4 ms·

Them's the breaks. Companies give you no sympathy if you happen to overlook some rules, why would you want to give any to them?

by imgabe 13y ago

ignostic 13y ago
That's not entirely true. I release 2 people from contracts they had signed just this month, even though their notice was far short of 30 days. I've worked at several companies that will give refunds to customers even when we don't need to. More importantly, I don't accept that other people treating you badly is reason enough to treat them badly. Not being able to give proper notice is one thing - purposefully withholding notice out of spite stemming from their terms of service.
foobarbazqux 13y ago
It's not about sympathy, it's about not being manipulative, which is its own reward.
- imgabe 13y ago
  Handing someone a contract with unfavorable terms and encouraging them to sign it without reading isn't manipulative?
  - dsjoerg 13y ago
    Why would you let someone else's poor moral standards lower your own?
    - jlgaddis 13y ago
      Do you just let everyone walk all over you? How's that working out? To hell with that -- they'd happily screw me out of three months of rent, why should I feel bad for managing to not let them do that?
jlgaddis 13y ago
Exactly. If I hadn't read the document (they clearly expected that I wouldn't and were quite surprised and perturbed when I did), they would have had absolutely no problem taking $138 from me for a service I wasn't using (the last 90 days). Why should I feel bad for managing to keep $92 of my own money!? If I walked in on the last day and then they told me I signed the contract and was on the hook for the last 90 days of rent, do you honestly expect that I could simply say "oh, wow, I didn't realize that" and they'd let me out of it. Please. It would have been "sorry, should've read the contract!"
- foobarbazqux 13y ago
  You broke your word to the employee. You promised him you would fax him the contract with your signature. You've known for one or two years that this day would come and that the required notification was 90 days. You decided to stay with the company for well over 90 days, so with a little bit of advance planning you could have met their draconian requirements. Now because of a technicality - you neglected to fax them and they forgot to collect your signature - you might be legally able to get out of it. Yes, you'd save $92, but in terms of your own life, getting out of it is worse for you than it is for them. If you go around the world not trusting and manipulating people, you experience the world as an untrustworthy and manipulative place. You will never be close friends with somebody that you cannot manipulate, and you'll never be close friends with somebody that you can really truly trust. These things might not matter to you until you're in a really bad situation, but by then it will be too late. Look, I've done lots of things like this. I've put people into jams that they simply couldn't get out of with no visible harm done to me in the eyes of anybody else. Being manipulative gives you power and control and money, but not being manipulative gives you personal integrity. At this point in my life I would easily pay $92 for my personal integrity. The right thing to do in this situation if you really felt like 90 days was walking all over you would be to take back the contract the very next day and either agree on 30 days or get your money back, possibly with a chargeback from your credit card. The second best right thing would be to give them 90 days notice. The third best right thing would be to go and talk to them right away. When I say "right thing" I mean "thing that is not somehow taking advantage of the situation". It's not about the money, it's not about the other party's behavior, it's about the kind of person you want to be.
mcherm 13y ago
Because you're better than that.

Them's the breaks. Companies give you no sympathy if you happen to overlook some rules, why would you want to give any to them?

by imgabe 13y ago

Them's the breaks. Companies give you no sympathy if you happen to overlook some rules, why would you want to give any to them?

ignostic 13y ago

That's not entirely true. I release 2 people from contracts they had signed just this month, even though their notice was far short of 30 days. I've worked at several companies that will give refunds to customers even when we don't need to. More importantly, I don't accept that other people treating you badly is reason enough to treat them badly. Not being able to give proper notice is one thing - purposefully withholding notice out of spite stemming from their terms of service.

foobarbazqux 13y ago

It's not about sympathy, it's about not being manipulative, which is its own reward.

imgabe 13y ago
Handing someone a contract with unfavorable terms and encouraging them to sign it without reading isn't manipulative?
- dsjoerg 13y ago
  Why would you let someone else's poor moral standards lower your own?
  - jlgaddis 13y ago
    Do you just let everyone walk all over you? How's that working out? To hell with that -- they'd happily screw me out of three months of rent, why should I feel bad for managing to not let them do that?

jlgaddis 13y ago

Exactly. If I hadn't read the document (they clearly expected that I wouldn't and were quite surprised and perturbed when I did), they would have had absolutely no problem taking $138 from me for a service I wasn't using (the last 90 days). Why should I feel bad for managing to keep $92 of my own money!? If I walked in on the last day and then they told me I signed the contract and was on the hook for the last 90 days of rent, do you honestly expect that I could simply say "oh, wow, I didn't realize that" and they'd let me out of it. Please. It would have been "sorry, should've read the contract!"

foobarbazqux 13y ago
You broke your word to the employee. You promised him you would fax him the contract with your signature. You've known for one or two years that this day would come and that the required notification was 90 days. You decided to stay with the company for well over 90 days, so with a little bit of advance planning you could have met their draconian requirements. Now because of a technicality - you neglected to fax them and they forgot to collect your signature - you might be legally able to get out of it. Yes, you'd save $92, but in terms of your own life, getting out of it is worse for you than it is for them. If you go around the world not trusting and manipulating people, you experience the world as an untrustworthy and manipulative place. You will never be close friends with somebody that you cannot manipulate, and you'll never be close friends with somebody that you can really truly trust. These things might not matter to you until you're in a really bad situation, but by then it will be too late. Look, I've done lots of things like this. I've put people into jams that they simply couldn't get out of with no visible harm done to me in the eyes of anybody else. Being manipulative gives you power and control and money, but not being manipulative gives you personal integrity. At this point in my life I would easily pay $92 for my personal integrity. The right thing to do in this situation if you really felt like 90 days was walking all over you would be to take back the contract the very next day and either agree on 30 days or get your money back, possibly with a chargeback from your credit card. The second best right thing would be to give them 90 days notice. The third best right thing would be to go and talk to them right away. When I say "right thing" I mean "thing that is not somehow taking advantage of the situation". It's not about the money, it's not about the other party's behavior, it's about the kind of person you want to be.

mcherm 13y ago

Because you're better than that.