You're fired...

[jgakenhe]

I'm a government employee in Ohio :( but I have never had a drug test. We do have to take a polygraph and an extensive background check is performed not only across the US, but all of NA and Interpol. Now if someone commits a serious misdemeanor, such as a drunk driving, during the past 7 years they won't get a job. If they commit it on the job, they might be fired for it.

[Lost User]

sort of sacked, asked to quit. short story: boss asked me (as the PM of a project) to lie to a client, I said no! he said go!! 5 minutes later he had my letter and I walked out after demanding (and getting) I still be paid the full notice period. 2 other successive PM's, same project also left in less than a month after I went. 6 months later that company ceased to exist - owing a shit load of money for unfulfilled projects. no regrets, and if ever asked to lie again I would still do the same in a heartbeat.

This internet thing is amazing! Letting people use it: worst idea ever!

[Jon McKee]

Can confirm. Some government positions also include an extremely invasive questionnaire. One question even asked me to list names, locations, times, and substances for every instance of drug use I had witnessed over the past 10 years on condition it would not be used against any mentioned peoples for prosecution. It's basically a "tell us all your secrets" form followed by a polygraph to make sure those are all your secrets.

[Pete OHanlon]

Jedi Temple. Anakin Skywalker. About it, think.

This space for rent

[dandy72]

Now in my mid-40s, I'm only at my third software company. I'm a long-term guy. The first two companies were acquired by larger entities. Both times, a large amount of staff was let go but I was kept around for some period of time to help shut things down. I'm not sure if there's some special meaning I'm supposed to read into this. :~ The nice thing about this (for me at least) is that when they want you to stick around when others are being let go, they're willing to compensate.

[Ravi Bhavnani]

I was laid off once (along with the entire company) in 2001, when the startup I'd joined a year before crashed and burned. /ravi

My new year resolution: 2048 x 1536 Home | Articles | My .NET bits | Freeware ravib(at)ravib(dot)com

[Lost User]

Twice. Celebrated both :cool:

Bastard Programmer from Hell :suss: If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^] "If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.

[virang_21]

Yes... during GFC of 2008... I was the victim of thieves in suits at big banks taking down every one but themselves

[Mycroft Holmes]

I tried to fire a guy once, went through HR process of a written letter warning him to get his shit together, 3 weeks later after actually getting HR to agree to sack him comes the Friday he was to leave HR informs me they don't actually have a process to fire the guy. A year later before he left useless POS he was.

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity RAH

[KBZX5000]

A polygraph. That just blew my mind. :wtf:

[Munchies_Matt]

Contracting is different, you expect to be dropped at short notice when the whim takes them. But a permie getting fired is almost unknown in our buisness.

[Munchies_Matt]

Kornfeld Eliyahu Peter wrote:

40% raise this month to not to walk away...

SO they have been keeping your wages low for the last 20? :)

[den2k88]

KBZX5000 wrote:

A polygraph. That just blew my mind

Maybe they set the voltage too high

GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

[den2k88]

I work only since 6 years and in the same company so my personal experience is limited. In the history of our software team nobody was ever sacked, at most they weren't confirmed after the customary (paid) internship period.

GCS d-- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L+@ E-- W++ N+ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t+ 5? X R+++ tv-- b+(+++) DI+++ D++ G e++ h--- ++>+++ y+++*      Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X

[zpinklb]

A year or so after I left a rather big company (50k users in Europe alone), one of my former colleagues added all of the European servers into a SCCM (SMS at the time I guess) collection to be rebuilt. The cost was around £18.000.000. He still works there so, no, I don't think it's possible to get fired from an IT job. ;-) A fair few of my current colleagues also cements this belief.

[Chris Quinn]

About 12 years ago I was the IT manager at a tourist attraction in the North West of England and had been there for two years. I had markedly improved the IT infrastructure and had even brought in several old PCs from home to make life easier for staff who were having to share obsolete kit between large numbers. I brought in lots of older, but perfectly serviceable kit, such as drives, printers, monitors etc. One day I was called in to the meeting room and was told that I was being made redundant, and that I had 30 minutes to collect my belongings before I was to be escorted of the premises. I then proceeded to walk around each office, pointing out all of the kit I had brought in, telling them that I wanted each piece returned within 24 hours, including one of the drives in the main office server. They baulked at the last one, eventually paying me considerable more than it was worth to keep it. They were unable to print off payslips that month, as the NCR paper they used required an impact printer, and the only one there was my old Epson dot matrix. This went home with me! I had brought in a 24" Dell CRT monitor for the use of a lady in the office with poor eyesight. This I left for her, but made it abundantly clear to the management that this was my personal gift to the lady, not the company, and had them document this in writing before I left. Pettiness can be so satisfying at times!

========================================================= I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka. =========================================================

[DerekT P]

Never been fired; but... Have been told that I would never even be considered for promotion / pay rise - unless I shaved off my beard. This was shortly after EDS took over the company I worked for (Unilever Computer Services). A couple of months later I accepted another job and on handing in my resignation, the new (American) boss offered me "whatever money I wanted" to stay. I looked him in the eye and told him it was exactly that attitude that was why I was leaving. Never seen anyone look so confused. Have been made redundant - by a very long-established, household name UK company (Prudential Insurance - an entire division folded after the Piper Alpha oilrig disaster, and a few other losses, in '88 cost them a fortune). We were taken offsite for a "meeting" where we were told of the closure. On return to the office, if your name wasn't on the list, you didn't get back in the building. Security gathered your belongings and handed them to you on the street. I was a "lucky" one and got an extra three months working there, and we all got reasonable redundancy terms. Have also been the line manager responsible for firing a couple of people. One a new-hire, still on probationary period. He was Russian, and despite having got through interview somehow (I didn't interview him) he spoke almost no English and knew nothing about programming. The other was a long-time employee who had allowed a mix of poor health, a horrible attitude and laziness, combined with being the only person in the company who knew about a particular system, to effectively allow him to hold the company to ransom. He was the only guy who could fix it, so he figured he could take as long as he wanted. Repeatedly drifting in an hour or two late, leaving an hour or two early, taking a couple of hours for lunch and sleeping inbetween. When he was gone we just developed a new system on different hardware. Worked freelance for nearly 25 years and I've not sacked myself yet!

[hevisko]

effectively fired... TWICE... just called "incompatible with work environment" within 2.5 months of the the 3month probation period, and the other called a "retrenchment financial reasons" when I stood up and didn't want to take pay drop, that was at month 4, 1month into the 6month fixed term contract that followed from the first 3month fixed term contract

[Peter Shaw]

Almost. At one point in my career I came to loggerheads with a manager, who was playing the office politics power game. Anyway, he basically managed to corner me into making a stupid move, that I didn't see coming, and that was going to get me brought up in front of a disciplinary committee, which by his own words "He was going to make sure ruled in his favor". Long story short, he rumbled his own attempt, when earlier in the day before the hearing was to take place, he pulled me to one side when we passed out in the corridor, and with derision and a sneer, politely informed me that after the hearing that afternoon, he was not only going to make sure I had no job left, but also make sure that all other I.T companies in the area, and recruitment firms would see what a bad employee I was, and would freely circulate a bad character reference among those that asked about me. Realizing what was at stake, and still having a few hours of time left, I put together a quick bailout plan. I was coming down with the beginnings of a cold that day, so I wrote a letter of resignation, in the letter I cited my reasons for resigning based on health issues, and then sniffling slightly, and looking generally unwell I marched upstairs to the 3rd floor and handed my resignation, directly to my managers boss, who was genuinely shocked that I was leaving, we had a cup of coffee and a quick chat, and he handed my letter to the HR person who started to process it right their and then, and I got confirmation that the company would give me a good clean record and references based on the work I had done. I went back down to my office, and was saying my goodbyes to my collegues etc, when my manager stormed in yelling & screaming, and spitting fire.... tore a strip off me in front of my team mates. He was very angry and red in the face, beacuse he knew there was bugger all he could do at that point, and as I left the building he followed me out still trying to berate me, but I just let it wash over me. His political game had been going on for months, and at that point in time I felt like a great weight had been lifted off of me, so I let him do what he had to do and kept walking. As a last ditch attempt he screamed at building security to stop and search me, and detain me to make sure I didn't have anything I shouldn't have, so I walked up to the security desk calmly opened my bag let them look inside, got the nod picked my bag up and just kept walking. Even outside, he stood at the door shouting at me, words tot he

[Peter Shaw]

Best way to screw up a Polygraph... Get yourself worked up about it, the body's "worring response" will cause all the signs that the testers are looking for, such as elevated heart beat, sweaty palms, pupil dilation and so on. Make sure you answer every question truthfully. The result of the test will be your a 100% liar, but then when they actually double check the facts, they will find that your 100% truthful, and will then start to doubt the validity of the polygraph. and yes it does work :-) and no... don't ask :-)