in a two week notice. Only time I've ever done that. Showed up late, walked around and personally told everyone I cared about goodbye. Handed my boss typed up instructions on my project and how to use it so the next guy won't be screwed. Gave him my passwords and all that.
Then loaded up my PC, turned on active desktop, set my desktop to Badger Badger Mushroom, and walked out.
BTW the place was a madhouse. This was entirely appropriate behavior. The HR lady who did my exit interview? She was terribly unhappy about my unprofessional exit and lectured me about the appropriate way to quit a job. But. Two months later she went out drinking margaritas at lunchtime with the CFO. And ...never came back. Neither of 'em.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
I worked at a place, and EVERY time, they fired someone, the email read:
(Name) is no longer employed by (Company). If he/she sets foot on the premises, please ask him/her to leave.
If he/she refuses, please call the police immediately.
This was sent out for EVERY employee who was fired..
-Myke
I have been thinking about how things are going here at the company, and after many good and bad experiences, I have decided that your position as my employer is no longer necessary. Good luck to you.
I can only hope to compose such a strange and wonderful resignation some day.
http://valleywag.gawker.com/5017424/stewart-butterfields-bizarre-resignation-letter-to-yahoo
Take off every 'sig' for great justice.
When Rimmer left Red Dwarf, his parting speech was something like: "After all of the time we have spent together, and all of the adventures that we have been through, I have come to think of you as..... people I have met" Damned with faint praise.
Unicorn Setu. "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines".
It happened once for me, and everyone deserves one chance to burn bridges.
I was living in in the USA, there on a work visa. Unfortunately, my manager was letting power go to his head, making life a living hell for the entire lab. He had it in for me, and I just wanted to finish up some things before quitting (and leaving the country), so it was a race and we both knew it.
JUST before he was about to fire me, I handed in my notice--four weeks, to ensure time to complete or transition my work tasks properly. He promptly told me to clean my workspace and avoid touching the lab equipment or computers, so within a few days, I was forced to sit at my desk, feet up, reading Hugh Johnson's wine Encyclopedia.
When it came time for my exit interview, I was asked if something could have been done differently to make me stay. I pointed out that every person in my group had a secret file in the bottom of their desk drawer, detailing the times our manager had been abusive, unreasonable, or unfair to them.
Management eventually saw those files, and "promoted" the manager to a desk position with no staff or responsibilities--just paperwork.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Before working in broadcasting, I worked at a TGI Fridays part time for extra money to pay off college loans. My general manager fit the role perfectly of the asshole corperate restaurant lower-management. A family member of mine was in the hospitol, so I called in 3 days absent in accordance to drive 3 states away to said hospitol. Upon my return, my boss preached at me how I was irresponsible and how his blessed resteraunt should come first. I decided it was time for my career as a waiter to end and part ways. I gave my 2 weeks notice in the form of immediately hosing my boss down with sprite and grenadine.
POE
Now then, where's my grain alcohol?
At one of my previous jobs (shift work in a NOC) there had been a bit of cleaning of dead wood, so one day people were talking and I made up on the spot that "Bob" had been let go last night did you here. It spun into a full blown rant and such, forgetting to tell them I was joking I left. The rumor persisted over the next couple days since both me and Bob were off shift. About 3-4 days later everyone was stunned when Bob came back into and when told they all though he was fired, the guy was extremely paranoid for the next couple weeks. Made for quite a good laugh in retrospect.
I get the "your position has been reorganized away" talk from my boss. After dealing with the frustration for a bit I start sending out e-mails handing off project tasks and making sure my documentation is useful. By the end of the day I had an informal interview with another team and started with them the day after my severance package ended.
1) Write a flame-filled letter decrying the idiocy of all but one of your co-workers. Conclude it with "As for me, I deserved to be fired because I was so stupid I left my workstation unlocked when I left."
2) Write whatever you want, but translate to EBCDIC before you send it. (not recommended when leaving IBM).
This one from a guy who left Bloomberg L.P. has been getting office attention for the better part of a year
Corporate Rapper Jerel Smith Quits Bloomberg, Cuts Down Enemies
http://www.blog.joelx.com/corporate-rapper-jerel-smith-quits/1033/
Too short, wrong tone. Any "Farewell" e-mail should be looked at as advertising for your now forced move to self-employment (I don't care if you're officially laid-off and unemployed, everybody on slashdot has skills that friends and family use for free that can be marketed to strangers to meet the difference between paying the mortgage and eating). It should be relatively upbeat, thank people for the privilege of working on their team, contain a very short skills list of what you did for the team to remind them to think of you in the future, then include all appropriate private contact information and/or your contracting company's contact information.
Here's my last one (with some redactions):
[redacted, project and engagement specific info]
However, it has been great working with all of you. Keep [Consulting company] and myself in mind for future projects, we are an [big company] Partner Vendor and we have contracts with other companies outside of [big company], so I am sure we are not going anywhere soon. My services should be available through [big company] IT Flex & [Consulting company]- contact [big company liaison] or [consulting company manager].
[redacted, introductions for people who have never met or communicated with liaison or manager & more project related resource management stuff]
Once again, it was nice working with all of you, and hopefully I will get to work with you again in the future.
[redacted, contact info]
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
He wasn't pulled out of the primaries. He was banned from going to the debates. Fucking MSM works like that. Shoot Ron Paul in the back and give Obama a free ride.
Ron Paul was on the Republican ticket, not the Libertarian one. It's true that, as a *real* fiscally conservative / minimal government republican, he gained the support of many libertarians, but we had our own nominee (Bob Barr) running to muck things up however. I could not bring myself to vote for Barr, his history has shown that he does not share our core belief of individual liberty IMO. I can't see how you can claim to support individual liberty while at the same time supporting bans on same sex marriage, drugs and certain religions.
"Is 'disgruntled libertarian' redundant?" - YES, more so now then ever. The past 8 years have been a big "Eff you" to all libertarians, and with the expected growth of this new government of "change" the next 8 don't look very good either.
That's funny, my employers have always expected me to.
"To err is human, to forgive is simply not my policy." --root
Looks like you've run into each other again!
I practice the art of saying goodbye via e-mail without e-mail. The people who care already know, or will find out soon enough. If I liked them and had a personal relationship I say goodbye in person, or failing that call them within a reasonable time frame. Almost every global goodbye letter I ever got left me scratching my head: Who is this person, and why do they think I care? I suppose it is different for a CEO or very high level executive, but the marketing folks really don't care if an embedded Linux engineer left the company. I definately don't want to waste my time sifting through E-Mails from people I have never met who have confused themselves into thinking their personal life is somehow important to me.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
I didn't get the tone that he was "bragging". He was just making a point that you never know how situations will turn out so it is advisable to try and be professional even when a company is making a poor decision.
UNSUBSCRIBE
It's a bert thing, we don't expect you to understand. :)
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
That's is what I did went I got some co-worker notification about pending layoffs in my company. I went to a camera that knew that security people rarely monitor and put on a wig and did a pole dance in view of that security camera. Also did the "spank the monkey". Pity that the camera didn't have sound so they could heard I what I singing.
It's funny that you mention switching careers.
When you stop and think about it, if you're getting fired and you're frustrated enough to send something insane, it's probably time for a career change anyway.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
I'd love to mod this but "o'snap!" wasn't an option
Professionalism ... It's arriving at work ... in proper attire.
I thought my professionalism was related to my dedication to making everything work better, my cooperation with my teammates, my keenness to learn and my two engineering degrees.
Now I realise that my shorts and tee-shirt have been holding me back all along! I'd better ask the sales guys where I can buy a suit like theirs.
when i quit mcdonalds....my farewell letter read..
"Dear Ronald,
Suck my McDick.
Rabble rabble rabble."
I'm sure those in charge at the first job were 'unprofessional' as well. it really does boil down to who's best at hiding their hypocrisy.
What? Forced? You neither have to purchase anything from Best Buy nor work there.
It's not about "negotiation between equals" -- simply don't work (or buy from) there if you don't like the terms.
everything in moderation
My appologies for not being clear, but the SA in question was not fired, he quit to go work for a dot com startup.The email he sent out was basically bragging about how great his new company was going to be, how we all sucked and were stupid, and he listed every slight and fault everyone on his team had. About two or three years later (2001 I think) is when I was on the interview team with another ex employee. He was not a bad SA, but he was not a fantastic one either.
So he burned his bridges and paid the price for it. Do I regret it? Not one bit.
You're probably the PHB, aren't you?
How is it "failure" that he stopped making TVs that were overpriced and fired people who were not adding value? Where I come from that's called "success."
everything in moderation
Documentation and training manuals can only go so far. If you are consistently turning over your employees then you essentially end up with a temp force. You get people that not only don't care but they may actively dislike the company. The "anyone is replaceable" mentality is, IMO, one of the most organizationally destructive in America.
Ding!
We're stupid ? :)
Shit, you can't even remember what you did a few days ago by the looks of things.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
This is probably your last chance. I mean, it has not to be related to the reason you are leaving. But nobody's perfect, there is for sure something about you that was painful to your coworkers, recognize it, beg for pardon.
Failure because since he couldn't figure out how to make TVs competitively, he dropped out of the business. Check G. E.'s stock today.
Yes, he was a success though, he got lots of money.
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
Jeebus, that was 10 years ago! People learn, adjust and change, no?
"Unprofessionalism" now rests with you and your interview pal.
Does it matter? Is the globally-sent rude email ever justified?
Professionals can resist the urge to vent publicly.
And he told the guy the reason they blew him off -- he acted unprofessionally in a previous position. That's a real insight to an applicant's character that is rarely available. They'd bee idiots to ignore it.
everything in moderation
1. attire is meaningless. it does not affect company profits
2. showing up on time is also meaningless, unless of course it prevents you from coughing up a full day's worth of work.
3. there are no such things as fortune tellers. saying one will do something and doing it 'on time' all the time is impossible, especially when one is dealing with upper management who have their own shitty little attitudes to add to the mix.
4. going around that person with the CEO's ear breaks rule #3. For example, the tech could say he could cut costs 20%, is given the 'go,' but fails because of the brownnoser's interference. So who is the 'unprofessional'? The tech for failing to 'do what he said he would do' or the brownnoser for treating work as a highschool clique? See, this is the type of nonsense the generates so-called 'vengeful' behavior. Blaming the vengeful one is pointless if he was correct in the first place.
Techs are hired to be techs, not politicians. In my experience, those techs with political skills tend not to be as good at being a tech as those techs who aren't very good with politics. They know what 'is' and expect to report it without a sugar coating because anything less is considered failure. Generally speaking, on technical issues, the dept manager should be listening to his techs. I guess it depends on the employer's priorities: do they want good techs, or do they want good ass-lickers who dress like wannabe execs?
Sounds like you were one of the butt-kissers, numbskulls, and/or backstabbers.
If you're suggesting that had GE stayed in the TV business their stock would not have fallen recently (unlike just about every other stock in this depression/recession) then you're pretty ignorant.
Riiiight. Massive failure there.
everything in moderation
How is it "failure" that he stopped making TVs that were overpriced and fired people who were not adding value? Where I come from that's called "success."
Hence, you're part of the problem.
This sig. intentionally left blank.
I was made redundant a few month ago: here is my goodbye. .
I know that today, sitting, waiting, glum at your desks, there has been but one thing to look forward to. There has been but one thing that you have anticipated. There has been but one thing you expect.
I know that today, sitting, waiting, glum at your desks, that I, Graeme, The Long Haired Adonis am the man to deliver for you your fix. I know that the only reason you came in to work today was to read this, my parting email to the masses.
Usually, when you, the mortals here at (company X) write your parting email messages, you start to thank people. The Adonis has no need to thank you as you should thank him for giving you someone to hold on high . My not being here does not mean that this should stop. Rather, your gratitude for my existence should now be in the form of "Donations" (recommended at 15% of your post tax salaries) which will be collected on a monthly basis.
I do not ask you to worry about me or cry that without this employment I will find things hard. The reputation of the Adonis is far reaching and I have both nobility and royalty from the corners of the globe world begging to offer me their services. Why, just this week I was contacted by a Nigerian prince who wanted me to hold some money for him. In exchange for this, he is offering me a sizeable commission.
I hope that most of you have enjoyed having me in the building. I have been having fun for almost the past three years offending and joking with you all.
For those of you that I have neither disgusted nor offended, please come and see me after level 29 drinks this evening and I will be more than happy to leave you "Adonisized".
For those that wish to contact me after today - all my details are in my signature.
Common Questions and their answers:
Q. Why are you leaving?
A. My Job has moved to Wellington and with all the egos in the politicians down there, the addition of mine would likely cause an explosion of super-nova proportions thus rendering the earth and everything we know (and some stuff we don't know) non-existent
Q. If you don't know about something, how do you know that it will become non-existent?
A. I am the Adonis. I know!
Q. When is your last day?
A. Today.
Q. What are you going to be doing next?
A. I have a short term contract (2 weeks) starting on Monday. Whilst doing this, I will be continuing to look for my next move.
Q. Are you going to cut your hair?
A. No.
Q. Why not?
A. I am the Long Haired Adonis. Short hair would leave me liable for prosecution under both the consumer guarantees and fair trading acts. I am nothing but moral and intend to uphold these laws.
Q. Are you doing anything special tonight?
A. I will be attending Level 29 drinks tonight and then the city is my oyster. Feel free to follow (or even lead a bit)
Q. Who are you?
A. The personification of everything that is good, great, and wondrous. I am perfectly a pure paragon of masculinity. I am the man that makes all the women wet and all the men sweat (whilst washing my car in the weekends - dirty minded people) I also bid you adieu.
Details Below..... Like a Bat out of Hell Gone when the morning comes
. .
So long and thanks for all the fish.
Ah that old catch-cry of 'Unprofessionalism'. Very useful when you want to discredit or discount a colleague for no reason. It allows you to safely ignore competency, experience and education whilst claiming to be looking after the best interests of your firm.
We do not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
Proper attire very well may mean a tee-shirt and shorts. What is proper is not defined by your occupation, your role, your sector in the economy or your position within your company.
One of the best bosses I worked for frequently came to work in shorts and tee-shirt. Never on days when he'd have to go to a client site to provide operational support. I usually dress "business casual" since I never know what kind of interaction I'll have from day to day. Sure, I may be crawling under a desk runnin cat5 in slacks, but I may be dealing with a CxO. Hopefully not in that order.
"Proper" is defined by your circumstance and the people with which you interact. Thankfully, it does not involve suits for the lot of us.
Take the bulletin, photocopy it and stick it on the front door of the store. Give the customers a chance to be under impressed with the owners. If that doesn't work, stick it on every lamp post in the carpark and surrounding streets.
We do not inherit the Earth from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
When I buy something from Best Buy, I'm forced to agree to their terms, take it or leave it. If I work for Best Buy, then I'm pretty much forced to agree to their terms, take it or leave it. It's not a negotiation between equals.
What stupid anti-corporate poppycock.
That's like saying "after I have freely agreed to X's terms, I am "forced" by X to do as I agreed."
The flip side of all that is that you are "forcing" Best Buy to pay you money by working for them, or that you are "forcing" Best Buy to give you electronic goods after you've paid them money.
"Forced" means *without consent*.
Setting one's terms and saying "take or it leave it" is an expression freedom (of association), not force. When you say that you won't work for less than $X, you are doing the same.
I'm aiming for a droll autoreply:
"I will be out of the office until being rehired as CEO in 2-3 years. I will respond to your message at that time.
Please note that if you interacted with me in any way during the last three months you can expect the response via interoffice mail in the form of two empty boxes and a tactful letter.
Best regards."
It's not about "negotiation between equals" -- simply don't work (or buy from) there if you don't like the terms.
So you're saying that it's not "negotiation between equals", and that I can either take it or leave it. Isn't that what my post said?
My whole point was that, when you're dealing with a large business, you have to agree to their terms or else not deal with them. That bespeaks an enormous disparity of power in the relationship that you have with that company.
And having these very colleagues "blow up" and possibly take their petty squabbles to the clients can be very damaging to everyone involved.
Regardless of education, experience, and qualifications, those individuals who cannot contain outbursts of emotion as Arkham6 stated are in fact, unprofessional. They'll eventually be relegated to dark corners in basements where their petty outbursts can do no harm.
I was once fired the exact day my Grandmother (the women who raised me) died. I sent an email to my friends at the company that said:
"I'm kind of like Iraq - I've been liberated from an oppressive regime only to find that my economic situation is completely unstable."
First, note that Chris Kula is NOT a receptionist, but a comedic writer. You can read how the email was actually used by Cian Kelliher. The original is on Chris Kula's site.
I can empathize with some of what you're saying. Developers interviewing developers is generally a BAD idea as egos quickly get engaged. If there is an architect/PM/Manager present, things generally stay civil. Not sure if this was the case described in the previous post.
Also not sure why the interviewers had it in for this guy since it didn't sound like his email was aimed at them specifically. I mean did they have previous personal history with this guy that would justify screwing him over in the interview? Sounds to me like they were pissed because he got out of a shit job before they did and made the mistake of gloating about it.
At the end of the day interviewers probably did this guy a favor.
Early in my career I held a 'part time, hourly' job as a tech in a smallish company. It quickly became apparent that I was more knowledgeable in systems than their full time admin, who coincidentally was also very lazy (had no intention of increasing his knowledge). During my time there, I implemented a lot of systems which were frankly quite a bit above my pay grade. For a while, I didn't care, because it was good experience for me. However, as time wore on, the laziness of the full time SA, and the micromanagement of our CIO boss really started to wear on me, and I started looking. I had asked for a promotion, citing my skill, the very technical projects I had accomplished, and specified areas where I could augment the existing SA's lack of experience with my own, in a full time capacity. These were denied due to the size of the company, yada yada...
It didn't take me long to find another job, I had a couple of different offers to choose from, but I was really quite young and still bitter about the way things had gone. The denial of promotion after I had done so much, and the SA had done so little, and knew so little. I didn't send a nasty email my boss, the company or its owners, although the thought had crossed my mind several times. I sent a thank you note to the CEO, and received a gracious reply. However, I couldn't let it go, it kept grinding on me. It was fresh in my mind. So, when I learned that my re-hire was about to be hired, I acquired his email address from a friend still with the company, and sent him a very detailed email, outlining (and probably exaggerating) all of the personal and professional deficiencies of the CIO. Trust me, there were many to choose from, it was a long email. It was unprofessional and mean spirited.
What I didn't ponder at the time is what trouble this could get my friend who was still with the company into. I felt horrible after sending it, I worried about his job (since he gave me the contact info, etc). As it turns out, the new prospect forwarded the email to his future employer, which is not really what I anticipated. He was able to use the email as leverage to negotiate a higher wage (good for him), and decided to take the job anyway. (For what its worth, I had lunch with my replacement less than a year after he had taken the job, and was moving on to another. He confirmed that everything I had said was true...)
All said, it was a very stupid thing for me to do, and I certainly will not do anything like that in the future. Now I am hesitant to even list that company on my resume, as I'm certain that CIO will not give me a good reference or even a stable reference. I certainly wouldn't if I were him. So rather than having a good solid reference employer, where I had accomplished a lot of good things, and left in a reasonably gracious fashion, now I have a past that I have to stay clear of and basically throw away that experience.
My advice is to just leave graciously. All of the annoyances you suffer currently, will seem increasingly less as time goes on. Especially if you find a company (as I did) which recognizes your talent and advances you quickly.
1. attire is meaningless. it does not affect company profits
Attire does shape the work-environment. Wearing a tie does not magically make you a better worker, but being the guy with the Marylin Manson shirt in the office with 6 suits does hurt your productivity. And yes, customers preferr working with people who dress for the job.
2. showing up on time is also meaningless, unless of course it prevents you from coughing up a full day's worth of work.
Showing up on time does imply that you do not disrespect your coworkers time. If you are 5 Minutes late to a 6 people meeting, you wasted 25 Minutes.
3. there are no such things as fortune tellers. saying one will do something and doing it 'on time' all the time is impossible, especially when one is dealing with upper management who have their own shitty little attitudes to add to the mix.
Part of that is knowing when to say "no, i won't be able to finish it". When i get tasks i give an honest estimate. I don't promise a weeks worth of work done by tomorrow. The idea is to be reliable. If you say it will be done by day X, the person asking you to get it done does no longer have to worry about it.
4. going around that person with the CEO's ear breaks rule #3. For example, the tech could say he could cut costs 20%, is given the 'go,' but fails because of the brownnoser's interference. So who is the 'unprofessional'? The tech for failing to 'do what he said he would do' or the brownnoser for treating work as a highschool clique? See, this is the type of nonsense the generates so-called 'vengeful' behavior. Blaming the vengeful one is pointless if he was correct in the first place.
My boss knows that when i tell it can't be done, it really can't be done. Nothing vengeful about it; i give the management the information it needs to make the right decisions. Either way i perfom all my duties; if i'm proven wrong I gladly admit it and learn something new; when i'm proven right i sure as hell don't gloat.
Techs are hired to be techs, not politicians. In my experience, those techs with political skills tend not to be as good at being a tech as those techs who aren't very good with politics. They know what 'is' and expect to report it without a sugar coating because anything less is considered failure. Generally speaking, on technical issues, the dept manager should be listening to his techs. I guess it depends on the employer's priorities: do they want good techs, or do they want good ass-lickers who dress like wannabe execs?
Being proffesional doe snot mean being an ass-kisser. It's the difference between "Network-guys, you all suck" and "Here's what i think we could do to have our network perform better". With the first way you went your frustration but will have a hard time working with the networking-department. In the latter version, you work towards makin the situation better.
Mrs Oh certainly has my sympathies. I've been in that position, just not as bad as hers. It was during the dot-com days when things started going down hill. We had just finished our year-end reviews and my managers said I was doing excellent work. My review went really well and I was pleased. One month later when the economy was getting really bad I was let go. My manager pulled me into a meeting to talk and said I was letting go due to performance reasons. Nothing had happened in that one month. When I asked how I was being let go due to performance reasons when just a month prior I had been given a good review he merely said, "This is not up for negotiation." It really sucks when the company is just beginning to tank and they don't want to admit that the company was on a fast track to bankruptcy (people were already being let go before me). So, in order to cover their asses, they tell you, "Hey, it's your fault." That's just cowardly BS (as Mrs Oh says). It made me particularly cynical since this was my first job out of college and I had worked so hard (internet start-up). In the year following, more and more people were being laid off until it reached a skeleton crew of people who supported old projects. Since then I've seen companies do various things of questionable morality such as laying people off during maternity leave (which is basically illegal).
"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
There's also such a thing as a corporate culture, and it can influence individual actions/decisions.
Right. See the monkey water hose experiment, which explains many corporate policies from dress codes to TPS reports.
How to solve most of our problems: 1.Lots of nuclear plants. 2.Cure aging.
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned my former classmate Tony Li. When Tony left Cisco he famously wrote a fairly exasperated letter and nailed it to his office door. That didn't stop Cisco from rehiring him once he left Juniper. Of course Tony is considered to be one of the world's experts on routers. so his ability to get rehired is a little atypical.
I had to fire a dude who wasn't performing. After he left another dude came to me and asked where Chris was..
My response was "Chris won't be coming back for the rest of his life."
Correct, I don't have kids - I have several female friends who've had miscarriages however.
If any of them commented that they were upset because they "lost their baby", and someone flippantly remarked "it's a fetus, not a baby"... That someone is 1) a first class prick, and 2) deserves the trip to hospital that would've resulted.
About a month later I gave notice to leave for a company that was paying about 20% more in another State. The first words out of her mouth were "Are you serious?"
Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
The bottom line is that the people who hose you over are not only not going to care what you say on your way out, they probably won't even read it--unless there is something scandalous or libelous in it. (The cowards know the truth, and hide from it at every opportunity.) The university for whom I worked, decided that two months after I had lost my wife to cancer was a good time to let me go. It was also December, just to add a festive touch to the whole thing.
Quite a few years ago, I was working for a government agency in a temporary position. I was doing computer support for a transition team on a financial systems project. The projcect ran out of money long before the project was done and there were rumors of layoffs.
I made a list of the people who could take a joke and had a little fun. I set up all of their desktops to reboot in 15 minutes with the following popup message:
"As you know, our project has come to a close. We appreciate all the many years of service you have given this organization. Please collect all your personal belongings in a box and wait for security to escort you out of the building. Have a nice day."
I then made a cardboard sign that said "Will troubleshoot for food" and put it on the wall behind my desk.
Everyone involved seemed to have a good laugh.
I worked for a company once and after I left, I waited a few months.(rolled a die for the number of months just to be random) then I sent an email or two anonymously to the SPA and similar places.
They were plainly able to afford licenses but refused to do so because they were notoriously cheap.
My current employer is a "good egg" though and is fully compliant. Nice to work for a place that has decent morals for once...(yes they do exist from time to time)
This whole sub thread is off topic. The point is that you can't just sit back and smugly say "well they fired me but they lost an experienced worker and they'll suffer in the long run" because firing workers can sometimes actually give them massive profits.
whats with the Ron Paul picture?
This is the best thing for this:
http://www.gotwavs.com/0053665484/WAVS/Movies/National_Lampoons_Christmas_Vacation/myboss.wav
http://www.gotwavs.com/0053665484/WAVS/Movies/National_Lampoons_Christmas_Vacation/myboss.wav
Both of your points are true, but I think beside the point. I have more than a little experience at recommending and implementing policy. The CYA portion is true, but the goal is to protect the organization from legal liability often at the expense of those who would ignore policy.
Some individual (or perhaps in-duh-vidual) made each decision and is responsible to his/her supervisor. If someone chooses to be a prick and that is outside of policy (granted it may not be) then that person can be symbolically caned for their inappropriate actions.
Don't you get it? She's not the problem -- she's your canary. She's the one showing exactly how far you can push it. Don't get mad because she negotiates herself a better deal -- follow her example and get more for yourself.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
I gave this some thought when I changed position about 8 month ago because my boss/supervisor was behaving like a jerk. Not only do I have nothing personal against anyone else but also there is a good chance I will want to deal with them again in the future so I decided my best strategy would be to make personal farewells with anyone I knew well and say nothing to people I've rarely spoken with. I keep in touch with several people now, two who contacted me because I hadn't contacted them. Even when I think about the rest in terms of what impression they are likely to have of me, I don't think I could have done much better by talking to them. Surely a ranting email would have made things worse. I'm sure someone else could be in a different position but this is my experience - if they are not worth a personal farewell it's probably better to say nothing.
This is something I never could understand. Why is it unprofessional to point out how unprofessionally a company treated you? Why is it unprofessional to simply walk out the door instead of giving two weeks notice even though the company would not have given you any notice if they fired you? Why must the professionalism all be on the side of the employee? Shouldn't the company have to also display professionalism?
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Hi, big strong alpha Silverback male, father of large family, here. Have work gloves, will lift heavy things.
Sorry to put it this way -- cruel to be kind and all that -- but if you're sacrificing family for your career, you're a damn fool. If you're living to work -- and your job doesn't involve healing the sick, feeding the hungry, saving children, etc. --
then you have missed the point.
Your job title will not cry with you in the night. It won't watch the sun with you in the morning. The company car won't care that your parents just died. Your subordinates won't look up to you, and the responsibility you have for them won't grow your soul.
Apart from that, I'm shocked at the callousness of the some of the posters here. Sometimes, it's just a matter of basic humanity. I'm a big strong guy. I don't mind pulling a double-shift if someone's wife just went into labor. I'm not made of spun sugar. Some poor woman has a miscarriage, I don't mind covering for her until she can get her head back together, and yeah, that might take a while. Some single Mom's kid falls out of a tree and breaks his arm, I don't mind watching her keeping her network in one piece while she runs to the emergency room. I'm not a helpless little girl -- I can carry a little bit more of a load for a good cause.
Listening to some of the thin reedy voices of the Ayn Rand acolytes on this board, I can tell they're just not ready to be husbands and fathers. I pity them for their loneliness, and I know if they don't dig deeper and find their hearts and testosterone, they'll never be ready.
He put his boots up on the table and made a face. "The sig," he smirked. "You can waste your life in search of the sig."
Had one coworker who left without any notice, just sent us a note saying "got a new job, won't be in". Sucked for the rest of us, we had to cover for him for a while.
I try not to burn bridges. I'm on my fourth consecutive job with the same group of people. (Two rounds of layoffs and one acquisition for punctuation.)
My blog: http://www.seebs.net/log/ --- My iPhone/iPad app: http://www.seebs.net/seebsfrac/
I worked at an ISP's call center for 3 years, and was pretty well known and liked by all (the exception of course being the management). Towards the end, I was pretty miserable, having testified against them in a recent lawsuit, and rather stressed out. By a stroke of luck, I managed to find a much better job. I didn't tell any of my friends or co-workers. Just subtly packed up my stuff, sent an email to the whole place saying, "So long, and thanks for all the fish," and left. I guess everyone was pretty shocked to see me go, but it was amazing seeing how many people actually got the joke.
In Soviet Russia, dot slashes YOU!
You just need to get married.
"I know that I'm leaving in the middle of an important project, but I have this other offer and my wife says I have to take it becase it pays more. It's out of my hands."
A. No one knows where to find you.
B. Nerds who post South Park lines might not be able to shoot.
Oops. Too late.
Bee Seeing You!
I disagree with the proper attire comment. Fair enough if your role is customer focussed and you are representing a particular brand, but for the general IT workforce (at least where I work) who aren't customer facing, what difference does it make if you are not in slacks and a tie?
If we were to sit down in a design review and I was black, and I made a comment relating to the robustness or maintainability of a particular aspect of a design, and you dismissed my comment as 'What do you know, you're black', you would at the least be considered unprofessional, amongst other things. So why dismiss my comments and treat me any different if I was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt?
It is not selling when my contract says you pay me every two weeks for every hour I spend at the company and in return I'll try to do X. There's no difference, as it is a two way contract. I don't guarantee anything, the employer guarantees a deliverable.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
The "anyone is replaceable" mentality is, IMO, one of the most organizationally destructive in America.
AMEN TO THAT! Well said.
I used that quote as the title of my farewell email when I was let go from a dotcom in 2001. Sadly, most of the people there were too culturally unenlightened to recognize the reference.
ancarett, historian and zombie gamer
If someone chooses to be a prick and that is outside of policy (granted it may not be) then that person can be symbolically caned for their inappropriate actions.
Maybe if that person's superiors are actually good, decent people who are paying enough attention to care.
Or maybe if you have proof that what happened was blatantly inappropriate, in violation of some law, and you're willing to sue or otherwise make life uncomfortable for that person's superiors. And even then, if they're in a position of power, they may well make your life uncomfortable too. If you make too much noise, you'll get labelled as "trouble" and maybe have a hard time finding work in the future.
Wow. And you are talking about professionalism?
If anything, your attitude comes across as the exact opposite. If you did not give him an offer because he sucked, well, that's one thing.
But keeping a grudge years later and keeping his interview short on purpose? Sounds like you had already made up your mind.
Makes me think that he probably had good reasons to think what he did of you folks. IMHO and all that, of course.
Capital Finance accounted for only 36% of revenue in 2008. Also a significant part of this business is leasing industrial equipment, not unlike auto manufacturers giving out loans so consumers can buy their products.
Jack cut divisions that had no hope of becoming #1 or #2 without significant external investment. A smart manager knows when to exit markets rather then throw money into a bottomless pit.
JP Morgan farewell email.
A guy named Jay Rodriguez sent this email out to what appeared to be the entire JPM office in NJ. It then did the rounds on Wall Street. Very funny stuff... he even has a go at the CEO, so it's well worth reading through.
Dear Co-Workers and Managers,
As many of you probably know, today is my last day. But before I leave, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know what a great and distinct pleasure it has been to type "Today is my last day."
For nearly as long as I've worked here, I've hoped that I might one day leave this company. And now that this dream has become a reality, please know that I could not have reached this goal without your unending lack of support. Words cannot express my gratitude for the words of gratitude you did not express.
I would especially like to thank all of my managers both past and present but with the exception of the wonderful Saroj Hariprashad: in an age where miscommunication is all too common, you consistently impressed and inspired me with the sheer magnitude of your misinformation, ignorance and intolerance for true talent. It takes a strong man to admit his mistake - it takes a stronger man to attribute his mistake to me.
Over the past seven years, you have taught me more than I could ever ask for and, in most cases, ever did ask for. I have been fortunate enough to work with some absolutely interchangeable supervisors on a wide variety of seemingly identical projects - an invaluable lesson in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium in overcoming daily tedium.
Your demands were high and your patience short, but I take great solace knowing that my work was, as stated on my annual review, "meets expectation." That is the type of praise that sends a man home happy after a 10 hour day, smiling his way through half a bottle of meets expectation scotch with a meets expectation cigar. Thanks Trish!
And to most of my peers: even though we barely acknowledged each other within these office walls, I hope that in the future, should we pass on the street, you will regard me the same way as I regard you: sans eye contact.
But to those few souls with whom I've actually interacted, here are my personalized notes of farewell:
To Philip Cress, I will not miss hearing you cry over absolutely nothing while laying blame on me and my coworkers. Your racial comments about Joe Cobbinah were truly offensive and I hope that one day you might gain the strength to apologize to him.
To Brenda Ashby whom is long gone, I hope you find a manager that treats you as poorly as you have treated us. I worked harder for you then any manager in my career and I regret every ounce of it. Watching you take credit for my work was truly demoralizing.
To Sylvia Keenan, you should learn how to keep your mouth shut sweet heart. Bad mouthing the innocent is a negative thing, especially when your talking about someone who knows your disgusting secrets. ; )
To Bob Malvin (Mr. Cronyism Jr), well, I wish you had more of a back bone. You threw me to the wolves with that witch Brenda and I learned all too much from it. I still can't believe that after following your instructions, I ended up getting written up, wow. Thanks for the experience buddy, lesson learned.
Don Merritt (Mr. Cronyism Sr), I'm happy that you were let go in the same manner that you have handed down to my dedicated coworkers. Hearing you on the phone last year brag about how great bonuses were going to be for you fellas in upper management because all of the lay offs made me nearly vomit. I never expected to see management benefit financially from the suffering of scores of people but then again, with this company's rooted history in the slave trade it only makes sense.
To all of the executives of this company, Jamie Dimon and such. Despite working through countless managers that practiced unethical behavior, racism, sexism, jealousy and cronyism, I have benefited tremendously by working here and I truly thank you for that. There w
Why is a picture of Ron Paul being used? He's not gone, and we're not finished with what he started.
Slashdot: Playing Favorites Since 1997
I'm not.
She'd do it.
Greetings and Salutations...
The last time I severed ties with a company, I actually fired them (as mentioned before). In this case, it was in the 80s, and, the owner of the smallish company had, basically, doubled my work load, with no increase in pay. This, after the usual promises upon hiring that "while we know this is a bit below what you should be making, we will bring you up to industry standards quickly".
I wrote a short, one page letter of resignation that stated the reasons I was leaving the company including compensation issues (did not name numbers on the salary promised, of course, as that would have just irritated and annoyed the hardware guys, who I did like); lack of overtime pay combined with the assumption that everyone would work 60+ hours a week (the owner called everyone a "salaried" employee, to not have to pay overtime - and did not appreciate it when I quoted the state labor board in a staff meeting showing that he DID have to pay overtime); the impossible task of getting programming done when I would walk in and find terminals/computers used in MY production robbed to get a customer back up (they were MAINLY a hardware support firm), and, getting dinged for missing deadlines, as well as other issues. I was polite and civil but REALLY CLEAR about it.. I printed out a copy for each person in the office, and, starting with the receptionist, handed them out on a Friday morning. I worked my way up the ladder of seniority, until I reached the office manager. After assuring him I really meant it, I hit the door and did not come back.
Now...I did this because when the last guy quit, a Sr. Tech who had hit his frustration level with some of the unethical dealings and underhandedness of the owner, the owner had come in an walked around the office all day saying things like "D....had no balls, his WIFE made him quit", and, "He was so incompetent that I was going to fire him anyway..." and a whole raft of other things like that. When the Manager asked why I had handed the letters out, I explained very clearly that I had no desire to be slandered after I left, like D.... had been.
It was, as it turned out, an excellent decision. Although they hired a person to replace me, they were new out of Tech school, and were totally lost in the fairly sophisticated programming environment we had set up there. So...within three months I was doing the software support for every one of their customers. "Luckily", I had refused to sign the non-compete contract that the owner had come up with a few months before I left...so there was nothing that the owner could do about it.
Regards
dave mundt
YAB - http://blog.beemandave.com/
Your boss isn't going to show up at your deathbed.
But frankly, if any family members show up, I'd say something along the lines of "Fuck you. Where the hell have you been all this time?"
Congrats on having a good family life. Realize that a good portion of people haven't had one.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
Who cares if he's competent? Nobody wants to work with a jackass.
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
So instead of telling your boss to get fucked, you should tell him to go get professionally fucked. ;-)
It is quite obvious that you do not want me to work here anymore based upon your abuse, harassment, and belligerent behaviour towards me, so, effectively immediately, I quit.
...let's hear some stories about people who actually had the balls to say what they thought to the faces of those who fired them.
"No problem sir. Would you prefer I use a plunger or the toilet brush as I am updating my resume and want a good list of what technologies I use in my work?"
"What, you want to do it yourself rather than calling a plumber ?
If you have that much free time around here buddy I think we need to discuss your wages"
"It's been an interesting 4 months (interpret that however you like)"
Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur (anything said in Latin sounds important)
Most people ( Michael Jackson excepted ) can't decide to come to work as black man one day or a white man the next depending on how they feel whereas you obviously do have a choice when you decide what to wear in the morning.
That being the case you ought now be able to see why it's totally acceptable if someone says to you in a design review meeting:
"What do you know you scruffy bastard - you obviously couldn't be bothered to get dressed properly this morning so makes you think I should take you seriously now ?"
That's why email to "world" or whatever it is that's supposed to get to "everybody" should be moderated. And by someone who is responsible, has integrity and is level headed.
There are some people who have tried to send "MLM" messages to everybody. Either they don't seem to understand that "everybody in the organization" usually includes the bosses, or they seem to think their bosses might be happy to be their "downline" or would want to buy their stuff.
Anyway, if he was a reasonably good worker, you'd have lost someone that you wouldn't necessarily have lost given the right precautions.
If I could mod this +6 insightful, I would....
"The U. S. is basically the B-Ark from Life, the Universe, and Everything" -- Absolutely. In Silicon Valley, I saw it starting as hiring went from engineers to MBA's in the 1980's. That was the beginning of the end for the Demming ideals of quality and long-term growth. Ever since, it's been bottom-lines, quarterly scrambles, and company direction determined by manic-depressive day traders.
America can handle a few lying, cheating bastard CEO's. Too bad we have and entire golden parachute club running America's companies - into the ground. Dilbert is a documentary.
Two and a half years ago, I was made redundant by a new boss who decided she wanted to do a big reorganisation. I was given two weeks "to consider if there was any other role within the company I could fill" (the only jobs going at the time were at vastly reduced pay). I went around to staff (including Directors) that I'd worked closely with over the years and personally thanked them for their support over the years.
A couple of weeks later, when my old team had gone to our Human Resources department en mass and complained about how it had been handled, and management had realised that I was really the only member of their tech team that knew all the business processes from end to end, I was offered a new role and a (not too bad) pay rise. Wouldn't have happened if I'd been "unprofessional" about it, I suspect.
I'm still there - best job move I've ever made actually, as I really like my new role. (At one appraisal, the new boss who made me redundant told me she was very impressed with how I'd handled the whole redundancy thing!)
Your boss isn't going to show up at your deathbed.
Not so quick! ;-)
Only, if you document too much and hand over the passwords too early
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Does everyone you work with do their fair share of this, or do they somehow persuade you to do it all? Is the good cause ever yours? Our society has a nasty habit of convincing men to sacrifice our goals for someone else's, that whatever we want isn't important, we are just disposable tools. Just as women are far more than breeders, we are far more than slaves of breeders.
I do pretty much live to work. I'm looking for something unique to contribute, though I haven't found it yet. A third of my waking life (a full-time job) is too much to waste on doing something mediocre I don't care about.
Try the same nonsense with 2000 users and you are letting yourself in a place where the capital city is Pain.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
What about other email servers in the UNIX/Linux world?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Even if you nuke your contacts on the biggest of companies it is unlikely that would finish your career.
I have rediscovered very few people along the way on my different jobs, and the people I found were in no position to block me to attain a position.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
No, a good portion of people haven't had one, but unless the same good portion of people find it within themselves to *decide* to make their family lives better than the ones they were not-so-blessed with growing up, we'll continue the cycle of abuse, hatred, callousness and violence, and ensure that the next generation of people also have shitty family lives, and the next generation after that. Stand up and break it whenever you want. It takes more guts if you don't have a role-model, for sure, but that makes it even *more* rewarding in the end :)
-=[You cannot consistently judge this statement to be true.]=-
If you get a pay cut you have more choices: carry on and wait, look for a new job, leave early and do gardening, wake up late before going to work.
If you get a layoff most likely you are in a race against the clock to regain gainful employment.
In times of plenty, yeah, bring the layoffs, that would mean getting a new job maybe with better pay.
In today's climate only somebody monumentally stupid, naive or both can really be relishing the prospect of being unemployed.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Most people think they are better than they really are.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Documentation and training manuals can only go so far. If you are consistently turning over your employees then you essentially end up with a temp force. You get people that not only don't care but they may actively dislike the company. The "anyone is replaceable" mentality is, IMO, one of the most organizationally destructive in America.
Strange how you described the current US Military so very well in that post. This statement seems so very obvious to anyone who has been in the service for over 10 or 15 yrs. The way they move and rotate service members now days on shorter and shorter time periods is growing whole generations of service members who don't care, dislike their unit and are generally useless because of it. Add in a mentality that numbers of management are more important than the skill they used to require, and you have massive promotions to fill the ranks regardless of ability. If your breath you get promoted because number are the most important. Now everyone that was worth something leaves because all the new promotions worthless and none of th soldiers or young officers gives a damn. The force may be holding it together now, but I foresee some very difficult problems in coming years if something doesn't change.
I always imagined myself writing a goodbye email or giving a speech at my farewell diner and quoting John Cleese: "I would like to say that I will miss this company and how much I enjoyed working here. But that would an utter lie so I'll just resort to 'Good riddance you freeloading bastards, may you rot in hell'". Somehow I'd always chicken out. He gave a farewell speech on Graham Chapman's funeral and it was quite hilarious.
Everybody I work with has this attitude. Even people in different departments. They tell you that there is something personal going on and all attitudes immediately change.
I'd not work with anybody else.
.
It can be cathartic to write the email, but that doesn't mean you need to send that email, at least not as a broadcast email to everyone.
At a previous company, one of the low level techs who was going to be made redundant, due to his attitude and general incompetence, set an autoreply with delivery notification to try to DOS the server. Unfortunately for him, it was discovered before he left so he was sacked and didn't receive the pay off that others received and would have to explain the sacking to any future prospective employers. It pays to do things at the very last minute!
Well said! Nice to know chivalry isn't dead on /., not totally anyway.
Gotta go, it is time for me to go jump on the trampoline with my beautiful little 5 year old son... or I could stay here and (pretend to) work some more. NOT!
... then you will be a man, my son.
I used to think as you do. However, you know what, I have seen this in action. The dude I know sent out blistering emails and complained to HR about things that he participated (quite willingly in). He got hired back into 2 or 3 other positions at the same company. Guess who he burned everytime he was on his way out? The whole group of us. His name comes up many times since (he is good at what he does) to do things. We all chuckle then move onto the next name. We always treated him good. We even walked on egg shells around him because of how 'badly he was hurt the times before'. It didnt matter he likes to flame out his bridges as he leaves.
The moral? Unprofessional is a good word for it. Saying nothing then 'dropping a bomb' on the last day is cowardly. Sounds like what goes around comes around.
Reading along it sounds like someone left out part of the story. So you can be forgiven going off.
People are people and they usually have quite a bit of say in who is hired. The last thing they remember out of someone is a big go to hell and a rehire opportunity happens (and they do). Who is off the list fairly quickly? Are you going to hire the dude who flipped you off on the way out? Or are you going to hire the dude who came up and shaked your hand on the way out?
I can tell you, and let me stress this, your last day is your first day for a new job. Treat it like one.
I worked at a company where there were much more people leaving than coming in. This wasn't intended. Most valuable people walked out, young people walked out (average retention 1,5) , no trainees stayed. People didn't really care stayed. Everyone complained about the bureaucracy (and this for a firm with the size of 300 employees).
A lot of those employees sended messages. There were a lot of messages boiled down to people saying they had problems identifying with the company. In the beginning people mocked about the unprofessionalism, but as the number of messages became larger, people started talking about it.
I wasn't very happy with the bureaucracy either and also didn't like the chaos and negative atmosphere.
At some point I got yet another email of someone leaving and complaining. I just resigned after 1,5 years working there. Leaving the same kind of message. Just after I left I got an invitation for an interview from someone who had just left the company a couple of months ago for a competitor.
In the end the company merged ith another. It wouldn't surprise me if the virus would spread out there too. I am so happy I am an entrepreneur now.
I have filed a case with the XXX Court under the XXX Act, NNNN, regarding the previous two months wages.
Best Regards,
Me
The company ran out of cashflow, and stopped paying wages, so after two months I stopped showing up. The CEO would have had to tell the shareholders about any court case, so he coughed up a personal check, which cashed the day before they liquidated.
It's sad but true. When an employee does something wrong it's unprofessional. When an employer does something wrong it's business.
Neither of the companies that have laid me off so far gave me a poke in the eye. In all of the companies where I've worked that have had layoffs, they have tried to do it in a dignified way, with an offer as much help as they could afford in the circumstances.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
You can be a libertarian and think that Ron Paul is a douche (and think that he's a piss-poor excuse for a libertarian too).
Best comment in ages. You got yourself a new friend.
Thank you.
This is something I never could understand. Why is it unprofessional to point out how unprofessionally a company treated you?
Because I don't want to be at the receiving end of your negative emotions. Because I'm not your friend, your shrink, your brother or your mother. Because it sounds like whining, is often not relevant to the people who you're telling this to, is strictly your viewpoint, is a personal experience, the list could go on.
If anything, I want to know what you're going to do with this. Sure, point out how you feel bad about it, then in the same breath, tell everyone you're moving on.
What would you prefer reading as a collegue's goodbye mail?
- "Hi people, I feel pretty badly treated because John said that I wasn't blah blah"
- "Hi people, I feel pretty badly treated but I'm moving on! If you ever need a good engineer then don't hesitate..."
I follow your comments and I know you had a bad experience before you started your own business. With such experiences, it's best to talk it through with your loved ones, and in the same conversation, talk about how you're going to pick it up.
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"The "anyone is replaceable" mentality is, IMO, one of the most organizationally destructive in America."
i work for a large cable company, and that is the prevailing attitude here.
Is it Comcast? I'll bet it's Comcast. I had them do an install a few weeks ago (on a Saturday) and they sent somebody who couldn't do the job and told me I needed to schedule another guy to come. Okay... fine. I did that and skipped work on a Tuesday morning to wait for a second installer. During the three hours he was there (it truly was a non-trivial installation) the second tech figured out that the first had been a contractor and expressed clear disdain towards him. Needless to say, it's evident that most of the people working in this line of "services installation" would rather be doing something more meaningful with there time... so if you're one of the few that are knowledgeable and customer-friendly, I salute you.
In a certain respect, I do understand. I've spent about half my working life up to my elbows in code and wires. Although my view of Dilbert's Heroes (imaginary and real) is that they are twits who will never get out of the server room because their understanding of why they have jobs at all is seriously flawed, they see themselves as standing between the light and the darkness.
A number of studies have found that the less competent someone is, the bigger their overestimate of their own competence. I've been in a lot of server rooms where that is the operative case. I've also been in a lot where the admins and developers actually knew what they were doing and, more important, why. I'd call them Antiberts.
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
There is something you can do - and I say this a a member of the white collar workforce:
Form a union.
Unions, when properly conceived, serve as a field-leveler between the otherwise diffuse power of individual workers and concentrated power of the employers. They enable honest negotiation, which is a requirement for real capitalism to work.
Monopolies on employment OR on labor don't work well.
For those who want to pull out the 'chain gang' argument (yes, I read A. Rand), I can only say this - when corporations show an ability to treat individual workers as individuals, I'll concede that unions may no longer be necessary. Until then...
My $0.02.
I think dogbert would disagree.
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Some of those Gung-Ho outsourcing fanatics should ask themselves why Daimler and BMW were able to sell cars in the US even though GM was selling cars at a lower price than the two mentioned above were making them at.
The employee is the supplier. The employer is the customer. In most cases, customers can abuse the relationship a lot more than suppliers.
You seem to think the employer intrinsically have something to sell... yet without employees there is no business... no goods or services to trade for income... YOU and I as employees are the supplier on our side of the relationship, our skillset, knowledge, experience, and intelligence are marketable goods... Maybe factory jobs that could be automated (if humans weren't cheaper) are different, but knowledge workers, managers, and creative folks each provide their own unique contribution... Employers who manage to get my attention are getting much more than a body to fill a chair...
The dizzy sensation we experience when standing in high places is not simply a fear of falling. It's often the case that the only thing likely to make us fall is the actual dizziness itself, so it is, at best, an extremely irrational, even self-fulfilling fear. However, in the distant past of our evolutionary journey toward our current state, we lived in trees. We leapt from tree to tree. There are even those who speculate that we may have something birdlike in our ancestral line. In which case, there may be some part of our mind that, when confronted with a void, expects to be able to leap out into it and even urges us to do so. So what you end up with is a conflict between a primitive, atavistic part of your mind which is saying "Jump!" and the more modern, rational part of your mind which is saying, "For Christ's sake, don't!" In fact, vertigo is explained by some not as the fear of falling, but as the temptation to jump! -- Douglas Adams
You're a real man.
And I don't mean that sarcastically. Thanks for the perspective.
So the East will be wiped out by a virus caught from a dirty telephone handset?
You need to read your reference material.
Increasing the value of my company by 60x is the kind of "problem" I'd be proud to be a part of.
everything in moderation
Probably--but would he know what he was disagreeing with?
I'm a Programmer. That's one level above Software Engineer and one level below Engineer.
everything in moderation
They need you as much as you need them.
That's great in theory, but it's not really true. Often you're talking about a relationship between an organization of thousands of people vs. 1 person. You're talking about an organization with millions of dollars vs someone with maybe a few hundred dollars in the bank. The heads of these organizations are often rich, powerful, and well-connected people. Oh, and for any given job, there are tons of applicants.
Now if there are labor shortages the balance of power can change in the employee's favor. Also, if you have particular expertise or skills or something then you can get a certain level of power for yourself. However, most of the time, the balance of power is in favor of the company.
To be fair, so does mine, we have a busy season where I will work several 100 hour weeks in a row, then it gets calm for a while. During the calm I make up for the hectic schedule although sometimes I'm still amped from prolonged stress that I don't know what to do with idle time so I end up working anyways. Call it the curse of a job that is always engaging my mind.
You apparently don't realise that grocery store help is generally unskilled, unmotivated, and willing to do only what is absolutely required of them. They're also completely replaceable (see "unskilled") by people who need jobs (compare to "unmotivated") and who, if hired, will at least temporarily be willing to make a good impression until they too begin putting forth the bare minimum effort that they figure will still keep their job.
"REMEMBER... THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO NEED JOBS" should be posted in large letters in EVERY grocery store break room.
That's quite different. In fact, it's nearly the opposite.
"Well, McDonalds is hiring" means "If you don't like the terms of employment we're able to offer you, you're free to try to find something better – although I doubt your success in doing so."
"Remember, there are other people out there who need jobs" means "If you don't want to work for us, we'll find someone who does."
In the first case, the employee is leaving because the company wouldn't compensate them fairly (reflecting poorly on the stingy, abusive company). In the second case, the company is terminating an employee because the employee failed to earn the compensation they were being given (reflecting poorly on the lazy, worthless employee).
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
What are you talking about ?
Wanna fight ? Bend over, stick your head up your ass, and fight for air.
Presumably "maintenance" doesn't exist in this particular scenario. So, a plumber? Unless he's authorized to charge to the company account, or unless he wants to foot the bill himself, I don't think he wants to call a plumber.
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
Oh absolutely! I greatly enjoyed detailing everything I've seen and heard while I was there. Threats, extortion, theft, espionage - all of it.
People would steal product off the lines and use it to bribe/payoff people outside the company for other services. The head of engineering would show up and park his car by the owner's car. Then sneak in back and take a company car back home. Show back up at 4:30 and check to see if everyone was at their desk. And if the owner would go looking for him, he had a patsy in our department that would call him at home and tell him to haul ass back to the office. Sales would rifle through our desks after hours to see what we were working on so they could take credit. We tested that once by making up a bogus project to see how far up the ladder it'd go. The engineering manager had people in his department work on his house for him, after reminding them that he was the final voice of approval for approving all vacation leave.
I could go on and on. And I did to HR - just before I left.
Oh yeah, one more thing I did on my PC. I had a poorly hidden folder named "private stuff". It had thousands of pictures of shovels in it. Thousands. Arranged by type and color and length.
With no explanation.
Just shovels.
That'll leave 'em guessing if they find it. Is it porn? Is it a hobby? Who collects shovels? Is it like Jack Nicholson in The Shining? A modern day internet equivalent of "all work and no play makes jack a dull boy"?
They'll be talking about me for years.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Throwing a tantrum when leaving a company is a meaningful demonstration of personal issues that are likely to effect your ability to work well in teams. It's completely reasonable to avoid hiring someone due to their demonstrating said qualities.
A few years later, when the boss that fired him had moved on and we had another boss, he reapplied for his job. When the new boss heard the story, he did not even want to see the CV. His comment "once a loose cannon, always a loose cannon".
In these networked times, you never ever burn your bridges.
Your point would carry more weight if there were only one employer in each field. Fortunately, that's not the case.
everything in moderation
Someone who left our company a while ago wrote a nice email ending in "this has been the best first job ever, thank you everyone"
He sent it to a thousand people or so, and a few seconds later someone rang him: "you forgot the r in first"
He decided it was better not to follow up with a correction and draw people's attention to it....
Sometimes there aren't many employers in a field, and a single employer can be capable of blackballing you across an industry.
But even that isn't really my point. Of course it's a matter of a degree, but a big enough company can have millions of dollars on-hand and an army of lawyers. If it really turns into a battle, you aren't on equal footing. So even when you have other options, it's still the case that the relationship is not between two entities of equal power. Simply saying that you have alternative options doesn't make that disparity of power disappear.
It's kind of like saying, "Well the police don't have any power over citizens, since citizens can always choose to live in another country."
It's nothing at all like saying that. Are you seriously comparing getting a job at a different employer or purchasing goods from a different store to moving to another country?!
Alternatives may not make your (largely imagined) balance of power disappear, but they do make it irrelevant.
Consider taking responsibility for your own situation. It's not The Man's fault.
everything in moderation
The tasering, that is. If your email had read "and then the police proceeded to beat him until he screamed" then it wouldn't have been as funny, would it?
Pain is pain, whether it leaves lasting damage or not.
Shinyung Oh's email!
Ms. Oh,
while we are sorry for your loss our recent round of layoffs was due to the recent problems with the economy. We took the decision to perform a single lay off en masse to allow the remaining associates and other employees to feel secure in their positions. This decision did not allow us to make special cases for those suffering from recent loss, and to be brutally frank if you wish that we consider situations such as yours while making our decisions it would not be a positive factor: we prefer associates who can produce viable offspring at full term. Good luck finding a new position in this economy, rest assured you will have appropriate references from our firm.
It's nothing at all like saying that. Are you seriously comparing getting a job at a different employer or purchasing goods from a different store to moving to another country?!
Yes, they're similar, at least, in the way that I'm comparing them: both are cases where you might theoretically "have alternatives" and yet those alternatives may range from "inconvenient" to "seriously damaging to my life". In fact, the comparison isn't really that outlandish when you consider that both scenarios may require that you completely uproot your life and set up life someplace else.
I know you think you're being very clever and serious, but this has nothing to do with "taking responsibility for your own situation." I mean, sure, a slave can "take responsibility for his own situation" in that he can revolt against his masters, but that doesn't mean that there's a disparity of power in that relationship.
And yes, I'm also comparing slavery to employment. Not because they aren't different, but because there are similarities. Both are systems under which a person solicits work from someone in a weaker socioeconomic position. They're different in the sorts of rights that are given to the workers, but different models of employment can also grant different rights to workers too.
If you think it's silly to compare things that are similar but not identical, then might I suggest that there's no point in continuing this conversation?
http://web.archive.org/web/20000614000435/http://www.satanic.org/GST/rants.html
My goodbye emails are short and sweet: "thanks, you can reach me at XXX, good luck in all your future endeavors." If I have any gripes; I handle them verbally. This is the same approach I take with my current colleagues; gripes are handled verbally.
No, I will not work for your startup
It's not the act of comparison per se, but the conclusions you're drawing from those comparisons that I have a problem with. I also take issue with the notion that employment is a "system under which a person solicits work from someone in a weaker socioeconomic position."
Companies are made up of people. In mine, for example. the engineers (who technically "work for" the managers) make more money than the managers and are this in a stronger socioeconomic position. They manage us, but we do the work that makes the money for everyone, so they need us.
Perhaps your skill set isn't conducive to such a relationship, or maybe there are a great number of people who could easily replace you. That doesn't have to be the case though.
everything in moderation
Mostly I'm rejecting something that you seem to be arguing, which is "imbalances in power are automatically null in cases where the weaker party has an alternative." I think that's patently false. There are always alternatives, but imbalances in power often matter.
The other issues are regarding things like group dynamics and organizational psychology. Those are interesting and complex topics, but they aren't very central to what I'm talking about. If you get into a conflict with a large company, i.e. people within that company who discretionary access to company resources, then you are probably not on equal footing in that conflict. There are ways to handle it, but those things aren't the same things you'd do if you were acting from a position of power.
some were just incredibly surprising (cute girl: "I'm so disappointed I never got to sleep with you!"... damn, had I only known earlier!)
Damn indeed. Now that's unlucky...
The best thing though was a large banner that my co-workers printed. ...
http://slashdot.org/~clone53421/journal/213863 ... and don't forget 00001101 00001010 to make it look nice. ;)
Now, they all sort of expected me to decode it in my head instantly, so were a little disappointed when I didn't... but, being the "geek", I did so (slowly, but surely)
Heh. It's still not all that easy to decode A=1, B=2, C=3, etc. even after you convert from binary (and subtract 64 or 96, but that's easier in the binary form... just ignore the first 3 bits).
Alexander Peter Kristopeit bought his basement from his mommy for one dollar.
I was leaving on good terms, just moving on to a higher paying gig. Earlier in the year I'd figured out how to make the company asterisk system make an auto call to log off hotdesk phones; this process activated the speakerphone function and auto-answer to complete the call.
So I made a nice recorded msg about how great it had been, love y'all, that sort of thing. Then ended with "Before I go, I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling"...
And proceeded to RickRoll the entire company.
It was the sort of company that totally grokked the humor of it, and they were still happily sharing the story months later...
ehintz
it wasn't an email, but an IRC chat with the boss and everyone else in a small game development company. The end read like this: "Do it yourself then. Goodbye and thanks for all the fish."
Actually, I'm saying if he hadn't started a trend of financializing the economy and eliminating the manufacturing base, America still might be an economic power today. (As opposed to a debtor nation.)
See, your problem is that you think loansharking and making things provide equal value to the economy at large, and I don't. However, it's not my job to give you a lesson in economics. Besides, you'll find many, many mainstream economists to agree with you (the same guys who lead the country over a cliff).
Depressions don't happen by magic, they are caused by poor economic decision making by the economic leadership of the country. Jack Welch was one of those leaders, and not just a leader but a trend setter. So, yes, he doesn't get a pass that the house of cards he built waited until after he left to collapse.
(Also, Jack's quote said nothing about Chinese. He said he couldn't compete with Japanese TVs. Sure, those may have been made in China, and you may be right. In which case he could have outsourced TV manufacturing to China himself. My opinion is that that would still be bad, but it doesn't alter the fact that he decided to fundamentally change GE from an industrial company to a glorified loansharking outfit.)
"MIT betrayed all of its basic principles."
OK, then why don't you go ahead and explain how US manufacturing could have survived and competed with places like China and Mexico with labor available at 1/10tth the cost?
That would be more interesting and useful than this armchair business management you're doing here.
everything in moderation