The Daily WTF: Curious Perversions in Information Technology

2006-05-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
There has been a lot of talk about the employee being unethical. What people are forgetting is that when a company loses an employee or a prospective employee, it’s not big deal.

False, especially for a company in trouble. Inability to hire prospects will help to ensure that the situation doesn't imiprove. This may well end with the company failing when it might have been saved, and then everyone who was already working there loses his job (which, as you've just said, is a big deal).

ammoQ · 2006-05-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Anonymous:
There has been a lot of talk about the employee being unethical. What people are forgetting is that when a company loses an employee or a prospective employee, it’s not big deal.

False, especially for a company in trouble. Inability to hire prospects will help to ensure that the situation doesn't imiprove. This may well end with the company failing when it might have been saved, and then everyone who was already working there loses his job (which, as you've just said, is a big deal).

A company in trouble is a doomed company if it can't solve the problems on its own. Adding new people only makes it worse, much worse, unless these are really hard-boiled troubleshooters who would take it as a challenge and would not be discouraged by Bill's talk in the eleveator.

TomCo · 2006-05-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Anonymous:
Some would view your arrangement in Sweden as totalitarian - the government threatens to use its monopoly on the use of force to coerce a private organization to its will.

That's a lot of assumptions, all of them wrong. The citizens are already coerced by the government in every nation exept those that have fallen into anarchy, so why should companies be allowed to operate under their own terms only ? Unless having laws in general constitutes to being a totalitarian state, that kind of view is null and void.

I think this could, in essence, be a void pointer to a veryNull reference. [:^)]

TomCo · 2006-05-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
Do what you love and the money will follow...

Is this a quote from Stephen Covey or Robert Kiyosaki? [;)]

TomCo · 2006-05-12 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

However, given the company's pirate theme (corporate mascot, flags, bobble heads, etc.), I imaged that the employee would have been made to walk the plank.

Guess this CEO had read too many books about "Steve Jobs" with all of that pirate nonsense.

Arrrrrrgh*.

* said with gritty pirate accent.

TomCo · 2006-05-12 Reply Admin

chrismcb:
Anonymous:

The bottom line for the elevator employee is that his (or her) behavior is unethical. Any number of problems may have led him (or her) to this point, but in the end ethics proscribe this behavior. Sometimes it's hard to be ethical -- and yet, ethics exist exactly for those situations where it's hard to be ethical. It is absolutely correct for the employee to be disciplined. Possibly fired, but even in a case like this that is rarely in the company's best interests.

I hope that this is just sarcasm. The employee didn't do anything unethical, in fact just the opposite, if the place is a bad place to work he did the right thing. Who knows what was said inside that elevator, but if the company is going done in flames, encouraging the prospect to work there is unethical.

Should the employee be punished? For expressing an opinion? NO!

The guy in the elevator may have lacked tact, but it was not wrong, nor unethical.

I agree with chrismcb.

<rant type="short+rambling">
It's amazing how some people like turning "the company" into some person to be respected in it's own right. Basically, a group of people get together for a common purpose and work together to serve a market need (for a customer, community, etc). To legally protect this group of people while doing their daily duties, a corporate, or some sort of other legal, entity is set up. This corporate shell acts like archers on the castle walls, protecting the people from outside threats. It's ashame that the king then turns these archers inwards to pick off the very resources that make the company great.

My rule of thumb: People are #1, Profit is #2.

People are employees, customers, shareholders, suppliers, and the community.

Profit tells you whether you'll be able to continue to meet all of these constituents' needs tomorrow.
</rant>

2006-05-15 Reply Admin

Anonymous:
 Dissatisfaction with the employer is to be expected in such circumstances but any employee who collects a paycheck from their employer and actively works against their best interests by discouraging qualified applicants is a treacherous bastard who should be fired.

Bullshit! The company signs my paycheck; in return I do the job they give me and do it well. That's all I owe the company. I don't owe them my loyalty since the company owes me no loyalty. If they decide to downsize, I might be one of the people being laid off. That's business. No loyalty involved. If I can warn a potential employee he's in for a rough ride if he decides to take the job, so he has more info to base his decision on, I consider that doing the man a favor. The company will find more applicants, and regardles of me warning of one potential employee, they will find the people they're looking for ('coz obviously I can't camp the elevator forever).

If a company expects my loyalty, it needs to offer something in return. A paycheck is not enough; the paycheck is just enough to cover for my inconvenience of having to get up every day, commuting to the office, and doing my job. Loyalty is not in the basic package; it's an option to be bought at a premium. Treat your employees with the same respect you expect them to treat you with in return, 'coz guess what: that is how they'll treat you in return.

Anonymous:

If your job sucks, pick up and go to another one --- don't continue to draw down limited payroll funds while doing a crappy job and running off qualified candidates who desire to make a positive contribution.

Who says he's doing a crappy job? A while back I had more than enough reason to gripe about my company: I do a programmer's job, but get paid a helpdesk agent's wage and my contract says "helpdesk agent" as well. It's illegal, but it saves them a ton on my paycheck at the end of the month. On top of that, my boss expected me to stay at home and not get paid if there wasn't anything to do (read: if he fails to provide me with new projects), even though there was more than enough work to be done in maintainance of current tools, stuff I'd put off for slow weeks because new projects had a higher priority. All in all I think my boss's horsing around cost me around $3k to $4k in lost wages. I still did a decent job though. Admitted; normally I do a great job, so my productivity certainly did suffer under my motivational issues, but still I strived to do a decent job. Not for my boss, not for the company, but for the clients who had no fault whatsoever in the whole matter and expected their products to be finished on time. So don't just assume that somebody does a crappy job just because they gripe a lot.

2006-05-17 Reply Admin

From: Jim Maniac [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 3:49 PM
To: All Employees
Subject: Employee Departure<o:p></o:p>

Wow. Someone does not like IniTechcorp. Rather than having the courage to tell me to my face and get his @$$ racked in., this supposedly adult individual has chosen to publish my email on some wacky website.<o:p></o:p>

They made the mistake today of telling the whole word what a stupid fcuk I am and that I only motivate my employees to leave. That I am not a good person to work for.<o:p></o:p>

Well I read the Daily WTF, and I’m getting a description of the person who submitted this story. If necessary I will pay Alex Papadimoulis to come and identify who ratted me out.<o:p></o:p>

Once this person is identified they will be fired immediately and in quite a spectacular fashion. If they already quitted or were fired, then I will find out where they work now, get a job there, become their boss, and fire their @$$ again.<o:p></o:p>

I'd suggest if that person has an ounce of personal honor they commit seppuku now. Otherwise it will be quite a public spectacle later.<o:p></o:p>

The people running this company who yell hard everyday to get others to accomplish their jobs do not need the distraction of the bitchers that unfortunately every company has eventually.<o:p></o:p>

I'd suggest your displeasure is endemic of your personality and most likely you have never been happy at any job you have ever had, and have never had a girlfriend or a date, and don’t have any friends, and you sit alone in your parent’s basement every weekend, and you smell like monkey feces, too. So do us all a favor and leave.<o:p></o:p>

If I sound insane, it is because I am. <o:p></o:p>

If you don't like this company -then GET THE HELL OUT.<o:p></o:p>

The rest of us are trying to accomplish something here.<o:p></o:p>

Jim Maniac
CEO
IniTech Corporation<o:p></o:p>

P.S.

<o:p> </o:p>

I love all you guys! :)

2006-05-18 Reply Admin

Anonymous:

From: Jim Maniac [[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2006 3:49 PM
To: All Employees
Subject: Employee Departure<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p>

Wow. Someone does not like IniTechcorp. Rather than having the courage to tell me to my face and get his @$$ racked in., this supposedly adult individual has chosen to publish my email on some wacky website.<o:p></o:p>

They made the mistake today of telling the whole word what a stupid fcuk I am and that I only motivate my employees to leave. That I am not a good person to work for.<o:p></o:p>

Well I read the Daily WTF, and I’m getting a description of the person who submitted this story. If necessary I will pay Alex Papadimoulis to come and identify who ratted me out.<o:p></o:p>

Once this person is identified they will be fired immediately and in quite a spectacular fashion. If they already quitted or were fired, then I will find out where they work now, get a job there, become their boss, and fire their @$$ again.<o:p></o:p>

I'd suggest if that person has an ounce of personal honor they commit seppuku now. Otherwise it will be quite a public spectacle later.<o:p></o:p>

The people running this company who yell hard everyday to get others to accomplish their jobs do not need the distraction of the bitchers that unfortunately every company has eventually.<o:p></o:p>

I'd suggest your displeasure is endemic of your personality and most likely you have never been happy at any job you have ever had, and have never had a girlfriend or a date, and don’t have any friends, and you sit alone in your parent’s basement every weekend, and you smell like monkey feces, too. So do us all a favor and leave.<o:p></o:p>

If I sound insane, it is because I am. <o:p></o:p>

If you don't like this company -then GET THE HELL OUT.<o:p></o:p>

The rest of us are trying to accomplish something here.<o:p></o:p>

Jim Maniac
CEO
IniTech Corporation<o:p></o:p>

P.S.

<o:p> </o:p>

I love all you guys! :)

LMAO!!! Very well done. My wife couldn't stop laughing when I read this too here.

2007-08-09 Reply Admin

If anyone ever tried to fire me in "Spectacular fashion" I'd beat the hell out of them (CEO or not) in spectacular fashion".

cklam · 2008-05-27 Reply Admin

The previous comments have all focused on the "elevator employee"'s ethics or on the behaviour of the CEO largely ignoring the issue of ethical behaviour on part of the applicant or the recruiter. So what if:

Scenario (1): The applicant was lying. Let's say this guy is bad at declining job offers, does not want to reveal his true reasons for declining the job or is trying to be recompensed to the lost (from his point-of-view) time of the interview knowing the reputation of the CEO (Ok - bit farfetched but still ...). He rides up in an elevator with some poor shmuck of company employee, no words are exchanged, he has the interview ending with him declining the job offer and inventing some bull-shit lies about negative comments on the side of the "elevator employee". Recruiter runs to CEO/Chief of HR and hey, presto.
Scenario (2): The recruiter is lying. (Maybe) The Recruiter talked up the applicant to the CEO/ Chief of HR before the interview. Recruiter fucks up during job interview and scares the applicant away. Recruiter does not want to look bad in front of the CEO/ Chief of HR and lies about imaginary comments to the applicant by an imaginary "elevator employee".

These are not far-fetched scenarios founded on well-known human character weaknesses.

As for the CEO's reaction, behaviour and threats: They are insane and show clearly that Jim M. is not qualified for position. His behaviour is the biggest WTF here: flying of the handle like this on the sole grounds of rehashed hearsay information which is really not better than rumours/gossip at the time he receives it - that is unprofessional and unethical as hell.

Some remark's on the elevator employee and his perceived lack of company loyalty:

Company signs contract with employee giving basically specfied work for specified period of time every week for money. That's it. No loyalty. Company wants employee's loyalty - fine: pay for it either with money or respect.
People always, always come first, profits second. No exceptions - at least for me - but I am not a C-level executive or senior manager. If I know a certain road leads into a minefield and a passerby is going towards the minefield on that same road and asks me: "Is it safe to go in this direction ?" then I will not give any other answer but "No, minefield ahead.". What part of this is so difficult to understand for some of the previous posters ? And it doesn't matter if you yourself are already stuck (with your colleagues) in the minefield having survived until now or if you are safe outside the minefield.

cklam · 2008-05-27 Reply Admin

On posting on a two-year old thread:

To any whiners complaining about this: If Alex or Jake don't want this to happen then they would closed the thread. They didn't and so it is safe to assume that it is okay to do so. It is their site, after all.

2009-01-26 Reply Admin

Some good advice tho...

ObiWayneKenobi · 2012-12-10 Reply Admin

I find it quite disgusting that so many people here were advocating that it's wrong or immoral to help put down a dysfunctional company by warning people to stay away.

In a company as dysfunctional as the one in the article (and it is clearly dysfunctional, with an insane "god complex" nutjob as CEO), one's ethical responsibility lies with their fellow people, not a faceless entity that doesn't care a lick about them. If the place is a shithole, then it needs to be outed as a shithole so other people know it's bad.

This kind of pussyfooting around is what leads to awful companies remaining in business and even sometimes having enough smoke and mirrors to appear like a great place to work to the people who don't know any better; nobody is willing to actually say "This company is terrible" for fear of being unethical.

The Motivator

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