Having been through a few conflicts myself, as an independent observer and as one of the parties in the conflict .. I'm not taking sides, but just wanting to note that although the employer definitely could have handled it better, I have a feeling we're only scratching the tip of the surface and we don't know much what really happened between the employer-employee. The "pack and get out now" is actually very standard…
Is 2 weeks notice common in the USA? Here in Europe it's 1 month or 3 months, depending on what contract you have.
I'm just going to ask a question to the 110 people that voted for this "story". Do we really think it's appropriate to air a company's dirty laundry and/or conflicts on Hacker News? I mean, that's the type of shit they do over at TMZ isn't it? Gossip about people? I don't care who's an ass, who's been wronged and who has sand in their ovaries today. I don't come to HN for this.
I think it's a valuable case study in employee relations gone wrong.
Hopefully someday, in years to come, somebody on the verge of writing a similar email will suddenly remember this story and think better of it.
Let's be fair here. For all we know, the guy might have done something quite bad. Or not. But if he did, Jason couldn't say so. We just don't know. But what we do know is that this is exactly the kind of half-story that gets people going on forums: an antagonist everyone loves to hate, and structural reasons why we're probably not getting the whole story. Many, many times I've seen users on a forum go on the warpath…
> For all we know, the guy might have done something quite bad.
Line 46-48 in that email are pretty clear.
Gracious and leaving, maybe in person would have been better, but as those emails come it is pretty good.
I've never worked at a company where I tried to be professional and gave 2 weeks notice and was NOT immediately shown the door (hence I learned to prepare and not be surprised). Does it really happen in this day and age? Don't companies lockout high value employees immediately as a matter of security and anti-sabotage?
At my previous employment, I had a specially negotiated extra notice period as part of my contract. So when I resigned to start Synctus, it didn't even occur to me that I might be shown the door straight away. I worked my full notice period, left on very good terms, and still collaborate closely with them. I don't think I would have been in the position of being a "high value employee" had this trust not already existed.
I suppose it does depend on the situation - in particular the trust that already exists - and this is probably also related to the size of the company.
This is in England. I wouldn't be surprised at all to hear that things work differently in the US.
1. you could be #3, I couldn't care less, mahalo does not exactly contribute, it just rehashes. 2. good for you 3. The only one I've heard of is 'blippy', and that's only because of some fairly sloppy coding there. 4. great. I'm fairly sure they would have made it without your personal contribution though, you can't possibly take personal credit for that, just like Paul Graham doesn't take personal credit for dropbox…
And to bring the point further: no one cares what you accomplish if you act like a total asshat while doing it. Mussolini and some trains come to mind.
Isn't that being a little harsh? I don't really know anything about this Calcianis guy (until now I thought Mahalo was a brand of shoes), but has he done anything to inspire your ire apart from writing one jerkish email?
Having been through a few conflicts myself, as an independent observer and as one of the parties in the conflict .. I'm not taking sides, but just wanting to note that although the employer definitely could have handled it better, I have a feeling we're only scratching the tip of the surface and we don't know much what really happened between the employer-employee. The "pack and get out now" is actually very standard…
Is 2 weeks notice common in the USA? Here in Europe it's 1 month or 3 months, depending on what contract you have.
2 weeks is courtesy, and standard. In California, it's "at will" employment .. meaning, the employee can quit with or without notice, but the employee can also fire, with or without notice. That said, there's a lot of labor laws to comply with, so companies in practice don't just fire people at will (they can be sued by the now ex-employee). But yeah, in this part of the world, 2 weeks is courtesy. No courtesy is rude, and you're "burning the bridge".
Having been through a few conflicts myself, as an independent observer and as one of the parties in the conflict .. I'm not taking sides, but just wanting to note that although the employer definitely could have handled it better, I have a feeling we're only scratching the tip of the surface and we don't know much what really happened between the employer-employee. The "pack and get out now" is actually very standard…
Is 2 weeks notice common in the USA? Here in Europe it's 1 month or 3 months, depending on what contract you have.
It's a common courtesy, but not required unless you have a contract that says so.
Most workers in the US do not have contracts and can quit at any time, just as they can be let go from their jobs without reason.
Having been through a few conflicts myself, as an independent observer and as one of the parties in the conflict .. I'm not taking sides, but just wanting to note that although the employer definitely could have handled it better, I have a feeling we're only scratching the tip of the surface and we don't know much what really happened between the employer-employee. The "pack and get out now" is actually very standard…
Is 2 weeks notice common in the USA? Here in Europe it's 1 month or 3 months, depending on what contract you have.
1. you could be #3, I couldn't care less, mahalo does not exactly contribute, it just rehashes. 2. good for you 3. The only one I've heard of is 'blippy', and that's only because of some fairly sloppy coding there. 4. great. I'm fairly sure they would have made it without your personal contribution though, you can't possibly take personal credit for that, just like Paul Graham doesn't take personal credit for dropbox…
And to bring the point further: no one cares what you accomplish if you act like a total asshat while doing it. Mussolini and some trains come to mind.
Having been through a few conflicts myself, as an independent observer and as one of the parties in the conflict .. I'm not taking sides, but just wanting to note that although the employer definitely could have handled it better, I have a feeling we're only scratching the tip of the surface and we don't know much what really happened between the employer-employee. The "pack and get out now" is actually very standard…
Is 2 weeks notice common in the USA? Here in Europe it's 1 month or 3 months, depending on what contract you have.