Yesterday a stressful situation that I have been dealing with since the end of May, 2009 was resolved. The person who was once my friend and co-worker (another manager at the time) and ended up reporting to me in a reorganization and then demoted in August, was finally let go. I was supposed to deliver that news, but because of the behavior of my co-workers a couple of days ago, she was told to report directly to Human Resources over the phone. Not exactly the way that I would have liked it to have gone. Not only is it cold and impersonal, but if you are going to let someone go you should at least be told to your face. At least, that is the way I would like to be told - not saying that I'm planning on getting fired any time soon. A small part of the stress that I've been carrying around is resolved and I actually feel better.
When the news traveled to co-workers and former co-workers who have worked with this person, the reactions were surprising. Most people were not shocked and a few asked what took so long. One person was ridiculously thrilled. But, all the reactions were not what I expected. I expected a little more empathy for the person who got let go but found that there was very little of that. It does not make me feel better that this person is now in need of employment. I wish that it could have gone differently. And, I wonder if this were to happen to me if people's reactions would be just as cold.
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