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Fired? Speak No Evil

nytimes.com

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Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#371

Post by mcv »

logfromblammo wrote: post #365
mcv wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> t isn't unprofessional to abruptly walk out on the job if giving notice was never in the requirements. Depends on circumstances and the details of your profession. If you're just a badly-treated wage slave, then definitely: walk out as soon as you find something better. But I'm an independent contractor/freelancer, and I'm currently working on a project that would probably take about a year. But my contract is alwa…

It seems to me that a project that should take a year should have contracts that last for the entire duration. If we're talking about professionalism, at what point did you bring up to the client that their quarterly contracting strategy leaves them extremely vulnerable to losing critical personnel before the work gets finished? I think what happened there is that they leveraged their project management flexibility a…

They're big. The people I talk to don't control the policies regarding contracts.

In any case, I didn't lose anything. As long as I get paid for the hours I work, I'm happy. I'd be totally fine with the contract getting terminated tomorrow. I'm also fine with working here for another half year. But at more than a year, I think I'd get itchy.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#372

Post by entendre »

fit2rule wrote: post #356
entendre wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you ever walked into a job that you thought would save your life and pull you out of a slew of bad breaks... your dream job? And then some miserable pissant with leverage over you and your position decides to make you a scapegoat? When you're going down in flames at least grab the pilot's parachute.

>miserable pissant Lost me there.

Disgruntled Braggart? Self important crony? Smarmy pill popping pedant? Help out here. I don't want to disappoint my audience.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#373

Post by Florin_Andrei »

throwaway7808 wrote: post #331
Florin_Andrei wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the distribution of power is completely asymmetric here I'm pretty sure there is no fundamental law of the Universe that makes it so, only the fact that it is allowed to persist in this state by the multitudes who actually (but unknowingly, it seems) hold the power to change it. You know, "if only there was a way" for employees to unite, and therefore increase their bargaining power with employers.

I don't think that employee unions are helpful in the long term. I'd rather see individuals exercising some common sense and making good informed decisions. Like instantly recognizing bullies and not working for (with) them. Quitting, the moment such behaviour is directed toward anyone in the company. After all, if you see someone else being bullied/not paid/whatever, given time, there's a good chance it would apply…

> I'd rather see individuals exercising some common sense and making good informed decisions.

Make no mistake, I'd rather see that, too. But look around you. Is that how the real world really works? Is that the way of human nature?

It sure is nice to lounge around in some libertarian ivory tower, and pontificate about how people are such rational agents, and all that nonsense. Whereas outside it's Hindbrain City all the way. Look at how most people choose their diet - and look at the effects thereof - just to name one out of many chronically idiotic decisions that the masses do.

What you're proposing is not rational, it's a pipe dream (or the typical libertarian anti-union dogma). The rational thing is not to sit on your ass and do nothing. The rational thing is to recognize that there is a problem, get up, and fight.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#374

Post by [deleted] »

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #362
nsxwolf wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who would get offended if you called their kid ugly are not the kind of people you'd want to spend time with? That's basically every person on earth.

Thinking that something is not beautiful is not the same thing as thinking that something is ugly. And there is a pretty obvious (though not to you, apparently) difference between being asked that question and me responding honestly, and me simply remarking, unprovoked, "boy, that kid sure looks pretty damn ugly, don't he?" The kind of people I want to spend my time around are those who prefer honest questions and ho…

[deleted]

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#375

Post by fit2rule »

entendre wrote: post #372
fit2rule wrote: post #356

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>miserable pissant Lost me there.

Disgruntled Braggart? Self important crony? Smarmy pill popping pedant? Help out here. I don't want to disappoint my audience.

I don't think it matters unless you can call them co-worker with a straight face.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#376

Post by wpietri »

logfromblammo wrote: post #364
wpietri wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. If ethics are purely determined by how other people act, they aren't ethics. I think that professionals have to be careful in who they choose to work for, but once they start, they should act professionally. That includes leaving professionally.

If you don't make some allowance for other people's behavior in your ethical system, your ethical strategy can easily be subverted by someone else that does. In game theory simulations, strategies that respond to counterparty behaviors, such as tit-for-tat, always outperform those that do not, such as always-cooperate, always-reneg, and random-choice strategies. Your strategy is apparently always-cooperate. It's a lo…

My strategy is not actually always-cooperate, and I don't fathom how you got that from my words.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#377

Post by SimHacker »

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #325
nsxwolf wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They'll probably initiate less talk of any kind with you after pulling that.

That's fine with me. They sound like the type of people I'd rather not spend much time talking to anyway.

You could spare us and stop initiating useless and argumentative smalltalk yourself.

Re: Fired? Speak No Evil

#378

Post by SimHacker »

BlackDeath3 wrote: post #362
nsxwolf wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who would get offended if you called their kid ugly are not the kind of people you'd want to spend time with? That's basically every person on earth.

Thinking that something is not beautiful is not the same thing as thinking that something is ugly. And there is a pretty obvious (though not to you, apparently) difference between being asked that question and me responding honestly, and me simply remarking, unprovoked, "boy, that kid sure looks pretty damn ugly, don't he?" The kind of people I want to spend my time around are those who prefer honest questions and ho…

Not being able to see the beauty in another human being is just sad.
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