I feel like crap. A guy I have sat next to the last year and a half just got canned. He just bought his first house using the goverment rebate and his wife is pregnant with their second kid. He and our supervisor have been bumping heads for a year. The supervisor and HR just stood at his cubicle while he packed up his stuff.
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11-06-2009, 12:11 PM #1
- Join Date: Jun 2007
- Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
- Posts: 2,831
- Rep Power: 2518
Guy sitting in cubicle next to me just got fired!
I thought I was strong till I watched my wife fight through GBS.I could only dream to have as much strength and will power as her!
Co-owner of Flex N Style™
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11-06-2009, 12:23 PM #2
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11-06-2009, 12:26 PM #3
I feel for the guy, having been on the business end of the firing pistol myself years ago, but this is not the climate to be standing on your principles and rousting the bosses. The best thing to do is go to twork, do your job the best you can, keep your mouth shut, and document every occurrence of what you think is harassment. Then you might have a case for wrongful termination. But since most states are at-will employment, usually we're ****ed.
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11-06-2009, 12:29 PM #4
That is a weird feeling; when I used to work at corporate it was at a time when they were laying off about 10% of the company. Every once in awhile I'd come out and see a security guard "escorting" someone out with a box of their stuff.
Eesh.
An old supervisor had just received the company watch for 20 years service and was let go the next month. Her husband had severe diabetes and she was the only one working. A bit later in the year the woman next to my office who had been there for 17 years got the can, and she had a small child and was pregnant.
This was well over 5 years ago though, and some came back.
But your guy was fired? And in this economy. Eesh.Food Aggressive
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11-06-2009, 12:43 PM #5
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11-06-2009, 12:44 PM #6
- Join Date: Jun 2007
- Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
- Posts: 2,831
- Rep Power: 2518
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11-06-2009, 02:24 PM #7
- Join Date: Sep 2007
- Location: Florida, United States
- Age: 51
- Posts: 22,582
- Rep Power: 91685
I am an employment attorney who represents only employers. I get calls all the time where employers run scenarios by me asking if it is okay to fire someone under that set of facts. I also get calls after the fact when the employer already fired someone where they shouldn't have.
Without all the facts, we don't really know whether this guy may have deserved to get fired. Sorry that you lost a next-door-cubical friend.
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11-06-2009, 02:29 PM #8
Makes me happy to be a union member. Sorry to hear that kind of stuff. Contrary to what the media puts out and what rumors people pass on as fact, people in unions get fired too. employers just have to have a valid reason. One of my coworkers got caught stealing copper to sell to a scrap yard. He's fired and won't be back.
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11-06-2009, 02:51 PM #9
- Join Date: Jan 2006
- Location: Atlanta, Georgia, United States
- Age: 65
- Posts: 29,893
- Rep Power: 114306
Look on the bright side; In light of the current trend, he may be back to give everyone a real show here in a few days after he's sulked about it.
*ducks and runs*"If a kid asks where rain comes from, I think a cute thing to tell him is "God is crying." And if he asks why God is crying, another cute thing to tell him is "Probably because of something you did."
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11-06-2009, 03:22 PM #10
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11-06-2009, 03:24 PM #11
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11-06-2009, 03:29 PM #12
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11-06-2009, 03:36 PM #13
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11-06-2009, 03:47 PM #14
- Join Date: Jun 2007
- Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
- Posts: 2,831
- Rep Power: 2518
I know he had asked to be transferred to another dept since he and her(supervisor) were not getting along. She had been saying he is stupid to other employees and that he looked like a goat with his goatee. He would say good morning as he walked past her office each morning and was always ignored.She also provided IT a new passford "loser" for his pc when he was out on vacation once. He has been underachieving since he asked for a transfer which was denied.I thought I was strong till I watched my wife fight through GBS.I could only dream to have as much strength and will power as her!
Co-owner of Flex N Style™
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11-06-2009, 03:49 PM #15
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11-06-2009, 03:50 PM #16
- Join Date: Oct 2008
- Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Age: 66
- Posts: 884
- Rep Power: 427
That really bites.
In my company after being there almost TEN YEARS, I get a THREE DAY SUSPENSION, because my #'s apparently didn't add up. Needless to say I was ANGRY.
They claim that this is classed as a 'customer mistreat' policy. I filed a grievance with my union as as far as I'm concerned with the policies my company has taken on lately, this IS outright harrasment and we as employees appear to have NO rights anymore.
It is truly amazing how my company has changed in 10 years, the epitome of corporate and really amazes me how those that have been there for VERY LITTLE time seem to get projects and climb the corporate ladder.
Any wonder we here of things like this latest episode on the news??
I really feel for the guy, it's time for things to change.
Sorry for the rant, but that DOES bite!!
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11-06-2009, 03:51 PM #17
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11-06-2009, 04:16 PM #18
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11-06-2009, 04:26 PM #19
- Join Date: Nov 2006
- Location: Texas, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 17,022
- Rep Power: 33557
Very rough situation. Sorry to hear of anyone losing their job! Even more so with this individual's circumstances with the excitement of purchasing a home and a new little one soon to arrive. I trust he can quickly find new employment.
paolo59
"If you're going through hell, keep going!" Winston Churchill
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11-06-2009, 04:47 PM #20
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11-06-2009, 05:08 PM #21
Might be an opportunity to find something better. I can't imagine he was happy working with that supervisor every day.
I remember being under a supervisor I hated and constantly looking for another job, terrible situation, very unhappy. One day we sat down to discuss impending "changes." I fully expected to be cleaning out my desk, when he told me they eliminated his position but I was staying on, I almost wept with joy.Don't put that on me Ricky Bobby, don't you ever put that on me.
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11-06-2009, 05:16 PM #22
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11-06-2009, 05:29 PM #23
- Join Date: Apr 2009
- Location: Vancouver, Washington, United States
- Posts: 98
- Rep Power: 285
A few months ago we cut 860+ IT people. As I was sitting on the call, listening to the announcements about the layoffs, I was doing it over the sobs of the lady who sat next to me, as she packed her things. In one more week she would have been there 20 years.
It's weak when you do what you're told, get moved around by management into different roles, then one day they say, "That role we moved you into, where you did exactly what you were told to do, we no longer need that function, you're fired". No chance I could move back into the job I was hired for before you played latest-management-book-bestseller experiment with my job? No... of course not.
On one hand you see cuts based on budgets, outsourcing, management changes, management philosophy changes, etc. On the other hand you get to see money just pissed away on projects that achieve nothing, or next to nothing. Seems like they take a limited set of bandages, and let the wrong wounds keep bleeding.
Hard to feel bad for a manager who is complaining that they didn't get their expected bonus in a year where they sent hundreds of people home to tell their families that mom/dad isn't working any more, won't be getting that retirement, and the family no longer has health care.
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11-06-2009, 05:32 PM #24
- Join Date: Feb 2009
- Location: Brightwaters, New York, United States
- Age: 69
- Posts: 5,934
- Rep Power: 13576
If you work in a toxic work environment, the best thing they can do sometimes is to let you go. I'm in a semi-toxic work place now. But I have loads of seniority and a great severance package.
I started at another facility 4 years ago when we merged with another company. One afternoon I heard the sound of a desk being cleaned out, it was one of the incumbents in the new office and he was on his way out. It was a grudge thing in his case, he alienated someone too far up the food chain with his inconsiderate smoking habits. It was still weird as I had been there only 2 months and was learning the ropes from this guy. Again, I had loads more seniority and a couple of college degrees up on him.
I can take the early retirement package in 3 months and 8 days, I'll have to get a read out before I decide what to do.
BGIn space, nobody can smell Uranus....
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11-06-2009, 05:34 PM #25
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11-06-2009, 05:45 PM #26
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11-06-2009, 05:53 PM #27
People spend so much time at work they think it defines their life. Honestly, the world doesn't revolve around that one job, I know, insurance, retirement company car or whatever seems important. But your own ability is what's really important. Don't be dependent on your employer, make them dependent on you.
Don't put that on me Ricky Bobby, don't you ever put that on me.
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11-06-2009, 10:28 PM #28
- Join Date: Nov 2008
- Location: Dallas, Texas, United States
- Age: 66
- Posts: 912
- Rep Power: 662
No doubt it sucks to see someone you like get let go. Generally, involuntary terminations are not done with a knee-jerk reaction so I'm sure there's more to the story. As an employee, we have a responsibility to do the best job we can for the time we put in. As an employer, we have a responsibility to make sure the company continues to stay afloat to provide livelihoods for everyone involved.
Be well and breathe deep.
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11-06-2009, 10:55 PM #29
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11-06-2009, 11:44 PM #30
I was in the same situation, except it was me that got fired. Came in one morning a found a "You're fired, get out now" letter sitting on my chair. I wasn't happy about it at the time, but in retrospect getting out of that company and that profession (software development) was one of the best things that ever happened to me. Now I work in a university library, and I love my job.
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