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The 7 Worst Ways To Be Fired


Chelsea TaylorThere are still four things that should always be said face to human face: "I love you," for the first time; "I don't love you anymore," anytime; "You're adopted"; and "You're fired."

But many people don't live by these rules, because many people are gutless jerks. Tom Pedulla had worked for Gannett Newspapers for over three decades when he had what he thought was a routine phone interview for the job he already had. But USA Today was actually firing him from the sports staffer job he'd held since 1995, specializing in NFL and thoroughbred horse racing.

"If you think someone's job was in jeopardy, you'd want to do it face-to-face to make the best possible decision," Pedulla told the Sherman Report. "I never got a face-to-face interview to keep a job I had for 31 years."

Here are seven other workers who were burned less by getting fired, and more by the way their bosses did it. It should be a reminder to managers everywhere: Terminate your underlings kindly, or they may rage about you in the press.






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Claire Gordon

Claire Gordon

Claire Gordon has contributed to Slate's DoubleX, the Huffington Post, and the book Prisons: Current Controversies. While an undergraduate at Yale University and a research fellow at Yale graduate school, she spoke on panels at Yale and Cornell, and reported from Cairo, Tokyo, and Berlin. Follow Claire on Twitter. Email Claire at claire.gordon@teamaol.com. Add Claire to your Google+ circles.

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Sebastian Foliaco

more tips about personal financial http://www.tipsfinancieros.com/blog/2011/12/10-tips-sobre-como-manejar-el-dinero Finanzas Personales

June 02 2012 at 11:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Marvin R. Autry

I hate to be the one to tell you this But....If you need a job to pay the bills there is no good way to be fired. Donald Trump may think different...He seems to enjoy doing it.

May 31 2012 at 2:50 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
kv37

So, in other words, just being fired is a bummer.

May 31 2012 at 4:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
robert.cherrington@lucernex.com

I've been fired more times than a civil war canon but never by fax or text.

May 30 2012 at 6:28 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jmich17513

I was fired by phone; while on vacation! They told me they didn't feel it was "fair" to inform the other people they were fired and wait till I returned from vacation to tell me I was also let go. They didn't call it being fired tho. They used the iron-clad excuse of "outsourcing" which was a smoke-screen to keep me from suing them for wrongful termination.

They dismissed me, (plus 2 other people), and kept the employee who watched Golf Channel on the internet all day and also kept the employee who got mostly personal phone calls while she did her own thing in her cubicle-every day. She was always a pain in the ass. Never missed an opportunity to complain about doing her fair share of work but I never went to H.R. to report her because management seemed to accept she was a lazy, worthless bitch. So why rock the boat? I regret not complaining to H.R. now ,because if I had, they might not have shown me the door. Lesson learned: never hesitate reporting a co-worker for something.

The day I was notified by phone, my immediate supervisor took the day off so he didn't have to get his hands dirty and when I returned from vacation the higher up who probably decided I would be let go, who is a real **** Hammer, also took the day off. They dropped it in the lap of a former manager to conduct the exit interview. They also had a security guard present for good measure.

I've since learned the "outsourcing" failed. They took back the work they had sent overseas because it took hours to get things done instead of the minutes I used to take. It's a small consolation to know they were all wrong and I was right. I rather have a god job instead.

May 30 2012 at 5:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Hello Millie

I worked in a medical center with a real slime-ball for a business manager. He once fired a co worker of ours by removing her timecard from the rack while she was on vacation. Then he didn't even bother to call her and she came in when her vacation was over to find her card gone. Lousy way to fire someone.

May 30 2012 at 2:37 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
brennemanbelkin

Silverman wasn't fired because she's a woman, she was fired because she has no talent.
Always wondered who's niece she is.

May 30 2012 at 5:49 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
billv0164

Anyone who has fired someone in ANY of these ways deserves to rot in Hell.
Also, if you have "laid off" people and later brought back SOME of them (an EEOC violation) and never told the ones who weren't brought back, you deserve to go to Hell.

May 30 2012 at 4:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
petuniua

I, too, had to endure the "perp walk" after my "exit interview" with my manager, an assistant vice president and someone from HR. During my firing session (in a private room), I choked back my tears and told my manager that she was a TOXIC person and that the other three employees on her team would be gone as soon as they could find new jobs. Sure enough, they all escaped within six months! Our toxic boss was dismissed 15 months later. She was universally disliked in our company, but she managed to pull some evil strings with folks in the parent company to get me fired. The parent company was in another part of the country, so they did not know me, nor did I have a chance to state my case to them about the unfair circumstances of my firing. This toxic woman clearly had me in her sniper's sights.

As for me? I worked temp jobs sporadically for three years, and then I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I can no longer work or commute anywhere on my own. The witch would no doubt be cackling gleefully if she knew my fate!

May 30 2012 at 4:26 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
flowrpeace

i was fired by a voice mail....5 days after i had bought a new car, which he was aware of. my first "let go". and that post card thing....lol....."evil laugh"

May 30 2012 at 4:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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