March 27, 2014 at 8:13 am
Gary Varga (3/27/2014)
below86 (3/27/2014)
I was once fired, on a Monday morning when I first came in. Now they had to know Friday before that, so why not do it then? Who knows?...
I would assume it was standard practice there. Assuming that you had no access to the office and no remote access then it is possible that they did it on a Monday morning to ensure that there were the appropriate people to ensure that all your access could be immediately revoked.
Could be but I didn't mention that this was a factory job, assembling filing cabinets, not in IT at the time, I hadn't figured out that's what I wanted to do yet.
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March 27, 2014 at 8:36 am
I think big keys to the problem is what do the corporate policies have in place, what laws are in place, what learning plans have been implemented to try and help the individual along before firing them.
One behavior that should be actionable towards firing is when a person sabotages co-workers or creates a hostile work place.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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March 27, 2014 at 8:57 am
Technically, I've never been fired, but neither have I left any job of my own volition--in every case so far I've lost my job due to being made redundant. In a way, that's worse, because you know you're doing a good job and they only got rid of you because the post itself is disappearing! At least if I got fired for my own incompetence I'd understand it. :crying:
March 27, 2014 at 9:09 am
PhilipC (3/27/2014)
Well said Cody, good post.
Ditto!
Dave
March 27, 2014 at 9:13 am
below86 (3/27/2014)
I know this may not be what you meant by "The first is willfully taking part in any illegal activity.". But what about a home poker game? Most states this is illegal, but not enforced. Or being part of an office pool for Super Bowl, March Madness? All illegal, but to be fired over? I know I'm probably reading this to literal.
Illegal at work is what I was thinking. Super Bowl pool? It could be an issue somewhere, and people have been fired over them. As you said, shades of gray.
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March 27, 2014 at 9:19 am
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (3/27/2014)
below86 (3/27/2014)
I know this may not be what you meant by "The first is willfully taking part in any illegal activity.". But what about a home poker game? Most states this is illegal, but not enforced. Or being part of an office pool for Super Bowl, March Madness? All illegal, but to be fired over? I know I'm probably reading this to literal.
Illegal at work is what I was thinking. Super Bowl pool? It could be an issue somewhere, and people have been fired over them. As you said, shades of gray.
No I said grey. 🙂 Wow, being fired over a Super Bowl pool, now that's cold. I have to think there was other circumstances that contributed to the firing.
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we travel not to escape life but for life not to escape us
Don't fear failure, fear regret.
March 27, 2014 at 9:20 am
I agree with something Gary Varga mentioned: that corporate culture often determines who gets fired and why.
Although I've never been fired, my performance has been praised by some employers, and criticised by others -- despite my being the same person with the same abilities wherever I might work. Different employers are looking for different things in an employee, and certainly value an employee (both as a worker and as a human being) differently as well.
March 27, 2014 at 9:22 am
below86 (3/27/2014)
Steve Jones - SSC Editor (3/27/2014)
below86 (3/27/2014)
I know this may not be what you meant by "The first is willfully taking part in any illegal activity.". But what about a home poker game? Most states this is illegal, but not enforced. Or being part of an office pool for Super Bowl, March Madness? All illegal, but to be fired over? I know I'm probably reading this to literal.
Illegal at work is what I was thinking. Super Bowl pool? It could be an issue somewhere, and people have been fired over them. As you said, shades of gray.
No I said grey. 🙂 Wow, being fired over a Super Bowl pool, now that's cold. I have to think there was other circumstances that contributed to the firing.
I know of a couple of places where people were terminated for Super Bowl pool. One was a financial institution and they had a very strict policy about things like that.
Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
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March 27, 2014 at 9:30 am
I agree with the article Steve wrote, and with the points people are making. I would like to use slightly different wording about people continuing to learn though. The comments made cover probably 90%-99% of the cases, but I don't believe they cover all.
Sometimes people start a job, work at it for a while, learn everything they need to know, and don't NEED to continue learning. That is kind of an exception, but I have seen a number of people in roles that don't require continued education.
I expect some will want to argue my point, so let me say that most jobs do require continued education. Most jobs require changes as the company grows, or the job description changes. My point is that it is not true for 100% of all employees.
A case in point is a very nice lady that retired recently. Her name is Barb. Barb worked for years running payroll. She performed the exact same steps every week. Rarely she would need to fill in a new field as we upgraded. She didn't need to learn why the field was required, she just had to be told to do it. The other payroll person was in charge of testing, learning about changes, et cetera. Barb's role was to simply do what she was told and nothing more. Every company needs a few "Barb's" who are willing to do the same boring task day in and day out.
Can we say the same thing about DBAs? I am not sure. However I expect that there are some DBAs out there who might be close to retirement, with a version of SQL or Oracle that is not going to be upgraded in the next few years, and have nothing they need to learn. I respect the fact that there are times when stagnation is acceptable. I hate seeing someone let go for not learning when that is nothing but an excuse to trim payroll costs. Sometimes learning isn't necessary.
Dave
March 27, 2014 at 9:45 am
Here are a few reasons why I'd fire the DBA, ordered by who I'd be more willing to fire first.
- When the DBA is not trustworthy or insonsistent: Through action or inaction, he or she deliberately sabotages a project or co-worker. The DBA may be highly capable, but due to personality and character defects, the DBA contributes to the failure of projects and is a net negative asset. This is the guy who flips his middle finger as he walks out the door, and then you realize how useless they really were after they're gone.
- When the DBA is unreliable: He or she appears smart and capable but somehow isn't available or fails to step up and take decisive action in crisis situations when needed most. Maybe they have conflicting priorities or they're just not cut out for the demands of the job.
- When the DBA isn't willing to learn, adapt, and grow. I'd tend to be more patient with this guy, so long as he or she is good at what they do today and I see potential.
- When the DBA is just too expensive: Due to severe budget constraints, and despite the fact that he or she is good at what they do, you simply can't justify the expense of the DBA's salary for the forseeable future.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
March 27, 2014 at 11:55 am
How about getting fired for spending too much time reading the editorials and comments on SQLServerCentral?
Hopefully not true, but someone did mention Facebook.
March 27, 2014 at 12:02 pm
John Hanrahan (3/27/2014)
How about getting fired for spending too much time reading the editorials and comments on SQLServerCentral?Hopefully not true, but someone did mention Facebook.
Yea, I could see firing someone for spending too much time on Facebook, Huffington Post, or Daily Onion. However, those of us who read SQLServerCentral are too valuable; it's like mental weight lifting.
"Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Instead, seek what they sought." - Matsuo Basho
March 27, 2014 at 1:11 pm
John Hanrahan (3/27/2014)
How about getting fired for spending too much time reading the editorials and comments on SQLServerCentral?Hopefully not true, but someone did mention Facebook.
Come come, that's called continuous learning 😀
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March 27, 2014 at 2:39 pm
Don't forget outsourcing , automation, company merge as a possible reasons.
March 27, 2014 at 4:45 pm
Joe Zonum (3/27/2014)
Don't forget outsourcing , automation, company merge as a possible reasons.
Fair points, but typically those are larger scale results that affect many people, not a single DBA. I think those are times when people may be terminated, but those aren't reasons to let a single person go. To me those are more general business based decisions.
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