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Firing people via IM - 14% of men said they would

msnbc.msn.com — According to a new survey, 14 percent of men said they would use an IM with an emoticon — one of those animated faces that range from a happy grin to an angry screamer — to fire someone. Wow...

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  • Derrekito, on 10/11/2007, -4/+27I do not really understand the significance if this. But I do know that 14% of the males surveyed are going to get the crap kicked out of them. I would NOT stand for something like that, what so ever.
    • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10If my boss had the audacity to fire me over IM, I'd have the audacity to call him a pussy to his face. Thankfully, I've never had a boss that is this tactless.
      • goldpress, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Maybe it's just me, I've had plenty that were this tactless, but most weren't this tech savvy.
      • Gizza, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8If my boss sent me an IM saying telling me I'm fired I would think he's joking.
      • dacheetah, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5You're Fired!
        :P
        • iDug, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0This is not IM :D , you dont belong to 14%
    • monospaced, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2114% of men surveyed have no balls.
      • RandomGuySteve, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Thankfully, at least 14% of men surveyed don't have the required management skills to be in a position to fire anyone.

        I'm sure if you did a poll of all McDonald's employees under the age of 18, you'd find a large % of people willing to spit in food. Doesn't mean it's news.
    • Rikkochet, on 10/11/2007, -3/+13Am I alone in saying that if my boss fired me over IM I would keep showing up to work until I'd received *proper* notice?
      • Smight, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6I'm sure your employer would just "fix the glitch" and you'd be working for free.

      • ninj3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2If they fired you by IM, and then you still came into work and they didn't pay you, you could easily take it to tribunal and get some sort of settlement.
        To actually 'fire' someone you need valid reason and have to have gone through every alternative measure before dismissal. And it has to be done very formal and proper. Otherwise the employer is going to be very open to lawsuits. Well that's the case in the UK at least.
        • rhino369, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1In the US its much easier to fire someone.
      • Coffeedemon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Nope. Given the state of managing electronic information I seriously doubt the majority of organizations (be they Private or Public sector) are putting any effort into the retention of instant messaging 'correspondence'. Its hard enough to keep a handle on regular documents in file shares/repositories. If its not retained there is no record ... at least none that can stand up in a court.

        Now mind you ... anyone prick enough to fire you over Messenger probably has the papers signed and ready just doesn't have the plums to call you into the office to deliver the news in person.
    • donkeyshow, on 10/11/2007, -1/+514 percent of men would poop in a sock and hide it in a roommates shoe.
      /not surprised
    • strafefire, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6In 2006, radio shack fire about 700 people via blackberry message...
    • Energon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The real question is what percentage among people that can ACTUALLY fire someone would do it using IM.
      Not just "random people".
  • gabeN, on 10/11/2007, -15/+8I might not do it via IM, but I'd definitely fire some via Pownce...
  • jmpeagle, on 10/11/2007, -3/+5that is awesome
  • wwwharpwnedcom, on 10/11/2007, -5/+3Yea, sure you could do this but isn't there anyone else that dreams of yelling YOUR FIRED at someone else.
  • fahimi, on 10/11/2007, -4/+9Is 14% surprisingly high? I say that's far lower than I'd expect. We are (stereotypically) lazy.
    • coollettuce, on 10/11/2007, -1/+767% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
  • wildfire, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q197/makisupaa/tn_err2.jpg
  • microchp, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6Text chat is almost always easier to say things that you otherwise might not face-to-face.
  • benitojuarez, on 10/11/2007, -0/+32If my boss did that to me, I would run as fast as possible to his cubicle and choke the ***** out of him. Then maybe I would draw a >:O on his forehead with a sharpie.
    • monospaced, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2and he would deserve it, and then some
    • Barman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1At least 86% of men out there are not complete pussies.
  • whatever1, on 10/11/2007, -3/+13I wouldn't IM them..that is too direct, but I would put it in my away msg for a long enough time for them to notice.
  • washingtonydc, on 10/11/2007, -4/+12and 88% of men would reply with 8======D~~~
  • LowRentDiggs, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I wouldn't fire someone via IM but I have quit a job via IM :P I have since decided not to take jobs from Craigslist with a ridiculously low salary and the promise of a pay review "after a short probationary period"....
  • a1532b, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Who would fire someone with a happy grin smiley face? I mean, unless he worked at like at like despair.com or something
  • psbpv3o, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Wow, what pussies...we need more human interaction, despite how inconvenient it is...
  • Celeron, on 10/11/2007, -3/+24MicrosoftBoss69: josh tarkles?
    jtarkles: Who's this?
    MicrosoftBoss69: this is your supervisor akhilesh gupta.
    jtarkles: How did you obtain my screen name?
    MicrosoftBoss69: you're fired. dont come back to the office. yoru stuff is in the dumpster.
    [MicrosoftBoss69 has blocked you.]
  • Unclickable, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4that's the way to go http://yuxt.com/videos/123922
  • Jugalator, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I'm glad the story summary tells what a smiley is.
  • squeevey, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I wouldn't take the firing seriously. Mainly because it can be interpreted many ways. I've never considered IM a documented form of communication. Logs can be faked. if he presents a log of him saying he's fired. I'll present a log saying he has kitty porn. It'll show how absurd it really can be. If you want to get technical and trace packets yes then you can argue it, even then, it's a loose form of communication.
    • bubba9999, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1That would be cool until you stopped receiving your check.
      • Akaji, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually, then it would be even cooler, because you can sue them.
  • regexp, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1First off there is the legal issue of terminating the employment but secondly, the only proper place to fire someone is face to face. Otherwise you are a freak'n coward. I have fired people and have always done it face to face. You need to explain to them why and you can't do that with an IM message that states "You're Fired Bitch".

    However - breaking up with someone - I have totally done that over IM...
    • aphexcoil, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1So in your world, you're a coward if you fire your employee via IM yet you find that it is perfectly acceptable to break up via IM? I guess consistency is not one of your better traits.
  • MarcelLionheart, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1"lulz, ur fired."
  • LowRentDiggs, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I heard a guy get canned live on the radio a few weeks ago:

    http://bhamweekly.com/blog/2007/06/22/hoover-two-a-daze-scandal-continues/
  • Rodman930, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2YOU'RE FIRED! :D
  • SCARECR0W, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Why bother with IM - just have IT lock their accounts and that way, no IM, no email, no internet access, voilà - Fired!

    Then when they come to my office, I simply have HR standing by with a box.

    How hard is that?

  • taylorjuwig, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I was fired through text message last year. Pretty unprofessional.
  • donkeyshow, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3:-(
  • cr4ft, on 10/11/2007, -1/+26Boss:"I think it's time you gtfo"
    Boss:"brb"
    Employee:"wtf?"
    Employee:"?"
    *Employee sends boss a nudge*
    Boss:"ur done"
    Employee:"lol r u serious?"
    Boss:"im not kidding, you're done, anyways i g2g"
    Employee:"will you be on l8r?"
    Boss:"uuh"
    *Boss's status appears to be offline*
  • fant0m, on 10/11/2007, -14/+10000101111111110010111001000101011110111110101010000001010011110100101101010010011010111101001011100
    1011011010101001000001111001101100000110110001110010000111011100010001110011000001001100101010001111
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    0011000111110010101111001001101011001011100010001001100100010110000000000110101111000000011110110001
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    0011100100110100100011010111001101100110101010001011000111101001100110010100111010010101010011110001
    0111100011110011010011011100000111000110001110011000100100000001001110001101001111001001101111010100
    1101000001101110100010111000110001111010100011100111111110101011101110001101111101010101110110010011
    1110011110000001011111110100001101100010100101011111111011100001110001000110100010000100100100101001
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    1001100010101100100111010001100101100011010001100011000101110000001000101111001011101101000110100000
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    0100001000011010111001000011001000101111010000110011111100001010011000101001000001000100101100001111
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    1000010110111111000100110110011011010111110110010101011110011100001100101000001110100010010100000000
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    0110100101101010011000011101100000011001010001001111010111101100000010011100101100000001011101001001
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    1100110000110111100111101100111100000000111010011001001100110010011110011010011101000001110110110100

    You're Fired.
    • bacio, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1that's a lot of binary that doesn't make sense, at if you made it say you're fired or something like that i would've gave the thumbs up
      011110010110111101110101001001110111001001100101001000000110011001101001011100100110010101100100
  • fant0m, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1You're fired!

    Dude, you got pwn3d!
  • fant0m, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1apparently http://www.text-image.com/convert/ wont take http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/05/16/wtrump16.jpg (Picture of Trump) in a manor that displays properly on digg. Or I'm a newb. Digg me down please.
  • makbryan2, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Obviously the 14% that would fire their employees by IM will never have employees.
    • JimmyTheClam, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1In a perfect world that would be true.
      When you find that universe... post it on Digg.
  • SD929, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5***** pussy ***** that can't man up.
  • AtomSmasher5, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2what ever happened to picking up the damn phone and making a call?
  • Raisedshoulder, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Hm... it says they interviewed people who use Yahoo Instant Messenger.
    • shienloan00, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Thank you for finally bringing that up. This survey is dumb because the pool they chose were people who probably regularly use IM anyways. Need to expand to general population so there's more variety. I'm use AIM, not Yahoo messenger (so I wouldn't be in the pool, but I still regularly use instant messages), and wouldn't consider firing someone over an IM, for example.
  • LucasKane, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9"Only 11 percent of women would do the same"

    Wow 3 ***** percent is sooo much....
  • BeyondGoodNEvil, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1You're FIRED! >:(
    but you have till the end of the week to leave
  • Justinpirate, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2That is some messed up crap if people really did fire others via text messaging instead of having a talk with them. First of all, I wouldn't have even taken a boss too seriously if it was on IM because I would assume they were drunk or being stupid. Fire people to their face unless you want to be punched in the face next time they see you.
  • NineElders, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1And those 14% are in a position to fire someone? No? Just wankers dreaming of power they will never have? Yeah thought so.
  • Rizmaster, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Ben: "Hey, put one of those smiley faces on there, man! Yeah, those are sexy."
  • bluezmansc, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1it's already happened... more than once... digg back some and you'll find it
  • tony4moroney, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1i dont see why you wouldnt
    i hate confrontation as many would. IM is the equivalent of sms exchange and at the very least its more interactive and personable, a lot of people exchange important information through sms, why not IM?
    so yes, yes i would fire somebody through IM (if i were an employer)
  • CourtesyFlush, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Obviously, the other 86% have actual jobs and aren't dorks who spend all their time texting one another.
  • fotoman, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3As long as the employee is NOT in California... If you do not have your final paycheck in your hand when they fire you in California, YOU as the employee (well, former employee) are entitled to your daily wage for every day (calendar day, not workday) between the time you were fired and you received your check. Now, if they direct deposit your money into your account, then they can fire you via email, phone, or IM, doesn't matter, as long as you have your last check (including sick and vacation pay).

    I just happened to attend a 5 hour payroll tax seminar today by the EDD and Dept of Labor.
  • NocturnVitae, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0I would totally not respond and just say I did not see it. Same thing with e-mail or voice mail. If they did not tell me in person I would just pretend it did not happen! Let the bastards fire me in person :)
  • saintdesy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2So what would be the proper "you're fired" emoticon?
  • ninj3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Dumbest survey ever. We may as well do a survey showing that less than 1% of homeless people brush their teeth everyday and conclude that means all humans have bad hygiene.
    Stupidly selected sample. Stupid survey.
  • WikiEasy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1I'd like to see that in an Apprentice episode... Imagine Trump typing "You're fired :-@"
  • bubba9999, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Michael Scott wouldn't be able to figure out how to use the IM client in the first place. And even if he did, could you really take getting fired by a screen name like lilkidlover?
  • chad, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2kthxbye!
  • Corinthos, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2One day my boss came in and told me a new girl we hired as a secretary quit. She messaged her over Myspace telling her.
  • aphexcoil, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2Boss: I am sorry to have to inform you that you are terminated.
    WorkerBee067: Why?
    Boss: Because of your performance.
    [WorkerBee067 would like to direct connect]
    Boss: What's this?
    WorkerBee067: Some photos of your daughter naked that I'm uploading to the company server.
  • aroundtown, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I fired a friend I had working in a store of mine over ICQ (anyone remember ICQ???) because I was an hour away and it just came up in conversation. Didn't plan on it but it just happened.
  •  

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