How NOT to fire people.

According to BusinessWeek, here are the top ten things to not say or do when letting someone go. I won't call out a particular boss who fired me but I'm amazed that he nailed five out these ten.


The Top 10 Comments to Avoid Uttering

Here are 10 things you should never say when terminating an employee:

While these comments may not be evidence of an illegal motive, they may produce anger that results in the employee's visiting a lawyer to determine whether a viable claim exists.

1."This was a job elimination and had nothing to do with your performance." Do not say this when a discharge had everything to do with an employee's performance. Your desire to protect an employee's feelings -- or your own -- can later be used as evidence of pretext if the employee brings a discrimination claim.

2. "We have carried you for many years. It's just not possible to continue to do so during these difficult times." Don't trash the past. It is not only insulting to the employee, but it may be inconsistent with the employee's prior evaluations. Remember, pretext alone wins cases.

3. "We have no choice but to terminate your employment." There are always other options. Why not tolerate mediocrity a little longer? Termination need not be the only viable option, so don't suggest that it is.

4. "You have no one to blame but yourself. You just did not try hard enough." Hold employees accountable, but don't impugn their integrity. When employees feel personally attacked, they fight back.

5."This is just as hard for me as it is for you." There are few absolutes, but it is absolutely true that it always harder to be fired than to fire. Don't ask an employee who is looking at unemployment to feel your pain.

6. "This is not the right job for you. When you get the right job, you will thank me." That may make you feel good, but it will make the discharged employee bristle. The "thank you" may come in the form of a complaint.

7. "I am sorry, but you are fired." You may mean: "I am sorry we have come to this situation." The employee may hear that you think you are wrong. It's not a good time to have a conversation about the meaning of "I am sorry." Avoid apologies, even though you may genuinely feel badly.

8. "I know how you feel." Unless you have been fired recently, you don't know how the person feels. If you have been fired recently, now is not the time to share that experience.

9. "You will always be a part of the corporate family." Trust me. This will make the fired employee think: "Oh, good. Will I still get the newsletter after I sue you?"

10 "Pardon the e-mail, but you are fired." This may not be unlawful, but it's gutless. And it invites the angry employee to go for your gut.

Badly in need of p.r.

This is the city of Toledo's dog warden, attempting to defend his reasoning for euthanizing a large number of dogs instead of pushing for more dogs to be adopted. Check out what he says are signs of a "good dog."

Age

Having just celebrated a birthday and had a 20th class reunion, some interesting things happened. First, my reunion was a blast. In a class of 410, 150 people showed up for our reunion. Great turnout. It could have been higher. People knew a lot about what I was up to based on my Facebook page. That was neat.

Also, in 20 years, everyone goes their different paths. Many are married with kids. Some got married and are now divorced. Some are in a different part of the country. Either way, we all were pretty good with each other in talking and relating to each other's struggles and successes.

Now, here's another side of age. I am in a Doctorate program at BGSU. I am at least ten years older than almost all of my colleagues. Instead of going straight from one degree to the next, I worked in the real world. I think it helped me mature mentally and experience things that you just can't learn in class. Anyway, in some of my classes (at Kent and BG), I notice how I get the "old man" treatment. I mean, he's the "old man" in here, what does he know? That is such a powerful motivator. I think it can be more powerful than positive reinforcement. Thankfully though, the treatment for the age difference isn't as bad as it could be. There are just a handful of people who seem to have an issue with it.

Children and the Media

So this young boy, Falcon, is at the heart of a national story about an eccentric family. The family has been making the rounds of the national media talk shows on cable and broadcast networks.
The result?

I don't know who is more guilty...the media for putting this fool (the father AND his family on tv) or is the guilty one the father for putting his family out there like this?

Turn it off!

Why don't more people understand there is etquette with having a cellphone? I walk away from people if I am on the phone. I don't want to "invade their space" with my conversation. I hate it when people leave their phones in church, in the theater, wherever there should be silence. Check this video out of Hugh Jackman onstage while a cellphone is ringing.

What?

Not often do I see funny animal videos that I want to post here but my buddy, Mark Williamson has this on his Facebook page. I watched this a few times because I couldn't believe the goat is actually saying, "Wwwwwwhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaatttttttttt???"

And here's another goat video, with a goat yelling for its Mommy.

What is going on?

Republican Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina has gone from nobody to "hero" status in many people's minds because of his uncivil actions during the President's speech a couple nights ago. Wilson apologized after the speech saying his emotions got the best of him.

I can't imagine going to a nationwide conference for Wal-Mart or Apple and heckling the C-E-O as he talked. I would get booted out of the conference.

The sad part is that people are calling Wilson a hero. Why? Because he openly called the President a liar? If he would simply read the proposed legislation, he would see that illegal immigrants would not get coverage. Secondly, he makes his own party look foolish when the President calls the GOP out for saying instead of trying to kill it, why not try to improve it?

And maybe the worst part of making a "hero" out of Wilson, we are saying to children and others that this behavior is acceptable.