Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Hypocrisy
Topic Started: Mar 25 2015, 02:19 PM (312 Views)
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Today a colleague of mine, let's call him Y, received the following letter from his dean. Y was not informed before and had no intention to go.

Quote:
 
Dear Colleagues,

This May will mark the 17th anniversary of X (the Center for ...). X has been masterfully led by Professor Y since it was founded. It is no exaggeration to state that (this university)’s reputation in ..., and its visibility within government and industry, is due in no small part to Y’s leadership.

17 years is an exceptionally long run for any center director, even one as successful as Y has been! Accordingly, and with the agreement of the other members of the administrative body overseeing X, I have decided that it is time to begin thinking about the next X director. The X Director search, which will be open to candidates from inside and outside the university, will be announced soon. The search committee members will include a broad range of campus stakeholders in ... . Furthermore, the next X director will be expected to engage all X stakeholders in creating a vision for its future, so that the next 17 years are even more successful and impactful than the first 17 years have been.

Just as an unrelenting focus on ... will be indispensable to our nation’s future, so will X and its work be drivers of (our university)'s reputation and stature. The X director search will be an especially important one, and I look forward to your ideas, energy, participation, and commitment to make it a success.
Over the next several weeks, I will be working with Y on a plan for maintaining leadership in X as we search for a new director, recognizing that Y is due for a well-earned sabbatical. Please join me in congratulating Y on his extraordinarily successful tenure as Executive Director of X, and in thanking him for his service.


A$$holes are everywhere, but I wonder whether it is a particular property of the American variant to be so in such a particularly hypocritical way.

If you want to fire somebody, why not say so straight away? Wrapping it into superficially nice words only adds insult to injury.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
A respectful message to the colleagues is good form. Not telling the guy long before it went out is what makes him an asshole.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
That's not a respectful message. It would have been respectful if he had reported the truth. Presenting the situation as if he is doing Y a favor is very disrespectful.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
It's very common here and not considered hypocritical.

I'm reminded of Churchills perhaps overly polite declaration of war on Japan. He wrote in his memoirs: "Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite."
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
Don't get me wrong. The guy was an asshole for not firing him first in person. You should never learn about your firing in a 'Dear Colleagues' letter.

But It would be rare to write a letter to the whole organization saying why someone got fired. Around here you'd typically only see that in small companies or startups.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Klaus
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
It's the same when companies say that they need to "let go" some people, or "right-size", or "restructure".

Cowardly euphemisms.
Trifonov Fleisher Klaus Sokolov Zimmerman
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
Your opinions are always appreciated!
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Mikhailoh
Member Avatar
If you want trouble, find yourself a redhead
Your candid observations are certainly something to consider!


But not for very long. Nanoseconds maybe.
Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead - Lucille Ball
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
kluurs
Member Avatar
Fulla-Carp
jon-nyc
Mar 25 2015, 03:12 PM
Your opinions are always appreciated!
: :lol2:
Edited by kluurs, Mar 25 2015, 03:46 PM.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
" ... due for a well-earned sabbatical." = This person is getting fired via an email to the department.

Is he really getting fired completely, or is he going to do some other work for the college?

“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Horace
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
People do buy it. It works. Not everybody is cynical, and sees through it immediately. I've actually had disagreements with intelligent coworkers about what really just happened when a mass email goes out about some higher-up who's no longer with the company, but who never sent out a "farewell" note. Where the grapevine is clueless.

Yeah, they got fired. And if you should be clueless about anything, you should be clueless about the reasons why. But it's just ignorance to not know that they were fired.

But nope, the choice to wear rosy glasses is real for a lot of people. You can tell them that yes, this person was let go against their will, but if you can't prove it beyond doubt, their universe won't include that. This person left, because they had something better to do.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
ZetaBoards - Free Forum Hosting
Create your own social network with a free forum.
Learn More · Register Now
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply