31–40 of 63 posts
I don't understand how a manager wrote that letter and thought, "this is okay".
The whole thing is fiction, plain and simple.
I don't understand how a manager wrote that letter and thought, "this is okay".
Me neither. I can't even believe it is true. It is too obvious that the manager is wrong, no one in his right mind could think to be in the right after such behaviour, especially not after the introspective necessary to writing it up. Add in the caveat of the switch for concert tickets, that's just ridiculous. I don't know the site this is on. Is it a reliable one? If not, I bet this is a marketing stunt.
It's an obvious joke, isn't it, why is everybody falling for it? Plus it says she's the employee with the lowest seniority, but worked 6 years there, that's hardly believable, the whole thing is hardly believable.
There are certainly trolls out there who could conjure such a story just for the heck of it, but I also believe there are people out there who would do this for real.
Also, some companies don't hire very often, so the seniority part is not the biggest red flag.
The fact that a concert was concidered more important than a graduation ceremony "because cost" might be the biggest red flag for me.
1. Exceptions are hard. While I don't believe in rules that can never be broken/circumvented in these types of situations you, as a manager, need to be aware that one exception will lead to having to make more exceptions. That is, to me, one of the skills of a good manager, being able to make exceptions when needed and give a good argument for not giving exceptions when not possible.
2. Empathy is critical. A manager without empathy (in the sense of being able to understand something from the other person's point-of-view) is generally not a good manager of people. The manager that is asking the question did obviously not understand how important the graduation was to the employee.
3. Don't rationalise punishment (meaning, calling the person afterwards just to make sure they understand how wrong they are and how right you are) with concern in your own mind. A good manager needs to examine and understand their own motivations for doing something.
4. Don't be afraid to admit your own mistakes as a manager. I'm pretty sure you can salvage this situation by meeting with the person, apologizing and probably giving them a well-deserved raise (since it was your best employee). You do not lose by doing that, it is not a competition.
5. Don't foster a culture where people will not help each other out. I find it very strange that a person that is a very good employee and that has helped other people numerous times (according to the question) has such a hard time finding someone to help them out. It could be because of the employee of course, but she should have been recognized in front of the team for her willingness to help out long before this.
Nothing in that letter is believable. It's too perfect a troll. Viral marketing.
Surprised how effective it is and the responses it's getting here. This place used to have a lot of smart people and entrepreneurial people - now it's turning in to another 9-5 tech forum
If you assume that about this story, it's pretty shocking and worthy of some discussion, so you might upvote it. I thought it was real for the first few paragraphs and my jaw was on the floor. It's a pretty obvious fake though.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Surprised how effective it is and the responses it's getting here. This place used to have a lot of smart people and entrepreneurial people - now it's turning in to another 9-5 tech forum
If it's posted on HN and getting upvoted to the front page, I think people tend to assume a certain level of credibility based on that alone. If you assume that about this story, it's pretty shocking and worthy of some discussion, so you might upvote it. I thought it was real for the first few paragraphs and my jaw was on the floor. It's a pretty obvious fake though.
Yea that's my problem - this used to be true - but not recently - now it's like reddit without the memes.
I find it difficult to believe this is actually true. Perhaps it is something to get the site traffic.