letter to my former boss

[JS]

(names masked for privacy)

March 10, 2009

Mr. W------ A-------
Director, Valuation Department

Dear Mr. A-------:

I am writing you to let you know how much I hate your guts.

When you told me on October 24 last fall that I would be laid off effective December 19, I should have quit that day. I assumed that the pigs at Greenville County Family Court would cut me a break if I got laid off but unfortunately that is not the case. I'm expected to fork over a big chunk of my non-existent paycheck to my lazy f**ktard of an ex-wife so she can spend it as quickly as possible with nothing to show for it.

I'm just curious as to why you chose to lay me off. Why didn't you lay off someone who is old and worn out, like Fern or Alec? Why didn't you lay off one of the new people who don't know anything? Why did you lay me off when I had been in the department for 11 years, and unlike Alec or Fern, I can actually type more than 12 words a minute and I can identify and solve problems quickly. I realize that Alec and Fern know some things that I don't know since they've been working there since WWII but I still can't figure out why you chose to lay off the one person you had working for you who knew more about PCVL and VAS than everyone else combined.

The only thing that makes sense is that because you are a pig and both you and Mr. D------ are crummy managers, you laid me off because I work in Greenville, SC. Both of you idiots have to be able to breathe down someone's neck which is not possible if I'm 700 miles away. Neither of you two have the ability to understand the concept of giving me a task and letting me do it. You two morons only know how to manage by crisis.

There is one thing you're very good at, and that's playing the blame game. I got really sick and tired of you and your Canadian minion blaming me for not implementing PCVL in VAS as soon as you would like. In case you weren't aware, I wasn't allowed to write programs in VAS; that was the job of the IT folks, who are very dumb and slow and should be replaced by people who know how to write computer programs. It's amazing that I wrote PCVL in less time all by myself than it takes the VAS people to fix the various f**kups in their programs. I fail to see how the idiocy of the VAS programmers and the management failures of you and Canadian John are my fault.

You are a pig and I feel sorry for anyone who works for you.

Sincerely,



JS

 

[JS]

Thanks for the kind words, PineyBob. I'm feeling really down right now because I got laid off and the courts in South Carolina and my ex-wife couldn't care less. My former boss has been there only a year and I got the distinct impression from day one that he wanted me gone and was salivating at the opportunity to get rid of me. I guess I should remind myself that by not quitting, I got enough severance pay to buy a car and I qualify for unemployment.

As far as a reference goes, I'll use him as a reference only if I desired admittance to the gates of hell. Otherwise, I'll refer any potential employer to HR. That's one reason why I really want to send this letter. I know for a fact that HR will only say "Mr. JS worked for us from this date to that date" and that's it. I do not need this pig as a reference. My only hesitation is that a potential hiring manager might personally know Pig Bill and then I could be screwed though that's highly unlikely and I'm willing to take my chances in order to tell this guy what I really think of him that I was too cowardly to say to his face.

I don't have a problem paying child support even though I think it's disgusting that the child support money doesn't go for the kids. They eat spaghetti and Pop Tarts ($900 worth a month? Hah!), wear the same clothes they wore last year, have dirty and uneven teeth and dirty hair and have no extracurricular activities. I contested custody but lost because of my ex-wife's crooked lawyer and this state's court system which is stuck in the 1950's.

I do have a problem paying alimony, especially if I'm unemployed seeing as how that's economically impossible, and that's when her gravy train is coming to a screeching halt.

It's too bad Delta and US Airways and AA are victims in this whole mess. I don't have business travel any more, not only because of unemployment because also because my pig-headed boss cut out 90% of business travel, probably so he could justify my layoff. And I don't have the income to pay for personal travel which really sucks since all my relatives, including my children, live at least 1000 miles away. Delta gave me a soft landing to Silver status which was nice of them even though I only flew about 10,000 status miles last year (not enough on US or AA for silver either). Oh well life goes on I suppose.

 

[777 fixer]

I'm with Pinney Bob on this one. While such a letter might give you a good feeling initially in the long run it would come back to haunt you. Look at this way, the best revenge would for them to give you a positive recommendation to a prospective employer.

 

[Gilding the Lily]

JS,

I echo what Piney noted. It still seems, however, that you plan to go forward with sending this (or a similar) letter. I recommend that you reconsider. When I read your letter, it reminded me of a joke where a wife is watching CNN and they are explaining that a wacky driver is driving on the wrong side of the freeway. She notices that it is the same freeway that her husband takes home from work and that her husband is likely on his way home at that very moment. The wife calls her husband on his cellphone and says "be alert, there is one car driving down the wrong side of the freeway." To which the husband responds, "One Car???.... no way, everyone is driving on the wrong side!"

Your letter blames many people (everyone except yourself). Perhaps everything in the letter is true; I simply couldn't care less. But letters like this beg the question: Who was really driving on the wrong side of the road? Again, you could have been the best employee there and have the right to say everything in that letter, but the letter comes off as very defensive and I believe only one thought will pop up in the reader's mind: "this letter proves that it was right to fire him." I don't think that is really what you are going for. Use that pinned up frustration as a catalyst to finding an awesome job and striking a good balance of happiness.

 

[jimntx]

Use that pinned up frustration as a catalyst to finding an awesome job and striking a good balance of happiness.

Absolutely! Thing of the satisfaction you will get one of these days by writing a thank you letter to the former boss in which you can say "If you hadn't fired me, I would not have been able to take advantage of my current opportunity. They are paying me twice what I was making at XYZ, and all of my travel is booked in First Class by my new company. (It's standard operating procedure with International Widget.) Give Fern my regards."

Also, I would make one change to what PB said. He mentioned something about not burning bridges in an industry you want to work in. I would modify that to "Don't burn bridges period unless that trust fund from Uncle Henry matured." Even if you change industries, the type letter you wrote will find a way to follow you. I spent 7 years working for the Texas state employment service trying to find jobs for people who indulged in bridge burning. It wasn't easy work.)

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

Hey JS,
I'm sorry you got treated this way, and I'm being SERIOUS when I say it.

I hopeing BIG time, that the Next job you get, is a UNION job, because then you'll never get screwed without layoffs going in seniority order !!!

Another reason for EFCA !!

 

[cybercat]

(names masked for privacy)

Write it all out.
Then burn it.

 

[777 fixer]

Hey JS,
I'm sorry you got treated this way, and I'm being SERIOUS when I say it.

I hopeing BIG time, that the Next job you get, is a UNION job, because then you'll never get screwed without layoffs going in seniority order !!!

Another reason for EFCA !!

Given the percentage of workers that are union memebers chances are JS will get a job that is non-union.

While being in a union might prevent you from being laid off in anything but numerical order it's not ironclad protection. Some people might think that it is but its not. Even as a union member its never a good idea to go around burning bridges. That's because there might come a day when you screw up. When that happens instead of looking the other way or giving you a slap on the wrist the powers that be might decide to go "by the book" and throw it at you.

 

[JS]

Calculating mortality rates and stuff that like is not a union type of job. Even then, I despise labor unions and will never join one.

 

[Richard]

This was all well and good until the last post.

JS, I am sure we all feel for you, but let's not let this get into a labor union argument here.

We all wish you well.

Richard

 

[jimntx]

I hopeing BIG time, that the Next job you get, is a UNION job, because then you'll never get screwed without layoffs going in seniority order !!!

Did you not read his original post? He had only been there 11 years. Fern and Alec had been there since
WWII (I'm guessing a slight exaggeration there). JS would still be the first to go even under union seniority rules.

I'm a union member also. But, when I am sick I don't want the doctor who hasn't been in medical school or decided to learn anything new since 1956, or has been using their seniority to drop all their office days or hospital rounds for the last 10 years.

 

[777 fixer]

JS:

Everyone so far has said don't do it. I hope you listen to that advice. As the saying goes, don't make decisions when you are angry.

 

[JS]

OK, I guess I'll let the letter sit here on my desk. Thanks to everyone for the encouragement. This is better than the therapist and doesn't cost $30!

 

[delldude]

I hopeing BIG time, that the Next job you get, is a UNION job, because then you'll never get screwed without layoffs going in seniority order !!!

Calculating mortality rates and stuff that like is not a union type of job. Even then, I despise labor unions and will never join one.

 

[freedom]

JS i see you were let go on the 19th of december ... if your that bitter then it's too bad you accepted the servance package , doing so usually means you sign a wavier saying you won't sue your former employer ....

i encourage anyone who loses their job to sue , no matter what the reasons are , SUE SUE SUE ... because you have absolutely nothing to lose ..

however in your case ,even if you hadn't taken the package you waited too long ...

good luck out there ..