Clever Goodbyes
February 24th, 2009 by ComputerBob
Back when I was a little kid, most working Americans had either “a job” or “a career.” The difference between them was apparently that a career had a long-term path for advancement, while a job was an employment dead-end that “paid the bills.”
It also seemed to me that most people back then had only one job or career their entire working lives. They were loyal to the companies for which they worked, and their companies were loyal to them.
There was a certain balance of power between employees and employers.
When a person retired, their employer would throw a party for them and give them a gold watch or some other expensive gift, as a way of saying “Thank you for spending your whole life working here.”
And retired workers got pensions and medical benefits that lasted until they died.
Those days are long gone.
For many years, the balance of power has been strongly in favor of employers. Employers demand absolute loyalty from their employees, but give no loyalty in return. Long-term employees get the same respect as temps, and nearly everyone is overworked, underpaid and treated poorly.
As a result, hardly anyone has any job security any more, and most workers end up being forced to work more than one job at a time, and have several different jobs or careers before they finally retire.
Then, to add insult to injury, many career workers are unceremonially laid off just a few months before they’re eligible to retire.
It’s no surprise that the result is a lot of anger and resentment.
If you get laid off, you may be tempted to fire off an email to your employer, telling them exactly what you think of them.
But is the short-term satisfaction that you might get from sending a funny, clever, biting email message, worth the possible future consequences of “burning your bridges behind you?”
As always, Slashdot’s readers have a lot to say about The Art Of The Farewell Email.
Will you laugh when you read the examples? Or will they make you feel sad?
Maybe that depends on how old you are.