Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The absolute worst scenario happened

reddit.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 566 posts

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#351

Post by BlargMcLarg »

ycombinete wrote: post #322
tofuahdude wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this with all my heart. You did exactly the right thing at every step.

Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. I manage a small company and the idea of being extorted in such a blasé and psychopathic fashion terrifies me to even think about.

Business is business. The right to fire people, deny them raises and form binding contracts in regards to their work comes at a price. GP did not act malicious, rather, they acted in the same self-interest most bosses, CEOs and companies act while trying to stand on the moral high ground.

Coding standards, documentation requirements, meetings and code reviews exist for a reason, too. It's not like companies are defenseless.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#352

Post by bityard »

rolobio wrote: post #343
throwthescene wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Throwaway purely so that I can comment. I've had this happen before. Years ago I left a rather awful company - I left on great terms with my boss, though I hated the company. I was the last person who knew how to release X product. While I documented everything, after I left, the wiki lost its mind, backups apparently weren't a thing, and the director of IT moved to Bermuda. Fast forward 6 months.. a contractual obli…

Why a check with your lawyers? Why not just deposit into your personal account?

Look up what "escrow" is. When 1/4 million dollars is on the line, you don't take the company's word that they'll pay you afterward, and they don't take your word for it that you'll actually deliver the service.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#353

Post by snerbles »

ycombinete wrote: post #322
tofuahdude wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this with all my heart. You did exactly the right thing at every step.

Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. I manage a small company and the idea of being extorted in such a blasé and psychopathic fashion terrifies me to even think about.

The employee documented everything, but said documentation was not backed up by the company. Furthermore, the company did not train or hire an adequate replacement for said employee for _six months_.

This is a gross failure of leadership at the company, and the former employee has every right to negotiate compensation for the inconvenience of having to work for them again.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#354

Post by k3oni »

drclau wrote: post #132
tw04 wrote: post #88

I actually don't see any issue that isn't simply a matter of money. Everything they list that's an issue seems to revolve around the fact that the employees with domain knowledge for the system have left the company. Reach out to them and hire them on as contractors. If they left under bad terms because the business was a bunch of dicks, expect to pay 10x market rate. If this is truly "fix this or the business is out…

Not really related to the subject of the article, but your comment reminds me of employers in Romania complaining they can't find people to hire, while they offer small salaries and people just leave the country for better paying jobs abroad. The solution to their problem is really simple: make better offers.

Ha, I know this all too well(2000-2006) and it's strange to see/hear it's still happening now.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#355

Post by cogman10 »

AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #341
Judgmentality wrote: post #334

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. That an overworked employee who had already left the company would stick up for himself? Or that a company would go to such efforts to try to manipulate a former employee? I realize my tone doesn't hide my feelings, but even if we disagree I'd still be curious to hear more.

Consider that you are only hearing one side of the story and taking it entirely at face value.

I mean... what could the other side of the story actually be?

"We tried to hire back an employee to build something that we didn't train or try and figure out ourselves and a deadline forced us to pay a large lump sum to that employee".

No matter how you slice it, that's really shitty planning on the businesses side. They should have spent the time and money learning how to maintain their shit. By not doing it, they paid a huge price.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#356

Post by hinkley »

scandox wrote: post #35

How people handle this level of disaster is always very revealing. In every case I've ever experienced someone kept their head and a solution was found. Usually there was reputational damage but surprisingly most times the actual business bounced back. But it was always the actions of someone in particular in those first hours that made the difference. Thinking you're fucked is unhelpful, because you start talking ab…

The first manager I ever respected was this goofball who worked at a fast food restaurant. I don't think the other managers took him seriously. He didn't really take himself seriously either (told the worst jokes), but when there was a rush he was the one you wanted running the kitchen. The other 2-3 people were kind of assholes under stress (they were assholes all the time if I'm honest). He was a machine, and it didn't hurt that he good at predicting orders before they were even made. We always made too much food in these situations but more of his would sell and the wait times were lower.

In war room after war room there has always been at least one person who would be categorized as 'disorganized' by their coworkers. When thrown into a stressful situation they either don't change or become more focused, while the 'organized' people crumple like tissue paper, so Mr Disorganized ends up either fixing the problem, keeping everyone on task until it does get fixed, or insisted on some process/tool improvement that made the problem easier to identify or fix.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#357

Post by gambiting »

cogman10 wrote: post #355
AnIdiotOnTheNet wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider that you are only hearing one side of the story and taking it entirely at face value.

I mean... what could the other side of the story actually be? "We tried to hire back an employee to build something that we didn't train or try and figure out ourselves and a deadline forced us to pay a large lump sum to that employee". No matter how you slice it, that's really shitty planning on the businesses side. They should have spent the time and money learning how to maintain their shit. By not doing it, they…

I imagine if it came down to it they could try to pin it on him and say he didn't provide documentation he said he did, and that's why this entire 10M project now can't be delivered.

Luckily for him they decided it's easier to just pay the fee.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#358

Post by arethuza »

ycombinete wrote: post #322
tofuahdude wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this with all my heart. You did exactly the right thing at every step.

Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. I manage a small company and the idea of being extorted in such a blasé and psychopathic fashion terrifies me to even think about.

That's not extortion, simply hard-nosed commercial negotiation.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#359

Post by tcoff91 »

ycombinete wrote: post #322
tofuahdude wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love this with all my heart. You did exactly the right thing at every step.

Funnily enough it made me sick to my stomach. I manage a small company and the idea of being extorted in such a blasé and psychopathic fashion terrifies me to even think about.

The fact that you'd refer to this as extortion makes me sick. The management/capital class loves the free market except for when it applies to labor, then suddenly it's extortion when supply and demand don't work in your favor.

Re: The absolute worst scenario happened

#360

Post by cogman10 »

gambiting wrote: post #357
cogman10 wrote: post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean... what could the other side of the story actually be? "We tried to hire back an employee to build something that we didn't train or try and figure out ourselves and a deadline forced us to pay a large lump sum to that employee". No matter how you slice it, that's really shitty planning on the businesses side. They should have spent the time and money learning how to maintain their shit. By not doing it, they…

I imagine if it came down to it they could try to pin it on him and say he didn't provide documentation he said he did, and that's why this entire 10M project now can't be delivered. Luckily for him they decided it's easier to just pay the fee.

Even if he was a shitty employee that doesn't obligate him to work for a price favorable to the company. Hell, they could have fired him for not documenting shit.

Because here's the thing, even with how weak US labor laws are, one thing they don't allow is for a company to come back and sue your for incompetence. So long as they didn't go out of their way to sabotage things, they are free and clear.

Post reply on HN