I've never heard of Patch. It's unfortunate that I had to learn of them this way, because the premise seems useful. I don't think I would participate now based on these bad vibes.
Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
51–60 of 162 posts
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#52The fact that it was over the phone is a legitimate insult.
The fact that it was 100 seconds long is a mercy.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#53I had to lay quite a few people off in 2002 when the company I co-founded in '95 was acquired (post IPO) by another company who then tanked. I was the only founder/exec who stuck with the acquirer and I got the dubious pleasure of laying off everyone in our office before I was myself laid off by the roving HR manager. One thing that I'm slightly proud of is that when I had to lay people off at least I did it myself t…
Wait, did you know you were going to be laid off too?
I don't think so. As I understand it, they wished things had worked out better for him because he was a founder/exec and a bunch of layoffs means it's already going down the drain.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#54Wow. That was incredible. The monotonous way in which the message was delivered, the complete lack of emotion and empathy, is appalling. Notice she did not apologize nor express any condolences beyond declaring the new unemployed state of those people to be "unfortunate." Without knowing much about the situation (I only listened to the recording), and leaving myself wide open to be corrected by someone with more insi…
I've often heard that apologies in various contexts can be used as evidence for litigation (eg, saying "oh sorry" after an auto accident) . Its a sad state of affairs, but people have to protect themselves from idiots and the courts they convince.
That doesn't apply here, the context is very different.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#55Could any of you transcript the call? My english is not good enough for <48kbps transmissions.
Not the complete transcript, but at least the beginning (I couldn't understand it):
http://jimromenesko.com/2014/01/29/hale-global-lays-off-patc...
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#56To do it via a conference call? What a piss poor leader and dick move.
I'm assuming this was a call with all the remote staff that edit the individual sites and live in the communities that the sites cover.
I don't think they were going to fly them all into a central location to fire them.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#57I don't see anything wrong with this. It conveyed all the information you'd probably need to know right away. It was direct.
From my experience the worst thing you can do is empathize and apologize. Just break the news, and move forward.
It's a business.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#58Wow. That was incredible. The monotonous way in which the message was delivered, the complete lack of emotion and empathy, is appalling. Notice she did not apologize nor express any condolences beyond declaring the new unemployed state of those people to be "unfortunate." Without knowing much about the situation (I only listened to the recording), and leaving myself wide open to be corrected by someone with more insi…
I've often heard that apologies in various contexts can be used as evidence for litigation (eg, saying "oh sorry" after an auto accident) . Its a sad state of affairs, but people have to protect themselves from idiots and the courts they convince.
Citation would be needed since I've never seen court insist that the ability to feel sorry (or just saying it to placate others) means guilt for an accused act.
Edit: Wouldn't that be something though? It would enable someone to argue innocence due to lying wholesale to someone's face saying you were sorry.
Sure you'd have to admit to being a liar in court but whatever. After winning slam dunk since this venue is apparently void of evidence, say sorry to the court for the problems (leave the judge wondering) and call it a day.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#59In addition to the "firing people by conference call is a douche move", her voice is an excellent argument against hiring any non-Australian with the high rising terminal mode of speech.
As an aside, I once met this German guy who spoke English pretty well, but tended to raise the pitch of his voice throughout the phrase (I think he may have done this in German too, but it was a long time ago and I don't really recall). But I guess he didn't know English quite well enough to get his timing 100% right, and sometimes on long sentences, he'd start running out of high notes to hit, which was kind of funny. Nice guy though, and he'd smile through it.
Re: Patch's new owner lays off staff in 1:39 conference call
#60This would be funny if it wasn't so infuriating. I tried to listen to it but I cringe too easily so I'm waiting for a transcript. Based on the first few sentences of the call, here's how I expect the rest of the speech to go:
"...you no longer have a role in the company. And by role I meant job. You no longer have a job. Unless you had another job, in which case you still have at least one. Point is, you're fired. From this company. It's Patch calling by the way."