Print Story We Prefer to Fire People on a Friday
Working life
By dr k (Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 10:26:55 PM EST) (all tags)
I wish I had been chronicling my adventures as a database engineer for the past 16 weeks, but if wishes were fishes we'd all end up in the drink.

I could have regaled you with stories of abandoned cron jobs that had been sending perl compilation errors to an unused mailbox every ten minutes for the past six months.

I could have frightened you with a database schema designed by either a madman, or a committee, or a committee of madmen.

And now, I could make you rage against the "startup" culture which secretly takes the rest of the team out for a company drink on a Friday afternoon while I get fired.



Ah well, it was a high stakes adventure. You would have known that, had I done a proper job in chronicling it.

But for now, let me simply mystify you with the official "Letter of Firing" which is, well, downright mystifying:

"I am sorry to inform you that --- can no longer offer you employment with us. I recognize that you have completed several projects which have benefited [sic] the company. Over the term of your employment, however, it became clear that there is no good fit between your communication and technical approaches and a fast-paced startup atmosphere which is required to enable the success of the business.

"I sincerely wish that you find employment that suits your personality better and would be happy to provide positive references for any future employer."

* * *

In my humble opinion, it as a common thing for people to look for and criticize those things in others that they are most insecure about in themselves. Yet, perhaps, this doesn't apply in this case, for two reasons:

1 - I will readily admit that I had difficulty in communicating within the company atmosphere. Part of this was intentional -- it was a choice between being willing to propose a quick fix versus deliberating over more effective solutions.

2 - The person who wrote the letter has such an unusual psychology that normal expectations of behavior don't apply.

Communication, and/or the lack thereof, is the major theme of my life. It is why we have meetings. It is why we have email. Hell, it is why we have blogs.

With that in mind, let the commiseration begin!

< 56 | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >
We Prefer to Fire People on a Friday | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback
Well, I've never been fired, by webwench (2.00 / 0) #1 Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 10:41:11 PM EST
but that's not to say I've never deserved to be fired.

Really, as far as firings go, yours sounded about as good as a firing can be, in that he's said he'll give a good recommendation, there was no in-office screaming or humiliation, and no weaponry was involved.

But yeah, that does suck. It really does. I wholeheartedly commiserate and hope you find something better.




well... by dr k (2.00 / 0) #2 Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 10:55:27 PM EST
There was a clear clash of personalities involved, and there are very few reasons to fire someone that would be more personal. When you work at a company with several business units and the option of moving to another team, there's something very dirty about getting fired by your immediate supervisor (and not, say, a general manager, vice president, or whatever) without them making that offer. And, considering what I know about what is in their data, this was an expensive decision.

:| :| :| :| :|

[ Parent ]

I Am a Cat by Kellnerin (2.00 / 0) #3 Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 11:46:17 PM EST
... is a novel by noted Japanese novelist Soseki Natsume.

Sounds like you and your former job are better off going your separate ways. Here's hoping you find someplace where the way they do things doesn't make you cringe on a daily basis.

--
What are we going to do about the white noise?


Well, at least they cannot by Orion Blastar (4.00 / 1) #4 Fri Jun 17, 2005 at 11:52:27 PM EST
mess with you anymore. Just collect that unemployment check, enjoy the vacation, and be glad you are not working for negative and misunderstanding people such as those who fired you.

I got fired, about three times in my life. In all honesty there were a lot more people I worked with who deserved to be fired before I was, but I always made more money than they did, thus I had a bullseye on my back. This was due to me thinking outside the box, and solving problems that the real people who deserved to be fired could not solve. I got more pay raises than they did, once I reached a certain level of salary, I started to become a liability. I too was criticised for my communication, I often asked for reasons why the changes to the program were being made 15 minutes before I left for the day, and that make me re-write at least half the code. I asked for documentation, work orders, flow charts, and other documents, and they refused to give them to me. The person who did the evaluation also had unusual psychology that normal expectations of behavior don't apply. Technical approaches, well I had an analysis and design phase, which management felt should not exist, and hence I was an idiot for doing it the wrong way.

Oh yeah, I never got the positive letter of reconmendation, just that they would give potentional employers my name, rank, and serial number, and nothing else, because they didn't want to have anyone else hire me, and use trade secrets that I had learned working for them. Sort of a neutral thing, saying year he worked for such and such a salary for such and such a time, other than that no comment.

After the third time, I was in mental, physical, spiritual, and social ruins. I had made a suicide attempt, and even managed to botch that up. Later on I pondered about it, and figured that I was better off not working in a toxic environment with uncaring managers, evil coworkers, and dealing with a daily dose of fear, fustration, stress, depression, etc that was always heaped upon me by the corporate machine that had no soul. I reasoned that I was lucky to have escaped with my soul, and what was left of my life. I pity those still caught up in the corporate machine with no soul, or any other corporating machine with no soul that functions almost the same way.

At least I still exist in the Internet Insanity that is Orion Blastar.


"I drank what?" - Socrates after drinking the Conium


OB you are an inspiration. by dr k (4.00 / 3) #7 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 02:37:38 AM EST
Now I know what to look forward to. Let me try this thing out...

My name is Dr K. I am from the future. When I died, I was sent back in time to fight the false humans.

Hm, this might just work out.

:| :| :| :| :|

[ Parent ]

Good luck by Orion Blastar (2.00 / 0) #10 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 10:49:46 AM EST
I think you might be able to troll with that story. :)

"I drank what?" - Socrates after drinking the Conium
[ Parent ]

I've pretty much found by vorheesleatherface (2.00 / 0) #5 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 12:36:42 AM EST
that anytime someone tells me they can't talk to me and that I work too slow, they are bottomfeeding errogant little inhuman byatches that had impossible expectations of me and bad communication skills themselves. Fuhget about it. Let them wallow in their miserbale high stress fast little world while you move on to higher and better things.

"Stabbing someone in the head with a pitchfork is rarely beneficial to the relationship." - MereKat


I can assure you by dr k (4.00 / 1) #8 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 02:51:46 AM EST
that this person thinks very highly of their skills, both as a communicator and as a programmer. To paraphrase what this person once said:

"I understand programming so well that when someone who isn't as good looks at my code they get confused. So when you look at it you have to look carefully at the way I wrote it, because I have a very high level understanding of code."


:| :| :| :| :|

[ Parent ]

Oh Gord by ucblockhead (4.00 / 1) #9 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 09:15:47 AM EST
The excuse used by shitty programmers everywhere. "You're just too stupid to understand my code."
----
ウセーバラケダ
[ Parent ]

*snigger* by Canthros (4.00 / 1) #11 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 08:44:39 PM EST
To the end of my days I will consider it one of the highest compliments my mad programming skillz (obDisclaimer: skills not actually 'mad') have (at least so far) been paid was that I wrote the most readable my mentor at my first job had seen (the superlative is in doubt, but I was complimented on readability, if not grasp of the language). Alas, then I was fired (not by those I was working directly under). These things happen.

No sense worrying about the opinion of someone whose head is shoved that far up their ass. Best of luck finding a new job.

--
I'm not here, man.


[ Parent ]

Your point number 2 by blixco (4.00 / 1) #6 Sat Jun 18, 2005 at 02:32:04 AM EST
is brilliant and requires further documentation.

I can tell, though, from the tone of the letter that the person writing it has a penchant for French underwear, fried eggs on Sundays, and a horrible cocaine habit.  If any of these things are useful to you, feel free to use them for whatever nefarious purpose you can invent in the short period you have before the world explodes.

Jesuschrist.  It's late, and I'm really, really not as tired as I sound.
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[redacted]


We Prefer to Fire People on a Friday | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback