Do you know what happens after you tell them the whole story behind your termination? Virtually everyone I've had drinks with tells a similar story about the time they got fired. Seemingly everyone’s got stories of being stuck under shit managers, or dealing the fallout from things out of their control. Maybe this is selection bias and all of my friends are horrific at their jobs, but there's an awful lot of them that I'd consider to be best-in-industry at what they do, so I think it’s more likely that the answer is: It Was Probably Complicated™.

Note: Title editorialized because I dislike one word titles.

kleinbl00:

Is "fired" the same as "laid off?" 'cuz I was "laid off" and it was f'n awesome once I figured out what was going on. I haven't had a "jobby job" since then and that was Feb 13, 2007.

"Fired" sucks tho. No unemployment. Generally no severance. No letter of recommendation. "Laid off" is "it's not you, it's me" while "fired" is "we are willing to take a financial hit to keep you out of the workforce." It's such a bitch to fire people these days that generally even the biggest screwups get laid off, particularly if they sign an NDA and cooperate. My wife is part of an organization that "fired" someone (with cause - and documentation - and a good lawyer) and the settlement was six figures.


posted 3321 days ago