Advice to New Policemen: Don't Joke About Shooting People
Reminds me of Manwhohasitall
https://twitter.com/manwhohasitall/status/125901549630264524...
Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
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Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#72I am really surprised one has to write a blog post about this. I am not a manager, but here is a question for managers, have you or anyone you know, joked about firing someone? In my opinion, that would be incredibly cruel and stupid.
Slightly related. My father owned a restaurant when I was growing up and employed local high school students as dishwashers. I was young, probably around 12 and I was at a summer camp that our dishwasher at the time was also attending and I made a joke to him about getting him fired. Ill never forget how mad my father was with me when he found out and how sternly he reprimanded me. He stressed early on with me that when you have control over people's livelihoods you never ever abuse the power dynamic that comes with that position.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#73I am really surprised one has to write a blog post about this. I am not a manager, but here is a question for managers, have you or anyone you know, joked about firing someone? In my opinion, that would be incredibly cruel and stupid.
Only time I've seen a manager joke like that was with a senior engineer that also joked about quitting fairly often. It was banter and it worked for them. Same manager never joked about it with anyone else though.
Yeah that's about the only time it works. When I was managing a former teammate we used to joke about it, but it was just between us and there was never any reason to worry.
In general, though, never a good joke. And even with friends, be careful.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#74Flip side is also true.
Joking about quitting is a terrible thing to do.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#75The basic rule of comedy, or making jokes, which is amateur comedy, is that you always punch up. It’s funny when you say “ha! you’re fired!” to your boss, but never when you say it to someone you can actually fire. Same reason why parents (should) never joke about punishment or disciplinary action with their kids - when you have power and authority you also have a responsibility not to belittle it. People will take y…
It applies to pretty much any situation where you have some decision making power that affects someone else, and the only reason something does or doesn't happen is because you decide it too.
The joke isn't funny if the only reason its a joke is because you haven't done it yet.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
It is more or less universally recognized that jokes are only funny if they are punching upwards. Someone in a position of power making jokes about using that power against someone with less power is more akin to bullying.
Your manager is not your enemy. Your manager making a joke is not kicking you down, he's trying to breed camaraderie.
Yep, nothing like joking about using the power you and no one under you has to end employment to really punch up the ol' team spirit.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#77I am really surprised one has to write a blog post about this. I am not a manager, but here is a question for managers, have you or anyone you know, joked about firing someone? In my opinion, that would be incredibly cruel and stupid.
There are a lot of tech blog posts to the effect of "Here is the obviously common sense business thing we learned" as a way of building a personal brand. I blame it on the fact that the tech culture starts in HS or College and then takes a worker straight into the industry; HS coder -> University -> jr coder role -> startup, but without the exposure to other contexts/jobs/roles/experiences. But yeah, it's basic profe…
> I blame it on the fact that the tech culture starts in HS or College and then takes a worker straight into the industry; HS coder -> University -> jr coder role -> startup
As a counter to this, I have seen multiple managers make jokes like this and they all came from nontechnical backgrounds and had 20+ years of experience. I literally had a (nontechnical) manager say in a supposedly joking manner once about going to some meeting “Well you want to put food on the table for your family don't you? So remember that you have to be there for Ha ha ha”.
So the whole “it's just coders learning basic professionalism” narrative might not be as cut-and-dried as you think it is. One (unproven) hypothesis I have is that it's possible that people who went to college and had their first decade's worth of jobs in a comfortable economic climate are more comfortable making these kind of jokes than others who were not so fortunate.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#78The April fool's joke at my last job was, "we got bought, so, move to Colorado or lose your job!" Hilarious.
Because of the COVID-19 situation, HR asked people if they were willing to take a voluntary pay cut this year. Unfortunately it was very badly timed as they decided to ask it on April first.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#79I grew up believing having thick skin was really important. I took this to heart, and now nothing phases me (and I’ve been in a variety of nasty situations that confirmed this). I realize this is not the norm, but I wish it was. Avoiding trigger words and peoples’ sensitivities is frustrating and further complicates complex discussions. I’m not saying we should be robots. I still have feelings. If someone I love show…
Thick skin is a fantastic skill to develop in yourself and others.
Amusing yourself by testing how thick other people's skin is not.
Legal doesn't equal good.
Re: Advice to new managers: don't joke about firing people
#80An experienced CEO joined a mid-sized company that I worked at a few years. His opening line, in his first all hands was a joke about firing the people who were a few minutes late to the call. It was obviously a joke, but you really can't make a worse impression and he was gone within a year.
Are you sure this is not David Brent from The Office?