That Feeling When Someone Gets Fired

The office is so quiet and somber today because everyone realizes their own mortality when someone gets fired. It's like being a cop and hearing that someone got shot on duty... you could be next? It's so quiet and somber, in fact, that I can actually post about it on WSO without feeling weird.

Anybody know this feeling? This is the first time I've been around for a good old-fashioned firing, so I really don't. On the bright side I could knock down this wall and have a huge fucking office now...

What's your reaction when a co-worker gets fired? Empathy? Some sort of misplaced guilt? Or for the more conniving of us - joy?

Note to hedgies on WSO: Don't pick losers and expect you can take weekends off.

 

I've seen about 3-4 rounds now and it is weird and especially hits home when you know the people on a personal basis and they get let go. It never seems to be the jerk off VP who makes your life hell. I've seen middle aged admins who are sweet and don't make much money let go and then douchemonger VP who flies all over creation and brags about his suits and expensive dinners but doesn't make money is spared.

A lot of times it doesn't make sense on paper when you run the math, it is largely political. Just have to realize that it happens and a lot of times it leads to great things. I had a guy get let go that I loved working for, he ended up going to another firm, and got a promotion.

 
rufiolove:
I've seen about 3-4 rounds now and it is weird and especially hits home when you know the people on a personal basis and they get let go. It never seems to be the jerk off VP who makes your life hell. I've seen middle aged admins who are sweet and don't make much money let go and then douchemonger VP who flies all over creation and brags about his suits and expensive dinners but doesn't make money is spared.

A lot of times it doesn't make sense on paper when you run the math, it is largely political. Just have to realize that it happens and a lot of times it leads to great things. I had a guy get let go that I loved working for, he ended up going to another firm, and got a promotion.

Ya we're not a big firm so I knew the guy pretty well. I actually have yet to see the admin lady or something get let go but I'd feel even worse for them. At least this guy was a young, smart analyst who will make it somewher else. But then you wonder why the hell he got canned. Unfortunately in this guy's case we pretty much know...

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
rufiolove:
I've seen about 3-4 rounds now and it is weird and especially hits home when you know the people on a personal basis and they get let go. It never seems to be the jerk off VP who makes your life hell. I've seen middle aged admins who are sweet and don't make much money let go and then douchemonger VP who flies all over creation and brags about his suits and expensive dinners but doesn't make money is spared.

We must work at the same firm.

 
jack_donaghy:
rufiolove:
I've seen about 3-4 rounds now and it is weird and especially hits home when you know the people on a personal basis and they get let go. It never seems to be the jerk off VP who makes your life hell. I've seen middle aged admins who are sweet and don't make much money let go and then douchemonger VP who flies all over creation and brags about his suits and expensive dinners but doesn't make money is spared.

We must work at the same firm.

Same here...
Get busy living
 
Edmundo Braverman:
We used to have a saying when someone would get fired, because all of their accounts would be divvied up among the top producers:

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Bust that book, it's a fucking must!"

This. Is. Awesome.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

I guess it would be a really weird feeling, especially when like you said, you know them personally. How many losers was this guy picking? Can all the blame be shifted on him, considering a PM would also have to be on board with an idea for it to be picked?

 

Yeah, I know the feeling. Ive seen a couple of guys let go. It's weird when you know why it happened. It doesn't exactly make me feel threatened, because I know the guys weren't producers, but it does make me stop and think.

Sorry if the formatting or grammar are shitty, posting from a phone.

 

I was at one buyside company that lost half the assets over a year, and the senior people decided to cut 30% of the company. They fired all junior people, which were all the people who did the grunt work and didn't make any of the real decisions. All the highly expensive people that made the decisions that led to poor performance were kept.

It's funny, because months later, performance got worse and worse, and soon the senior people started to quit one by one lol

 

Happened around me several times, and usually it's a super day of firing. A boardroom gets booked for a day, HR along with sector heads and other executives in a room, and the junior coordinator starts escorting people into the boardroom while security escorts them out.

This kind of day makes EVERYONE nervous no matter how junior or senior they are. I believe the type of vibe they create cannot sit well with anyone.

I also saw people come in the morning, perform their duties and right after lunch, they get the axe. So cruel. I think they should give a 2 week notice before termination unless it is because of criminal/compliance cause.

I may not be on the Jedi Council, but I sure am great with the Force. See my WSO blog posts
 

reminds you of your place in the world and that you aren't a special little flower... just another prole slaving away, selling your youth cheaply until the day they discard you...

you should take it as an opportunity to assess your position and maybe save a bit more money for the future and spend a bit more time with family and friends instead of being at the office, etc...

 

You're a number on a spreadsheet. Never forget it and never stop looking at your options at the very least as an emergency exit.

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 
happypantsmcgee:
You're a number on a spreadsheet. Never forget it and never stop looking at your options at the very least as an emergency exit.
^^^ I'm heavily networked for this reason. My predecessor was fired, and I had to clean up their desk/office/files before even really getting a chance to focus. I feel bad for people that get canned for no good reason, but the stupid people and crooks can suck it. A few months in my boss got canned for massive violations and I was guilty by association for the next year and I'm still having trouble with it...even though I cleaned up the mess. I felt really bad for them because a higher up basically left them no option but at the same time I have my own problems....BURN IN HELL MOTHERFUCKER.
Get busy living
 

Wish I had a bunch of SBs to give out to many of the posters on this thread.

One bit of advice that a senior banker gave to me recently is this: everytime you meet with someone in another group or another firm - whether it is on a deal or just friendly networking - always act as if you are in a job interview. The reason being is that when you are the one to get the axe, you have a long list of numbers in your rolodex that you can start calling. With the notable exception of late '08/early '09 and after the tech bubble burst, usually there is some group somewhere who is looking for experienced junior bankers.

 
Best Response

The most interesting firings occur in the IT department. This is because management can never afford to give any IT guy even the slightest hint that the guy is going to be fired. When the IT guy knows that he is going to get fired and if he is allowed to login to the system, he can wreck havoc with the system in a few minutes and create many months of hard clean-up work for the remaining people. I witnessed when a company decided to send the entire IT project off-shore to India and they decided to retain about 15 of the 100 developers who were working on the project. On Friday, everyone came to the office thinking that they would go to work and what work they needed to accomplish on that day. When they arrive at the gate, the security guard checks their id. The people who are retained will be allowed to enter the office. The people who have been fired will be escorted by the security guard to another room where there is a box containing the contents of their desk. They pick up the box, get a check for 6 weeks severance pay and then they have to leave the building. All their login ids were cancelled the day before when they were not even aware that they were going to be fired.

 

The best advice I can give to anyone seeking even an ounce of job security in the finance world (because that's about as much as you can get) is to find a way to make yourself absolutely indispensible and make sure you can sustain that. Sometimes people don't even know you're indispensible until you tell them. It's literally impossible for me to get fired right now because my boss has zero relationship with about 30%-35% of our portfolio companies. He trusts me to maintain those relationships, and I do my darndest to keep him out of them for a reason. So I get waxed and those relationships die. No more tipsy management spilling the beans and being chummy with a big investor. Well that, and the fact that nobody in the office knows shit about those companies anyway, makes me hard to get rid of right now. That's not to say they couldn't hire a guy to learn all that shit tomorrow and try to develop relationships with management on the fly tomorrow just to kick my ass to the curb, but you get the idea.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
BlackHat:
The best advice I can give to anyone seeking even an ounce of job security in the finance world (because that's about as much as you can get) is to find a way to make yourself absolutely indispensible and make sure you can sustain that. Sometimes people don't even know you're indispensible until you tell them. It's literally impossible for me to get fired right now because my boss has zero relationship with about 30%-35% of our portfolio companies. He trusts me to maintain those relationships, and I do my darndest to keep him out of them for a reason. So I get waxed and those relationships die. No more tipsy management spilling the beans and being chummy with a big investor. Well that, and the fact that nobody in the office knows shit about those companies anyway, makes me hard to get rid of right now. That's not to say they couldn't hire a guy to learn all that shit tomorrow and try to develop relationships with management on the fly tomorrow just to kick my ass to the curb, but you get the idea.
You'd still be out on your ass if a colleague blows up your fund, or a senior guy is found doing something illegal... your employer can't have you if they're out of business.

You need to have support networks and assets outside of your employer / corporate master.

 
Relinquis:
You'd still be out on your ass if a colleague blows up your fund, or a senior guy is found doing something illegal... your employer can't have you if they're out of business.

You need to have support networks and assets outside of your employer / corporate master.

Good point, there's always situations outside of your control that can put everyone out on the street. One of the millions of reasons why one should never burn bridges and always leave on good terms with your old firm(s). I'm not sure what I'd feel worse about - getting fired, or seeing the entire fund go under... haha.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 
Relinquis:
BlackHat:
The best advice I can give to anyone seeking even an ounce of job security in the finance world (because that's about as much as you can get) is to find a way to make yourself absolutely indispensible and make sure you can sustain that.
You'd still be out on your ass if a colleague blows up your fund, or a senior guy is found doing something illegal
...this is a reaaaalllllyyyyy good reason to try and answer to as many people as possible, or at least never let one person dominate your career. I learned this the hard way, now I do shit for half a dozen people partly because I want to learn as much as I can but also so that I can sever ties if anyone ever goes down in flames again. If someone wants to be stupid/crooked, that's on them, and I'm not going down with them, fuck that.
Get busy living
 
GoodBread:
Pretty rare occurrence at my old firm. The guys who got whacked really had it coming so I can't say it bothered me that much although I was shocked at how fast/efficient they were with the whole thing: Senior guy comes over and tells the guy "Can I talk to you in private for a sec?" They go into the hallway and a security guard is there. Never saw the guy again.

I feel like the most demoralizing part has to be the security guard. Like c'mon, do you think I'm gonna like kick your ass because you fired me? Or break a ton of shit or something? Half embarassing, half demoralizing, and totally pathetic. Our guy came back into the office today to like clear out some of his shit that he left, and it was just weird... nobody like even wanted to say hi to him or anything. I had to be the guy who showed him some love and tried to make it at least a little less awkward, but it's kinda hard to do sadly. Sometimes a good firing can light a fire under your ass and get you an even better job though, so hopefully that happens for him. Doubt it though, he totally sucked balls.

I hate victims who respect their executioners
 

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