• Mamie said on Sep 04, 2008....

  that is terrible and I have been where you are... and I have been  the one walked to the door, either way it sucks! fwiw, I know you have not been there that long, but do you think that they would honestly listen to and accept yur feedback on how these things CAN be done so that a persons integrity is not called to question? I mean, maybe stupid as this sounds, but they may  not know HOW to do this?
   
  when the dork who wanted to escort me to the door many moons ago....put on 'that hat"...I said whoa, there, pardner...lets discuss how we will do this...and I was afforded the chance to take care of some things, ya know? and by day's end, I had said my goodbyes to people and taken some personal papers out of a file and put together my little box...no email back then, ah, but I date myself...
  you are nice to have her to dinner, how is she?

• beyondtheveil said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Ed- I think businesses handle things properly when, and only when, it works out to their advantage on the bottom line. It didn't used to be this way, I guess its part of 'change' you wrote about once.
  
  I've heard things like this for so long now its become normal. I could site you examples like this also where it happened two weeks to a month before Christmas.
  
  They simply don't care, or have a conscience - at all.
  
  I feel sad for your friend and hope she can find a place that cares.
  

• kruuyai said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Yes, for many years in America, people have been treated like criminals when they are let go from a job, even if the circumstances don't warrant it.  Hell, sometimes they're even treated that way when they quit.  In the Czech Republic, a girl in our office was let go after she messed up royally on my visa application.  It was the last in a series of royal mess-ups, I guess.  They gave her two month's notice during which time she continued to work in the office, and when they finally sent an email announcing the change in the office, they worded it as if it had been her choice, "We are going to be losing J in the front office.  Her last day is___.  Please be sure to stop by and wish her luck."  The only reason I know that she got fired is that she told me while we were waiting together outside the Foreign Police office.  

• beyondtheveil said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Ed- I read an article on my homepage once about how in Europe the people trust the government but don't trust corporations and things are about allowing people their dignity. Whereas in the US people don't trust the government and corporations are given everything with neither concerned about people's dignity.
  
  I printed that article if I could just find it.
  

• TinSoldier said on Sep 04, 2008....

  My previous employer would do layoffs this way:
  
  
  First off, people would get a heads up that a layoff was coming because suddenly all of the conference rooms would be booked, usually on a Friday. (Some of my more tech-savvy and calendar-savvy friends figured this out). Then your manager would come out on the floor and he would tap an individual on their shoulder and ask to speak with them. Then they would go and have their exit interview and leave.
  
  
  Usually on days like that, no real work would get done.
  
  
  I hated that method, but I think the company might have gone a little too far in the other direction when they laid me off. I found out on June 3 that I would be laid off on August 8. That's what, eight weeks or so? Too much time. Give me about two or three weeks notice and that would be fine.
  
  
  Heh -- doesn't matter much now, though, does it?
  
  
  Best of luck to your friend.

• uniquely-ironic said on Sep 04, 2008....

  That really sucks.  It's bad enough when you lose a friend/coworker because they find another job, but when they're fired it is actually very scary.  I hope she finds something even better and that you can continue to be friends.

• pusscat said on Sep 04, 2008....

  I know you played it down a little but that invitation to dinner was such a wonderful thing for you to do and I bet it meant the world to her.  I know it would have to me.
   
  I believe what btv said is quite true.  It appears to be down to whether it is an advantage or disadvantage to the company and, of course, each and every company is different.  There is no such thing nowadays as a 'job for life' is there?
   
   

• Alyss said on Sep 04, 2008....

  I'm sorry for your friend ed and for how it has upset you too.

• Battycat said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Thats crap, sorry about your friend :-)

• travelr712 said on Sep 04, 2008....

  i'm afraid that this scenario is becoming the norm ed, not the exception. sorry about your friend.

• woman said on Sep 04, 2008....

  No matter how often this happens (as in a LOT lately) it is difficult. You have been there for her and that's all you can do Ed. My husbands company was reduced from 3,000 to 600 in one year. It was corporate headquarters. He was eventually let go and, truely, he has never recovered from it. SEnding good thoughts.

• bluegum said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Ed its the way its done today and it sucks,you are no longer that important ,  your a victim of corporate decisions.And your told to be multi skilled so you are a more employable employee,yeah well it does make you better able to cope with no pay packet tighten your belt pretend your just fine every thing is A O K .well its not it causes heaps of hurt and grief the way its done.
   
  Blue.

• botoni said on Sep 04, 2008....

  Ed, that sudden void created by these situations is really a bummer.  You and your wife are very kind to have invited your colleague to dinner.  The first few hours after a firing are the toughest part.  No matter how gentle  a firing is it still stings like mad.

• skald said on Sep 05, 2008....

  Good of you and your wife to invite her for dinner but something is rotten in your company since she was doing her job well. 

• RollingC said on Sep 05, 2008....

  If she was doing her job well then maybe streamlining the dept was the reason. But I don't know how well she was doing her job or if she had some kind of conflict with the people upstairs.  In my present company you don't have to be fired to be treated like that.  I " transferred " to another post/building (had a minor conflict with the Board President who often acted like Hitler) and on my last day I was required to be escorted to my car.  Nowadays this is a common practice. 
  This country is being dehumanized by the rat race lifestyle that it leads I think.
  Rc
  ps....that was good of you to have her over for dinner ed.    :^)
  

• queenparanoia said on Sep 05, 2008....

  that sucks... i know what you feel... busines is bisuness... shit but were people!!! ugh... i hate big companies...

• silverwhisper said on Sep 05, 2008....

  mamie: i honestly have no idea how it would go over--frankly, i've done what i can, and i don't think it's gonna make a damned bit of difference, to tell you the truth.
  
  beyond: no, they really do not care--certainly not in any meaningful sense of the word. i'm angry about this, in case that was somehow not clear.
  
  kruu: yep, it's been this way for some time now, i do agree. this does not in any meaningful way impact my thoughts on the subject though, you know?
  
  beyond: the simple truth is that republicans place way too much faith in corporate america; democrats, not enough. it's a simple thing, though, and one would think they'd have that figured out by now, no?
  
  TS: thank you, i'm quite worried about l, to be honest.
  
  u-i: yeah, quite frankly it sucks donkey balls--sideways. i hope that l does find something else--soon!
  
  pusscat: hey, it's the least that i could have done, quite frankly. and no, there really is no such thing--at all.
  
  alyss: thank you--i'm worried for her and i do appreciate that.
  
  battycat: yeah, it's utter crap, when you come right down to it.
  
  trav: thanks, man. and i think you're right about it being the norm nowadays.
  
  woman: my sympathies re: your husband, and yeah, it's absolutely going on more than is necessary, IMHO.
  
  bluey: i agree that's the way things are handled nowadays--i guess i was hoping this place would an exception, you know?
  
  botoni: as i've been there myself, you're absolutely right: it does sting, and there's no getting around that fact.
  
  skald: yeah, precisely!
  
  rollingc: you guys're making way too much of having had l over for dinner--seriously, she'd have done the same in return.
  
  sis: i knew you would--thank you. :>
  
  ed

• hotaka said on Sep 06, 2008....

  Is there any nice way to let someone go? It's always ugly. That's too bad for I. What a raw deal. But that seems to be the business trend for the last 20 years or so. Good you are there as a friend for her. I hope she can move on to something better soon.

• silverwhisper said on Sep 06, 2008....

  what's got folks upset is that they always told us at every oppportunity that when people are let go, there aren't any surprises.
  
  well, either something changed or they've all been lying to us.
  
  ed

• travelr712 said on Sep 06, 2008....

  you're welcome ed. i have a personal theory that businesses are becoming cold and impersonal as a reaction to the last several decades of being throttled by unions, being liable for millions in 'punative damages' because some low management level asshole makes a pass at a secretary, things like that. also it's part of the effect from globalization of companies. can't prove it, it's just the way i see it.

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