I really hate knowing stuff somedays
Posted by Revzerksies@reddit | sysadmin | View on Reddit | 98 comments
I just found out they are firing this guy. He's a nice guy and having a kid next week. Never heard a bad thing about this guy. Business isn't slow. Just this new Manager got a bug up his ass. Already got rid of three people in the past month.
2FalseSteps@reddit
Start updating your resume.
Had a new boss like that come in and start firing people. Turned out, he had a well-known history of doing that and outsourcing everything to one company in particular. Always thought he was getting some kind of kick-backs, because they overcharged for every little thing.
Moved your desk to another wall and want to plug into that dead lan drop? You can't plug the patch cord into the switch, yourself. That's under contract, so we have to dispatch a tech to plug in a 2' patch cord in your wiring closet. Shit like that.
He ended up fucking up a 1/2 million $ project because he couldn't bring himself to ask his team any questions. He bullshitting his way through everything, trying to play the genius manager than knows more than everyone else. The big boss was NOT happy, and thankfully this dipshit didn't last too long, but long enough to cause a lot of damage that took years to fix.
bigpirm1977@reddit
IT kickbacks from vendors has to be a thing. I see this a lot in corp space, new executives come in and bring their trusted vendors that increase expenses, “but they’re pros”. You do realize if we could spend that we could hire more and do more. Apparently that’s never an option.
Sengfeng@reddit
I'm with ya. Worked for a Dallas based bank, and ANY project that required more than one person coordinating it got hired out to CDW.
siedenburg2@reddit
Had that talk last month with my boss.
Other company bought us but they said "you should stay independent, you make way more money per head than us", later they said "we are bigger, we know what we do, here are new guides for you, you have to implement it in your it if you don't have something similar" ... one of the things was that they wanted to use Cisco ISE but only Aruba/HPE network hardware. Now we ignore everything from that company and if they insist that we have to do something they have to sign a liability waiver, since then they haven't said anything.
2FalseSteps@reddit
Bullshit. They're morons.
You have to dig through all kinds of shit just to fine the ONE person on their team that may have half a clue, but people like that don't stick around long, leaving you with nothing but morons.
woodburyman@reddit
We're in the same boat. Except its a senior position. We've already lost 2 going on 3 department managers. Within a month or two a bunch more managers and other personnel are quitting due to the chaos is created and this same managers attitude. Senior leadership finally got wind of it last week (This has been going on and building for months), but their reaction is too late and even if they fixed it today we would take 2-3 years to rebuild lost skills and knowledge. This person is also outsourcing every bit of their own job, getting vendors for everything. We're not exactly sure why we're paying them anymore.
2FalseSteps@reddit
Is his name Steve? lol
compjunkie888@reddit
The guy who did it where I work was named Steve too! Offshored a ton of roles to one of the big 3 IT companies in India, and then we had a major outage that cost the company millions and the contracted resources were incompetent. He was thankfully fired.
imnotaero@reddit
OK, what one of 2FalseSteps and compjunkie888 need to do is post the SHA256 hash of Steve's last name (all lower) plus an underscore and some random number between one and one million.
Then the other can check their last name just one million times and see if they get the same guy, while the rest of us have too many (?) hashes to check.
Or just DM each other and tell us how it goes I'm not in charge here.
2FalseSteps@reddit
Don't even need to go that far.
His last initial is F.
Capta-nomen-usoris@reddit
He should be murdered at minimum.
One_Adhesiveness9962@reddit
name and shame? the one i hate is Infosys
visibleunderwater_-1@reddit
I recently shot down an attempted Infosys infiltration at my work. We're a small airline, normally using big Boeing 777 planes, now bringing in Airbus too. So, new MX manuals repository. Boeing said "we have a product that can pull them off AB and into your current Boeing manual system!" They included me in the thread, I see a bunch of Infosys people are the actual devs, do a bit more research...
Not only are they Infosys, but the SAME division that did the faulty 737 programming that lead to the plane crashes. Well, maybe not "faulty", but 100% not properly done per FAA rules (major changes REQUIRE pilot training before rollout), cause I guess Infosys DGAF about silly American FAA rules, or was "just doing some code, we dunno what Boeing was doing with it! Honest!"
The whole point of bringing in Airbus was BECAUSE of Boeing's whole "we fired all our managing engineers and replaced them with accountants from rural India we pay $9/hr for" ($9/hr was the actual payrate for the 737 devs). I finally even brought in the fact that since we do DoD flights, this product would not pass my risk assessment and that the other department heads would be noted in our official Risk Register as accepting the risk of using the Infosys devs who recently killed dozens of people.
xxtoni@reddit
You can say a lot of things about the French and the Germans but in this specific way they won't fuck up. I think it's much more realistic that they would run the company into the ground than that they would outsource critical stuff like that or hurry too much on a plane for the sake of stockholders.
The EU gets constantly made fun of because of too much regulation and not enough innovation and "europoors" but sometimes it isn't a bad idea to take things a bit slower.
I am not swing that Boeing planes are unsafe but I think the company has become unsafe, which is a shame considering the level of engineering excellence they once had.
ProfessionalWorkAcct@reddit
I wouldn't put much faith into Airbus either.
xxtoni@reddit
Why?
I've never heard of them penny pinching in this way.
PrettyBigChief@reddit
If it's Boeing, I ain't going
xixi2@reddit
Wait you know Steve too?
dreamfin@reddit
Steve is the worst. Like Karen of IT.
cybersplice@reddit
It's always a Steve.
OutrageousPassion494@reddit
I went through the same situation. Assistant COO thought he was an IT expert. He brought in an MSP that couldn't handle everything. He also decided that our public website be developed on SharePoint in our internal domain despite everyone telling him no. We ended up with new web devs, new MSP and the existing IT staff let go. He ended up as the CEO. No guarantees you'll see the situation rectified justly.
The_Original_Miser@reddit
I see that you too have met some MBA assholes in your day. I think a very large amount of us have similar stories.
I don't know how people like that sleep at night. I don't like being an ass to people and cannot comprehend how someone could be on "jetk mode" perpetually. It's draining.
I'm assuming they are sociopaths, psychopaths, or both.
2FalseSteps@reddit
Not very well, apparently. At least, this dipshit didn't.
He ended up having a heart attack about a month in (was only about 50 years old), but I'm sure the pack-and-a-half-a-day & deep fried everything didn't help with that at all.
I actually chuckled when I learned that he'd never been in a single serious relationship in his entire life, due to his toxic personality and constant bouncing from one company to another because they'd eventually discover what a fuck-up he was and fire him. But hey, he did have that MBA degree!
_haha_oh_wow_@reddit
This sort of shit should be illegal.
OptimalCynic@reddit
That's like the bad old days of closed union shops
samspopguy@reddit
I worked in a steel mill as a non union IT, the phone system was in the basement of this old ass house on the property and the air conditioner would go out all the time in the summer and then the phone system would fuck up. They wanted to put a dummy light at the top of the stairs to know when this happened.
The non union people had to ask the union people first if anyone can do it before they called someone outside to fix it. the union people were like year we can do that but we arent going to. so we never got a dummy light at the top of the stairs.
Yake404@reddit
I learned several years after the fact that my first boss only worked with vendors who would give him a kickback. He obviously didn't last long into my career.
move_machine@reddit
If you're in the US, you are legally allowed to discuss working conditions with your coworkers, and that includes things like salaries and whether or not workers are hired or fired.
If it won't put a target on your head, consider letting him know, perhaps anonymously.
JazzlikeSurround6612@reddit
Yeah pretty sure they would find a way to terminate OP if they even suspected he leaked it. If you are in a position of trust and told to keep something confidential as shirty as it is it's part of the job.
move_machine@reddit
That it may be, but the law is clear in that working conditions are not something that can legally be confidential. Workers have the right to discuss them with each other even if their employers expect them to keep some things to themselves.
Yes, I know employers can find any reason to fire someone, my point is the law says some things are legally not confidential and what the OP is describing is something covered by law. If his employer is dumb enough to fire him for that reason, and there are plenty of dumb employers who do that all the time, it is illegal. Yes, I know there is risk and yes, I know employers can make up a reason to fire someone for unrelated reasons.
JazzlikeSurround6612@reddit
I'm not so sure you are correct. Doing a brief look all I can find is the fact you can discuss your salary, in fact it even says it's not protected if you disclose other people's salaries without these permission. Didn't find anything about termination data, also if it's someone else's termination it might fall along the lines of someone else's salary.
move_machine@reddit
No, you have the right to discuss coworkers' salaries:
https://www.nlrb.gov/about-nlrb/rights-we-protect/your-rights/your-rights-to-discuss-wages
BrainWaveCC@reddit
Anonymously for sure!
People in an emotionally charged situation do not always react predicably, and the last thing you need is to find yourself in a position where breach of trust is alleged on your part, jeopardizing your own employment, when you were just trying to be helpful.
postconsumerwat@reddit
Sounds like the norm these days
slinkytoad69@reddit
Yea, I found out today that half our company gets a quarter of a beef cow every year.
boli99@reddit
so there's 3/4 of a cow walking round in a field somewhere?
Mr_ToDo@reddit
That's where lean beef comes from
SilentTech716@reddit
that's rough. What are the qualifications to get the beef? How do you feel that you weren't getting it?
slinkytoad69@reddit
I haven’t a clue what the requirements are, it wasn’t ever discussed. I found out because a ticket came in for the file not saving.
It sucks because that amount of beef is what my family would go through in a year, and is worth a decent amount of money. I make $85k in NE Iowa, but it’s still tight.
SilentTech716@reddit
Yeah I would love that perk! Makes me think it's a smoodge up to the right person kind of thing.
slinkytoad69@reddit
Unfortunately it is, but I have a hard enough time reminding them to give me a raise each year for cost of living.
cats_are_the_devil@reddit
Add your name to the file or say it's corrupted and they have to start over. Remind them you are supposed to be in the file.
idigg69@reddit
Beefgift.docx
SilentTech716@reddit
I hate that bs. I cannot stand kissing ass to get something.
zakabog@reddit
Isn't that only in the $1,000-2,000 price range? Just give me the money as a bonus, I'll go buy my own beef, unless you aren't taxed on this because it's a corporate gift rather than income?
slinkytoad69@reddit
I would assume it’s just a gift. Most of the foremen in our company get the beef, and profit sharing.
zakabog@reddit
The profit sharing sounds like the better deal XD, though if you do need the money equivalent of a quarter cow I hope you're continuously looking for a better position.
slinkytoad69@reddit
I don’t need the money, it’s the premise that certain people are given rewards and others aren’t told the reward is even possible.
zakabog@reddit
That's standard everywhere though, our team gets really good bonuses, like pay off a student loan or go buy a brand new car type of bonus, but the main money makers are getting 6-7 figure performance bonuses. At a previous employer some teams got a performance bonus, some teams got nothing. Another employer gave a $200 Christmas bonus to the warehouse guys, while the engineers and I got a months pay as a bonus. There's always some roles that give different bonuses because they're industry standard, or those people have more responsibility, or they earn more money for the company. Just assume this to be true and you won't be disappointed when you see how much the new guy makes. Or, if you want to be truly daring, openly discuss salary with your coworkers so people have better negotiating power when it comes to raises.
rednehb@reddit
I did this with a coworker at an old job and was shocked to learn she was making a little more than half what I was for the same role. So was she. I told her to skip our manager and talk to our global director about it. He told her to skill up, because I had way more tenure at the company and "knew everyone and everything" (which is valuable tbf) and she did what he told her to do. Now she makes more than I did in that role!
To add, before anyone asks, salary came up at an offsite event because she always complained about her beater car that she couldn't afford to fix/replace, and she asked me how I was able to afford raising a kid as a single parent working there. I was like, "well, you're either terrible with your money or making a lot less than I am. You don't have to answer, but how much do you make?" Then we came up with a plan to discuss her pay.
DOUBLEBARRELASSFUCK@reddit
It's definitely taxed, or at least it is supposed to be. It would need to be a de minimum amount to not be taxed, and that's way over any reasonable de minimus amount.
rednehb@reddit
It ends up being like 1/2 the cost of shitty grocery store beef a quarter cow so while it might only cost the company $1-2k it would save OP $2-4k
Idk how many people are getting a free quarter cow, which is kind of a hilarious bonus but depends on the industry ig, but the company could be spending like $500 to gift their employees the equivalent $5k, if that makes sense.
joshghz@reddit
RiyanMADAO@reddit
I don’t understand why companies do this. You’re profitable why are you firing people? There’s no excuse unless you’re firing someone who genuinely has no value.
Squeezing every bit of profit at the expense of people’s livelihoods…
bukkithedd@reddit
Knowing things is what makes this job outright heartbreaking at times, especially with the cases like the one you've outlined. I try not to let it get to me, but it still does at times.
Sillyrosster@reddit
For real. I got a term ticket for the next day, for a coworker that had become a good friend, who was set to have a baby in the coming months. That day another department mistakenly disabled one of their accounts early, prompting them to jokingly Teams me asking if they were getting fired. To keep my job, I had to simply tell them their account got accidently disabled, then the next day they were let go :(
indigopearl@reddit
i *hate* the joking "unless there's something i don't know...." because sometimes there IS and i can't say anything :(
JediMind1209@reddit
I once got a ticket to terminate a user account and it happened to be a coworker sitting next to me. Then HR calls him to a meeting and lets him go.
daft_gonz@reddit
Speaking of coworkers being fired next to you.. I had a colleague we’ll call Frank.
About a month ago, our team was subjected to a mandatory “trust and relationship building” meeting with our HR training team. About midway through, the VP of HR walks in just after we returned from our break and sternly says that our training is over and that Frank needs to remain behind. Next we know, Frank is storming through the office to collect his belongings and was never to be seen again. It was comical how leadership was trying to re-establish trust after having slowly fired 3 people, then pull this bullshit during a meeting of that kind lol.
In the span of 4 months, we’ve gone from a headcount of 12 to 3 through terminations and turnover due to the incompetence and hothead mentality of our CEO.
Don’t get me started on the coup / hostile takeover that started all of this.
pc_jangkrik@reddit
Made me wonder how HR terminate one of themself
bukkithedd@reddit
Yeah, it sucks bigtime. Have spoken to a few friends of mine living stateside that has been through this, and I'm very glad that it's not as mental over here in Norway. Still does suck when I have to close out an account of someone that has died, either by natural causes or their own hand.
Significant-One-1608@reddit
i've had to do this a couple fo times, it dosnt feel good at all, biut i tell my self itss part n parcel of the job
bukkithedd@reddit
Yep, it is. All jobs has parts of it that sucks, and as far as sucky things goes, ours is a small lot in life.
Unhappy_Clue701@reddit
Many years ago I was at a small outsourcing place, supplying IT skills to small businesses, One of our customers was a small sales-focussed organisation, where most of their staff were sales. Every month, the sales guys would have a meeting in a big room to discuss results etc. Before the meeting started, the IT guy would be given an envelope containing a few names of accounts to be immediately disabled, so when at the end of the meeting the worst performers were fired, they couldn't do anything to damage systems while clearing their desks. Pretty crappy task to have to do every month. :(
detar@reddit
Ugh, that’s the worst. It’s one thing if there’s a legit reason, but when it’s just someone on a power trip, it’s so frustrating... you better start creating new resume...
apandaze@reddit
"life's a bitch, then you die"
caa_admin@reddit
Life's a bitch and she has puppies!
RamsDeep-1187@reddit
Sounds like the milk is turning sour
Find a job while you have a job.
Being the last guy holding the bag isn't always the best option
notHooptieJ@reddit
its always a really heavy bag, and you wont get any kudos or recognition for 'being loyal' and hefting it.
Eventually you're the last man standing, and they always have an extra bullet and are looking to use it.
TheIncarnated@reddit
Might want to drop a nugget of knowledge -- "I was just reading a reddit story and it blows my mind that people don't know being fired for having a kid is wrongful termination"
A judge would love to hear that case, and is definitely a he said, she said situation but since they are having a kid, likely to win something
ilikeoregon@reddit
There are a lot of wrongful termination cases. Make sure you have copies of your reviews, title and tenure of peers, etc. Firing people has a fair amount of rules, even the more conservative states still have many regulations. I'd it happens to you, stay calm, file a complaint with your state. If you can shell out a few hundred for a lawyer, do that (before you sign anything).
mineral_minion@reddit
The trick is proving that the impending child was the reason for firing. You could be fired for wearing a red tie (or even a legitimate reason), being about to have a kid doesn't change the legality of that firing.
TheIncarnated@reddit
Sure but if you're willing to go through litigation and the judge isn't incompetent, you have a chance. Maybe not strong but there is
SnarkMasterRay@reddit
You have a finite chance of getting some money back. You are guaranteed to spend a lot of money pursuing that finite chance.
TheIncarnated@reddit
BemusedBengal@reddit
For 99% of people, it's about the money.
watariDeathnote@reddit
Most labor lawyers will take cases on contingency alone, because it generally is very good business.
So you get a lower settlement, but far lower risk upfront.
bofh@reddit
That’s a nugget of bullshit. There’s no indication in the OP’s story that the kid and the firing are in any way related.
watariDeathnote@reddit
They need not be related. As long as there is not proper documentation to the opposite, that generally is enough to lose the case.
pumpnut@reddit
In my neck of the woods, they'd probably scream, "AT-WILL STATE!"
TheIncarnated@reddit
Interestingly, they can but it's still wrongful termination. You just have to be willing to go through litigation and most people aren't
Wolfram_And_Hart@reddit
New manager = new job
It would take a hell of a raise for me to violate that rule.
anonpf@reddit
Time to start looking. Don’t be caught out.
SilentSamurai@reddit
Yeah, someone that cans four people in a month is usually doing so for a major company change. Could be trying to look pretty for a potential acquisition or outsourcing part of the company.
PM_ME_YOUR_BOOGER@reddit
Or they're saying shit up the chain that's just not true.
0x18@reddit
There are times when knowing things can be turned on management to your advantage.
I once worked at a place where I was regularly asked to go through managements inboxes for them for various reasons. Annual review comes along and they try to say "we just don't have it in the budget for any raises this year" ... completely forgetting that I may have seen their emails discussing not giving any raises in favor of the CEO & CTO blowing it all on a big wine tasting party for them and their girlfriends, complete with hot air balloon rides and a Humvee limousine. And also a big bonus to the CEO so he could buy a new car.
Cue their surprise when I replied with "that's fine, I've just accepted an offer at another place where I will get the salary increase I am looking for".
I never told any of my coworkers, but they may have heard me talking in my sleep while taking a nap during my lunch break. You never know how some rumors get around. All of the dev staff were gone not long after that.
You now know that you need to find a new job, because the countdown ticker on this one has already started. It really sucks for that other guy, but you have been gifted useful insight before the shit has hit the fan.
BatouMediocre@reddit
Yeah, I had it happened this christmas. We were just starting the christmas office party and the HR comes to me and tells me that tomorrow morning they're going to fire a girl who's still in trial, to not tell anyone and cut all of her accesses first thing in the morning.
I had to spend the whole afternoon/evening at the party with her, knowing that the next day, while still hungover, she would be fired.
Another time was few years ago. I had to delete the account of a guy who was in sick leave, he had cancer. Of course I understood right away that he died, the manager told me not to tell anyone right now as we were in the course of an important contract closing and the team should not be distracted. From this moment I fucking hated this manager more than I have ever hated anyone.
No-Island8074@reddit
Tell homie thats having a kid to take his family leave before they can fire him
RevLoveJoy@reddit
He needs to give 30 days notice (most areas) and probably provide docs. Something from a prenatal checkup would do. If they follow through on the not "for cause" term AFTER he made corp aware he's taking paternity time, that's a very strong case.
virtualpotato@reddit
I get every term ticket. I don't run them anymore, but I see them. Because I need to know if somebody who had extra capabilities is toast.
We had a day in December with like 75 terms. I was hoping it was just sloppy managers not having done their terms earlier in the year time, but nope.
We had execs bring in one of the well known corporate killers to fire piles of people a year or two ago. Somebody decided it needed to happen. Indiscriminate. We've since refilled many of those positions at a much higher cost than the original people carried. So it wasn't the old, let's kill salary. It was let's goose the numbers in THIS quarter.
And as others have said, be ready. Some managers just enjoy firing people. It's a power thing.
AimMoreBetter@reddit
I'm not supposed to know that the owner is trying to sell the company. I've been told at first that he was hoping that everything would stay the same when he sold it. Problem is that he's made a few mistakes along the way with customers and finances. So now he says he doesn't care what happens after he sells it. I can't tell any of the other techs because I'll probably get fired if I do. It's a good thing I just had two interviews that went well and a third one coming up.
Jesburger@reddit
Tell everyone on your last day
johnjay@reddit
Yea, knew someone at work was going to be let go just before Christmas. Couldn't say anything. Had to watch him order stuff on amazon without comment.
Moonfaced@reddit
My entire team was in that situation last November, but it was all of us, so at least we made our amazon christmas purchases in collective anarchy.
flimspringfield@reddit
My brother was being fired, on his birthday mind you, and I couldn't tell him.
AcidBuuurn@reddit
1:43 - https://youtu.be/lyHR0X_2kNg
“Can’t believe I’m getting fired on my birthday”
JazzlikeSurround6612@reddit
Yeah, I feel for you. Over the years I've had several terminations of good friends that sucked. Some it's like good riddance about time, some it's neutral and those few cases it's sad. :(
matt95110@reddit
Well get ready for your exit, because it is coming.