The Pizza Party Where Everyone Got Fired

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All the sudden a job in the gaming industry doesn't look as appealing as it used to. :eek:

They all start bowling and eating pizza. After a few hours of everyone enjoying themselves, the VP asks for everyone's attention. When he does manage to get the team to listen, he begins to thank them for their hard work and has the leads hand them their termination papers.
 
who the fuck would think this is a good idea?

I'm not a violent man... but it's crap like this that makes people snap... jerking them from one extreme to the other in the course of minutes.

I'd have loved to see the VP get punched square in the face by someone the moment he puts termination papers in someones hand.

People wonder why they can't find "professionals" these days, it's because crap like this from the top down that makes people go "wtf"

I totally understand lay offs -- i just lost my job in oil and gas about a month ago... not upset, because shit happens. They were professional about it, so I was I. Win/Win .
 
At least they got pizza and bowling, instead of just being called in to HR.
 
They should have at least let everyone have sex with Julia.
 
I think at that point they'd rather get a 2 week severance ... *snicker* yeah I know that doesn't exist in this industry. That said, game testers... did they honestly think this was a long term job? I would think this is common knowledge that unless your name is on a door that you more likely than not would be let go once a project is done.
 
I always laugh in horror at these stories, how HR and guards follow employee's around the building as they pack up their stuff and leave.

The reason I find it hilarious is because if the company treated these people like human beings, you wouldn't have to worry that much about one of them flipping their shit and killing everyone in the building.
 
That is far and away the nicest of the stories in that article.

Yeah, the one where they had the guy move 5,000 miles and then terminated him a month and a half later was particularly heinous.
 
The best part of the pizza party is how that company can now never have a special event because they'll think it's something bad.
 
The team leads should have had them train their overseas replacements via Skype before the long pizza goodbye.
 
who the fuck would think this is a good idea?

I'm not a violent man... but it's crap like this that makes people snap... jerking them from one extreme to the other in the course of minutes.

I'd have loved to see the VP get punched square in the face by someone the moment he puts termination papers in someones hand.

People wonder why they can't find "professionals" these days, it's because crap like this from the top down that makes people go "wtf"

I totally understand lay offs -- i just lost my job in oil and gas about a month ago... not upset, because shit happens. They were professional about it, so I was I. Win/Win .

Sociopathy/Psychopathy at the highest levels of corporate management.

At least they got pizza and bowling, instead of just being called in to HR.

It is far more professional to just call in HR and not fuck with your employee's heads.
 
When we were told (At Earthlink) that the call center was closing, the call center director had hired a BODYGUARD to be present at the group meeting. I found that more insulting than the layoff itself.

This was more than a decade ago, IIRC she had been there less than a year before it closed, and the rumor mill said her last job ended the same way.
 
At least they got pizza and bowling, instead of just being called in to HR.

So were you the kid who was cool with your parent saying "we are going to disney world! get in the car there will be pizza, and cake, and mickey mouse" because you are such a good child and we love you.

and then they drive you to the dentist, or fat camp, or drop you off at the orphanage or something equally unpleasant?

If people have to lose their jobs because the company is sucking... that's just life, you roll with it. At the end of the day, if you have to lose your job, nobody gives a flying fuck about pizza, bowling, and being told you did a good job. Anyone with an ounce of sense would say "give them a severance" if possible. Don't blow money on dumb shit thinking it will make them happy. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the money and what you can take with you.
 
When we were told (At Earthlink) that the call center was closing, the call center director had hired a BODYGUARD to be present at the group meeting. I found that more insulting than the layoff itself.

This was more than a decade ago, IIRC she had been there less than a year before it closed, and the rumor mill said her last job ended the same way.

I bet if you asked about the bodyguard they would say "Oh him? He's here for your protection."
 
It's not just the game industry folks.It's just how business is nowadays. As I posted in another thread:
What makes things really nasty is the mantra "increase revenue, reduce costs" which has been very prevalent in American business since 2008. That hurts when you are considered one of the costs to be reduced. Also, it is the Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics (STEM) fields which create the products to sell, but who is considered valuable in business? Salespeople, accountants, and lawyers.
 
I felt genuinely bad for the individuals in the first two stories.
The third story, however, was just pure fail on the parents' part.

They should have just stayed in the house trying to sell it, while the husband moved to different locations.
I know people who have done this, with far less assets and monetary resources no less, and it works.

No, lets all pack our bags and move 20 times over, where we can't keep an eye on our tenants who will burn down part of our house. :rolleyes:
Oh, then she gets pregnant... fucking geniuses these people.
 
At least they got pizza and bowling, instead of just being called in to HR.
The last part though was that the team could never again have organized G2Gs of the group without all the employees shitting a brick... didn't really think that through.

If you want to keep people happy that you are laying off, the BEST thing you can possibly do is to simply be direct with them and give them as much advance notice as humanly possible.

Tell me, "Well, as we've had updates of our state of the company you know that work has been slow, so while it has been a pleasure working with you, its my unfortunate responsibility to tell you that in 4 weeks we are going to be forced to let you go. Please feel free to use me as a positive reference, and we'll have a brief session available Friday for resume/interview tips if you'd like to attend. I wish you the best and hope that when we turn things around for the company that you may feel inclined to reapply and again join the team."

Something simple and courteous like that.
 
Whoops, hit quick reply too soon....

At this point, while I have a good paying job, I don't know how much longer it will last with the spectre of layoffs hanging over our heads. The more the higher-ups deny the L word, the more it scares us. I'm saving like crazy, hoarding my paid time off, and watching my expenses. Thankfully, I don't have a family or mortgage. I'm scared even to take a vacation, fearing that my good times will be ruined by bad news when I got back.
 
It's not just the game industry folks.It's just how business is nowadays. As I posted in another thread:
To be fair, engineers make really, REALLY bad salespeople generally. A good salesman is worth his weight in gold. You could have a product which saves international companies millions a year, but without a good salesman, you won't sell your product. Marketing and sales ARE important, but I think they get the spotlight because they have the easiest metrics to explain to the C-level staff. "Marketing spent $X this year. We have Y more customers than last year." "Jim in sales just closed a deal for $3.2 million." These are easy to understand. Marketing got us customers. Jim made us money. These people are heroes.

Compare that to, for example, IT. How do you measure IT's performance? Time-to-resolution? Amount of money lost because of equipment/software/human error? Almost every metric will be a negative, which casts a negative light on a necessary expense.

Engineering's a bit of an oddball. (Actually, engineers are a bit odd themselves! :D) When John creates a new widget and it's used in project Q, John's a hero. When Jake creates a widget that sales/marketing doesn't understand, so it doesn't get used... Well, Jake is a worthless lump of an expense and why are we even keeping him on? The more I learn about business, the more I wish I ran one myself.
 
I felt genuinely bad for the individuals in the first two stories.
The third story, however, was just pure fail on the parents' part.

They should have just stayed in the house trying to sell it, while the husband moved to different locations.
I know people who have done this, with far less assets and monetary resources no less, and it works.

No, lets all pack our bags and move 20 times over, where we can't keep an eye on our tenants who will burn down part of our house. :rolleyes:
Oh, then she gets pregnant... fucking geniuses these people.

As sad as that story is, I was thinking the exact same thing you were.

After the 2nd or 3rd time you'd think they would stop uprooting their family and learn that maybe just the husband moving away is a better idea. Also, stop having more kids.
 
I always laugh in horror at these stories, how HR and guards follow employee's around the building as they pack up their stuff and leave.

The reason I find it hilarious is because if the company treated these people like human beings, you wouldn't have to worry that much about one of them flipping their shit and killing everyone in the building.

While I'd like to agree with you. I've seen employees do some pretty fucked up shit on their way out if they aren't watched and their access isn't revoked before telling them.

I've seen one user delete 150,000+ contacts from a CRM, core the network application directory, and set their workstation to reformat just to hide the fact that they were stealing the contact list on the way out.

Try to be as polite and empathetic to outgoing employees as you can. But lock down their credentials BEFORE telling them they're going away. Then watch them like a hawk once you've told them. If you can, have security empty their desk and simply escort them to the door.
 
I've seen one user delete 150,000+ contacts from a CRM, core the network application directory, and set their workstation to reformat just to hide the fact that they were stealing the contact list on the way out.
Why would you do something like this? You know you're going to get into legal trouble, and that kind of behavior will follow you the rest of your life!
 
To be fair, engineers make really, REALLY bad salespeople generally. A good salesman is worth his weight in gold. You could have a product which saves international companies millions a year, but without a good salesman, you won't sell your product.
It is the STEM fields that creates the products that sales sells. Sales and STEM need to be partners, not adversaries.

Here is the painful part.... technical support and after-sale support is considered a expense that must be reduced rather than a customer retention tool. Often, it's the technical support that gets off-shored, not the sales person.
 
This story has taught me to avoid workplace pizza parties held off-site by management., even if they promise cake.
.
 
Why would you do something like this? You know you're going to get into legal trouble, and that kind of behavior will follow you the rest of your life!
Because you aren't exactly thinking straight when you just got told you are no longer receiving a paycheck and have to figure out how to pay the mortgage.
 
That VP is lucky to be alive. Suddenly pissing off a bunch of people wielding bowling balls could have gotten ugly.
 
Why would you do something like this? You know you're going to get into legal trouble, and that kind of behavior will follow you the rest of your life!

Because they're pissed and/or stupid and/or technically illiterate.
 
The reason I find it hilarious is because if the company treated these people like human beings, you wouldn't have to worry that much about one of them flipping their shit and killing everyone in the building.

Not all of the time. Sometimes you fire people because you worry about them flipping their shit and killing people or they have flipped their shit before.
 
Why would you do something like this? You know you're going to get into legal trouble, and that kind of behavior will follow you the rest of your life!

Because lots of people think they will be the person who is different because they have been so gravely wronged and they won't get into trouble.
 
This story has taught me to avoid workplace pizza parties held off-site by management., even if they promise cake.
.

CAKE?!?! Don't you know that having cake at an office party is like having kryptonite at Superman's birthday party?
 
Why would you do something like this? You know you're going to get into legal trouble, and that kind of behavior will follow you the rest of your life!

How many people do you know if fired will admit that they deserved it?

A place I used to work had something similar. A network engineer was moonlighting while on the job among other things, Security eventually sees the weird activity, put's two and two together, tells management which then fires him.

For several months after, he kept trying to sabotage the network by attempting to log into various routers remotely to wipe them. At least someone was thinking to do a sweep of accounts after he was canned.
 
I always laugh in horror at these stories, how HR and guards follow employee's around the building as they pack up their stuff and leave.

The reason I find it hilarious is because if the company treated these people like human beings, you wouldn't have to worry that much about one of them flipping their shit and killing everyone in the building.

One minute you are an employee who basically respect the company and it's property, then next you are laid off and a perpetrator worthy of derision that requires practically an armed escort out of the building as if you will flip on a dime. Fuck these people.
 
So were you the kid who was cool with your parent saying "we are going to disney world! get in the car there will be pizza, and cake, and mickey mouse" because you are such a good child and we love you.

and then they drive you to the dentist, or fat camp, or drop you off at the orphanage or something equally unpleasant?

If people have to lose their jobs because the company is sucking... that's just life, you roll with it. At the end of the day, if you have to lose your job, nobody gives a flying fuck about pizza, bowling, and being told you did a good job. Anyone with an ounce of sense would say "give them a severance" if possible. Don't blow money on dumb shit thinking it will make them happy. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters is the money and what you can take with you.

Please say "at the end of the day" more. It makes this rancid cliche even more valid. :rolleyes:
 
YeA, im looking. With my company about to spilt later this year i suspect it will all go to shit so that the execs and share holders win and everyone else loses.
 
I don't know why it is so hard for people to understand. Being in the video game industry is just like being in the movie, music, or any other art based industry with great fame and fortune to be had. There are millions of people willing to do whatever it takes to get in and stay in because its their dream job and that is a recipe for ANYTHING. Anything at all can and does happen in the film industry, whatever it takes to suck your way to the top, anything can and does happen in the music industry and I am not sure why people think the same isn't true of the game industry. For every John Carmac or Gabe Newell there are thousands of workers being abused and working for next to nothing with no rights. Tons of unpaid interns, tons of prostitutes, tons of over worked programmers. The solutions is really simple, take your talents elsewhere if it isn't easy for you or you don't get paid enough to live a year without working in between each layoff. Silicone valley companies are pumping 6 figures into almost all their employees.

I am kind of surprised all these complaining game devs don't just start up some sort of coop company that builds games and distributes profits evenly. Seems like they should be able to pull it off and do a decent job bidding for junk like console ports.
 
I wonder if the tards pushing for more women in programming have read the stories like these. Or share them with the women who they try to persuade to be programmers.
 
Just another lame story from the faux news site. Nothing to see here, move along.
 
It's getting really scary. Everywhere you turn, there are mass layoffs. The job market is getting smaller and smaller while costs of living are getting higher and higher.

All this has got to completely come crumbling down and crash hard at some point.
 
I wonder if the tards pushing for more women in programming have read the stories like these. Or share them with the women who they try to persuade to be programmers.

Games are far from the sum total of software development work. And it's not like people in other jobs don't see even more bizarre situations. Like showing up for work and the place is closed.
 
This story has taught me to avoid workplace pizza parties held off-site by management., even if they promise cake.
.

CAKE?!?! Don't you know that having cake at an office party is like having kryptonite at Superman's birthday party?

The cake is a lie...

That VP is lucky to be alive. Suddenly pissing off a bunch of people wielding bowling balls could have gotten ugly.

lol...Funniest thing I've read all day! :D
 
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