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Jane S. wrote:
>
>One phrase keeps coming up in this thread that I find troubling:
>
>the relationship is
>perhaps best severed for the good of both parties
>
>I find that a little arrogant -- the alternative for one party is temporary
>poverty, or who knows, an even worse work situation because they can no
>longer use you as a reference of any sort. Having been in two very bad work
>situations that I would have loved to flip off, I would like to think I did
>the mature thing by sticking around and trying to improve the situation. I
>was thwarted all along the way, and then at the end when I've had it up to
>here and I was putting the next job in place , I got the pink slip. Of
>course, like Lisa and every other fired person out there, you gotta think
>that there's something that you need to fix (and then do something about it
>on your own terms). The fact is, so do those workplaces, and yet it is so
>common for everybody to gang up together like a little tribe of survivors
>and assassinate the character of the departed. It's ridiculous, it's
>unprofessional, and it is exceedingly harmful to all concerned but most
>especially the person who was fired.
Agreed. I have yet to see a company where that doesn't happen -- even if
the departed left on their own but was unpopular.
On the same token, I have yet to see a person get fired from a technical
job because they were incompetent.
Incompetent people have this tendency to be good shmoozers and good "image"
people. They're really good at looking like they're doing alot of work and
doing a good job when, in fact, they are doing little to no work and are
taking credit for the work of those around or underneath them.
People who get fired tend to be competent people who rub some incompetent
higher-up the wrong way. I've worked at many companies where there was
someone who was competent and well-liked by their co-workers (and if a
manager, their underlings and usually their immediate supervisor and all
their peer managers), but who rubbed a higher-up the wrong way. For
example, at company "O" there was an EXTREMELY competent engineering
manager in the office next to mine who was the person you went to when you
wanted something done. All of a sudden someone pulled a coup and he was
made manager of nothing and nobody. The VP of same company later forced
out the very competent manager who hired me -- this despite the best
efforts of her boss and her boss's boss.
I later came across the same engineering manager at another company. He
was every bit as good, but he was so embittered by that experience he
couldn't even bear to say "hi" to me.
--Lynn
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