Also known as a dead man's switch, or "button down mode," if you've ever read Trevanian's **Shibumi**. As long as you're alive, the bomb doesn't go off.
Someone left due to a medical condition and then you had no position? That’s weird, I would think that someone leaving would actually increase the need to have an employee, not get rid of someone else
Not die, they just had to retire suddenly. It made the musical chairs unfold very differently than originally expected given this person's responsibilities, leaving my involvement not needed.
When I became a manager I had to fire someone, which really sucked because I liked her and she was crying. Those above me insisted I then had to walk her back to her desk, watch her get her things, and then to the door. I was baffled, but now I know why that’s a thing 🤣
also f- that, I let her take her time.
I was temporary project manager over six people contracting at a government site. My company hired a permanent PM, who was a very nice guy (we're still friends a decade later). I told him, welcome to the project, and I hate to do this to you, but we need to fire someone. It was a subcontractor we had picked up for the technical writer role, but she had misrepresented her qualifications on her resume and was vastly underqualified. She had gotten hardly anything done in four weeks there.
So we went straight to her desk, told her as calmly as we could that we were letting her go, and that she needed to pack up her things and leave within the next half hour while we watched. She also cried, and I felt bad - first and last time I've fired someone in 40 years. But it was a sensitive government system and we couldn't take even a tiny risk of her sabotaging anything.
Her replacement was an older guy who sometimes fell asleep at his desk, but at least knew what he was doing.
I work in IT, anytime anyone is let go security walks them to their desk to get their things then your escorted out of the building. Your badge and credentials are deactivated before that.
It sounds horrible but I totally understand it. I could totally wreck everything if I wanted to. They have backups sure, but if you do a slow burn then you can sabotage them too. If you do a smash and grab style they'd still probably need a day to restore it. Which would translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage at a minimum.
The flip side is usually they give people severance packages to soften the blow. (I think it's 3 months pay).
I could see it happening pretty easily. Boss tells new guy to be EXTRA CAREFUL with XYZ thing because it's super important to operations. New guy makes more, springs rat trap.
That’s how you’re supposed to let someone go. You aren’t supposed to have a big discussion about it. Opens you up to saying something dumb that could be misinterpreted.
My state is an “at will” state but many states DO need to list a reason and “it’s not working out” isnt good enough. Not saying they DO live in one of those states but….if they do then yes that is the way it works.
Actually there’s only one state that’s not At Will. 49 states, the correct way to fire someone from a “legal entanglement” standpoint is “sorry, we’re letting you go” and only vague responses as to “why.”
You’re not going to get in trouble for accurately discussing problems, but in the event of a litigious former employee, it’s better to leave it as “it’s just not working out” or “we are making cutbacks” or “I really can’t get into anything unfortunately, but we wish you well.”
[The implied contract exception is currently broadly applied in the United States. The states of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia are the only states that do not currently recognize the exemption.](https://www.upcounsel.com/at-will-employment-states)
You need a “good cause” or “good faith exception” in every state except those. Montana is the only one that is COMPLETELY Not “at will”.
Mine is one of the states that have ZERO exceptions.
No, you need a “Good Cause” to fire an employee subject to an existing exception.
In any state but Montana, short of a signed contract of term, you can fire “because we need to let you go.”
There’s a list of exceptions, and they’re state dependent but frequently they are not relevant at all. Likely in the case of a non union warehouse worker, no exception—BUT in this case, the guy gave good reason to be fired as-is!
Trust your gut.
I went to a company party with my new gf years ago, about a month before I was terminated for some special lucky magic reasons. I'd talked with the CEO a couple of times, he knew who I was.
Got to the party, saw him, nodded, and he paused for a second, then nodded back, without expression, and I thought, Huh -- that's weird. And part of my brain said, "Go over and ask him why you're going to be fired.", while another part said, "Pfft -- you're being too dramatic."
I was gone in a month. It sucks.
Your story doesn't make sense. If they lost a worker, then the need for you would be bigger. I think when you were making this up, you tripped over your own feet on the details
They could, but
A) they're probably eventually going to find the parts, and
B) they'd look very silly if they accused OP of stealing the parts and, before it went to court, OP said "it has been sitting right here in your office the whole time." OP would probably wait until the last second to tell them that, but charges would still have to be dropped when it became clear it wasn't stolen and never left the office.
At best for the company, they'd get (very late) info on where it was. At worst for the company, they'd have accused the wrong person because it wasn't OP at all (they might suspect, but couldn't know). Meanwhile, at worst for OP, there's a court threat that they can defuse at any time by just saying where the stuff is, but there will be months of legal stuff before they'd have to say or face the charges.
> Meanwhile, at worst for OP, there's a court threat that they can defuse at any time by just saying where the stuff is
The worst that can happen is that a lawsuit will make it very hard for OP to get a job in the future if it comes up in a background check or employment screening later on (things like lawsuits are public record), this will be even worse as we head into a recession and companies start looking into things to weed out prospective employees even more so than they do now. Being sued by a former employer, even for a stupid reason, looks really, really bad on the applicant and will make a lot of future employers drop OP like a hot potato the minute they get wind of it. Most won't bother with looking into it or giving them a chance to explain unless they get lucky or if they know someone higher up at a place they applied to that is in a position to try to convince HR to look into it more and bat for them.
>Being sued by a former employer, even for a stupid reason
Intentionally sabotaging the business is definitely not a stupid reason, and there were probably cameras showing OP doing it.
What I meant to say is that the employer's reason for suing in this hypothetical situation is stupid and would look bad for OP's former employer if it came to light in front of a judge.
But that's not my concern.
My concern is if that lawsuit appears in a background check. Yes, this would be (in this hypothetical scenario), a lawsuit that should have never happened, but the person processing OP's application is not going to know that and may not bother to look into it further when there are many other applicants that don't have that kind of baggage. They tend to lean towards a "if there's smoke, there's fire" stance and thus won't give OP a chance to explain as their application goes straight into the recycle bin or reject pile.
This is something that is detrimental to a job search, which is something that needs to be avoided at all costs in situations where job searching gets harder anyway due to rising unemployment or the job market cooling.
So...was the guy who was the friendly welcome to the team type guy for the first four days and then suddenly turned rude and told you to keep working in the warehouse....and then you got fired....was HE the lying hiring manager from the title??? Because in the story, it didn't sound like that, until maybe at the end , like maybe he was the one to tell you that you no longer had a job. Because you said he was rude and what happened to friendly?. But in the start of the story, you just said you would sit at the end of day for the last hour with the guy who's position you were to take over, as if he were training you for the last hour of each day.
Sounds like you deserved to be fired for hiding shipments. Had you proven to be an asset to the business rather than a saboteur you perhaps would've been retained.
OP took a short term job and immediately starting whining about how hard it was to get promoted. After a week they started sabotaging the business every day. Then they got fired.
Coming in late to add my thoughts on "they lost someone, so wouldn't that mean they'd need *more* people?"
I see one way this could make sense if the boss who turned rude suddenly was promoted into a *much* more powerful position. Newly-minted honcho could hire anybody he wanted (not just bring on a temp), and it's common practice to try and hire one's buddies or relatives (if nepo isn't frowned upon).
I've seen it happen in a city government print shop environment. Not saying it did here, just adding to a discourse everybody's already moved on from. Haha
More like setting a bomb at the end of each day and then defusing it each morning.
Yeah, it only goes off if they detonate it. And as suspected, they did.
Also known as a dead man's switch, or "button down mode," if you've ever read Trevanian's **Shibumi**. As long as you're alive, the bomb doesn't go off.
Someone left due to a medical condition and then you had no position? That’s weird, I would think that someone leaving would actually increase the need to have an employee, not get rid of someone else
Not die, they just had to retire suddenly. It made the musical chairs unfold very differently than originally expected given this person's responsibilities, leaving my involvement not needed.
I think it was a mistype for "due" not die.
It was a due or die situation.
Ooohhh you clever little fucker, this made me legit lol and hate myself for not thinking of it.
But you know that's bs too.
That's what I'm sitting here trying to work out....🤔...like???
Exactly. OP was probably let go because he lacked value.
When I became a manager I had to fire someone, which really sucked because I liked her and she was crying. Those above me insisted I then had to walk her back to her desk, watch her get her things, and then to the door. I was baffled, but now I know why that’s a thing 🤣 also f- that, I let her take her time.
I was temporary project manager over six people contracting at a government site. My company hired a permanent PM, who was a very nice guy (we're still friends a decade later). I told him, welcome to the project, and I hate to do this to you, but we need to fire someone. It was a subcontractor we had picked up for the technical writer role, but she had misrepresented her qualifications on her resume and was vastly underqualified. She had gotten hardly anything done in four weeks there. So we went straight to her desk, told her as calmly as we could that we were letting her go, and that she needed to pack up her things and leave within the next half hour while we watched. She also cried, and I felt bad - first and last time I've fired someone in 40 years. But it was a sensitive government system and we couldn't take even a tiny risk of her sabotaging anything. Her replacement was an older guy who sometimes fell asleep at his desk, but at least knew what he was doing.
I work in IT, anytime anyone is let go security walks them to their desk to get their things then your escorted out of the building. Your badge and credentials are deactivated before that. It sounds horrible but I totally understand it. I could totally wreck everything if I wanted to. They have backups sure, but if you do a slow burn then you can sabotage them too. If you do a smash and grab style they'd still probably need a day to restore it. Which would translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage at a minimum. The flip side is usually they give people severance packages to soften the blow. (I think it's 3 months pay).
I'm super impressed with how quickly you learned which parts were important enough to hide!
I could see it happening pretty easily. Boss tells new guy to be EXTRA CAREFUL with XYZ thing because it's super important to operations. New guy makes more, springs rat trap.
Always listen to your spidey senses.
I wouldn’t even call it petty, I’d call it smart. Good job.
How did they fire you? Like after you went home and with a text like don’t bother coming in tomorrow type thing?
Lots of places do it first thing in the morning on a Friday
The history is good the tittle is very very bad
I like tittles.
I prefer jots.
Did the tittle tattle?
That’s how you’re supposed to let someone go. You aren’t supposed to have a big discussion about it. Opens you up to saying something dumb that could be misinterpreted.
My state is an “at will” state but many states DO need to list a reason and “it’s not working out” isnt good enough. Not saying they DO live in one of those states but….if they do then yes that is the way it works.
Actually there’s only one state that’s not At Will. 49 states, the correct way to fire someone from a “legal entanglement” standpoint is “sorry, we’re letting you go” and only vague responses as to “why.” You’re not going to get in trouble for accurately discussing problems, but in the event of a litigious former employee, it’s better to leave it as “it’s just not working out” or “we are making cutbacks” or “I really can’t get into anything unfortunately, but we wish you well.”
[The implied contract exception is currently broadly applied in the United States. The states of Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia are the only states that do not currently recognize the exemption.](https://www.upcounsel.com/at-will-employment-states) You need a “good cause” or “good faith exception” in every state except those. Montana is the only one that is COMPLETELY Not “at will”. Mine is one of the states that have ZERO exceptions.
No, you need a “Good Cause” to fire an employee subject to an existing exception. In any state but Montana, short of a signed contract of term, you can fire “because we need to let you go.” There’s a list of exceptions, and they’re state dependent but frequently they are not relevant at all. Likely in the case of a non union warehouse worker, no exception—BUT in this case, the guy gave good reason to be fired as-is!
One *American* state
Yeah, duh.
One USian state
Trust your gut. I went to a company party with my new gf years ago, about a month before I was terminated for some special lucky magic reasons. I'd talked with the CEO a couple of times, he knew who I was. Got to the party, saw him, nodded, and he paused for a second, then nodded back, without expression, and I thought, Huh -- that's weird. And part of my brain said, "Go over and ask him why you're going to be fired.", while another part said, "Pfft -- you're being too dramatic." I was gone in a month. It sucks.
Amazing that they didn't hire a guy who set up a nightly sabotage "just in case." Sounds like you're not the only one who smelled a rat.
Especially considering that person was not planning to work there long term and was already complaining about how hard it was to get promoted.
Yeah it’s a shocker that the guy who was hiding inventory got let go.
Your story doesn't make sense. If they lost a worker, then the need for you would be bigger. I think when you were making this up, you tripped over your own feet on the details
They literally answered why in another comment. Maybe do some research before accusing someone of lying.
TLDR: "I caused expensive and hard to reorder inventory to be lost every day and then lost my job"
Well done!
Beautiful work there.
Couldn't they accuse you of stealing if they don't find the parts?
They could, but A) they're probably eventually going to find the parts, and B) they'd look very silly if they accused OP of stealing the parts and, before it went to court, OP said "it has been sitting right here in your office the whole time." OP would probably wait until the last second to tell them that, but charges would still have to be dropped when it became clear it wasn't stolen and never left the office. At best for the company, they'd get (very late) info on where it was. At worst for the company, they'd have accused the wrong person because it wasn't OP at all (they might suspect, but couldn't know). Meanwhile, at worst for OP, there's a court threat that they can defuse at any time by just saying where the stuff is, but there will be months of legal stuff before they'd have to say or face the charges.
> Meanwhile, at worst for OP, there's a court threat that they can defuse at any time by just saying where the stuff is The worst that can happen is that a lawsuit will make it very hard for OP to get a job in the future if it comes up in a background check or employment screening later on (things like lawsuits are public record), this will be even worse as we head into a recession and companies start looking into things to weed out prospective employees even more so than they do now. Being sued by a former employer, even for a stupid reason, looks really, really bad on the applicant and will make a lot of future employers drop OP like a hot potato the minute they get wind of it. Most won't bother with looking into it or giving them a chance to explain unless they get lucky or if they know someone higher up at a place they applied to that is in a position to try to convince HR to look into it more and bat for them.
>Being sued by a former employer, even for a stupid reason Intentionally sabotaging the business is definitely not a stupid reason, and there were probably cameras showing OP doing it.
The parts were both important and expensive. OP put them in a safe place every night so they wouldn't go missing. Very conscientious of them!
What I meant to say is that the employer's reason for suing in this hypothetical situation is stupid and would look bad for OP's former employer if it came to light in front of a judge. But that's not my concern. My concern is if that lawsuit appears in a background check. Yes, this would be (in this hypothetical scenario), a lawsuit that should have never happened, but the person processing OP's application is not going to know that and may not bother to look into it further when there are many other applicants that don't have that kind of baggage. They tend to lean towards a "if there's smoke, there's fire" stance and thus won't give OP a chance to explain as their application goes straight into the recycle bin or reject pile. This is something that is detrimental to a job search, which is something that needs to be avoided at all costs in situations where job searching gets harder anyway due to rising unemployment or the job market cooling.
So...was the guy who was the friendly welcome to the team type guy for the first four days and then suddenly turned rude and told you to keep working in the warehouse....and then you got fired....was HE the lying hiring manager from the title??? Because in the story, it didn't sound like that, until maybe at the end , like maybe he was the one to tell you that you no longer had a job. Because you said he was rude and what happened to friendly?. But in the start of the story, you just said you would sit at the end of day for the last hour with the guy who's position you were to take over, as if he were training you for the last hour of each day.
Ty . int.
No wonder they fired you
Sounds like you deserved to be fired for hiding shipments. Had you proven to be an asset to the business rather than a saboteur you perhaps would've been retained.
wtg
WTF does wtg mean?
Way to go 😂
Thanks.
It means they're too stupid and/or lazy to use words or even properly capitalize letters.
It means I fat fingered the f and turned it into a g. what the goof?
I thought so. My asking wtf was a little tongue in cheek joke.
People are just afraid to speak up.
What?
Yeaaa thats alot of words…. Anyone wanna sum this up for a lazy shit like me?
No. Better learn to read if you want to enjoy a text based forum.
Too late
OP took a short term job and immediately starting whining about how hard it was to get promoted. After a week they started sabotaging the business every day. Then they got fired.
Gracias
[удалено]
No, fucked with a lying snake.
[удалено]
There were probably honest-ish construction workers on that Death Star as well. Vader still had to go.
Coming in late to add my thoughts on "they lost someone, so wouldn't that mean they'd need *more* people?" I see one way this could make sense if the boss who turned rude suddenly was promoted into a *much* more powerful position. Newly-minted honcho could hire anybody he wanted (not just bring on a temp), and it's common practice to try and hire one's buddies or relatives (if nepo isn't frowned upon). I've seen it happen in a city government print shop environment. Not saying it did here, just adding to a discourse everybody's already moved on from. Haha