Gleaming the Cube

Dull work anecdote. You can skip this one.

* About a couple of weeks ago, there was a guy who was fired at work. He was fired right in front of me. Everyone in the accounting department disappeared, except for me (I'm not in the accounting department, but I used to sit there) and this guy. I'm paying attention to my own crap, and I see the guy talking to someone in HR.

I then realize that this guy is being handed his papers. So I decide to leave so that there's one less person watching his most embarrassing moment. I also wonder what the hell kind of circumstance could lead to someone in the morning being fired without being given notice.

...

Today, I learned two interesting pieces of back story, at least to me.

As it turns out, they hired someone to replace the guy who was fired. I learned today that he was only on the job for one week. And, then...he quit.

Why? It seems that he had interviewed for a lot of places - and then, after accepting the job where I work, another place at which he had interviewed got around to offering him a position - a better one. So he dumped my workplace like a hot potato.

Very uncool. But in some circles, it would be considered very cool. He showed as much loyalty to a company that the company showed to the guy he replaced.

The other part of the story: remember the guy that got fired? Well, as it turns out, he's going to the MBA program of a local university. Remember the guy that replaced him and then left after a week? That guy's wife goes to the same MBA program.

As it turns out, the two know each other. She was telling Fired Guy that her husband - Replacement Guy - was interviewing at Fired Guy's company. This was two weeks before Fired Guy was actually fired. Furthermore, Replacement Guy's wife was telling Soon-To-Be-Fired Guy all about this new position that her husband was interviewing for. As Soon-To-Be-Fired Guy listened, he was telling himself "wow...that sounds just like my job...."