8 ms·

I think anyone that survived the dotcom boom and crash has stories like this. Pud's F-ed Company was full of them. We had the meeting where only half the compa

by ja27 13y ago

I think anyone that survived the dotcom boom and crash has stories like this. Pud's F-ed Company was full of them. We had the meeting where only half the company was invited and the half that wasn't invited was let go. We had the VP that found out he was let go when his card key stopped working in the middle of the day. We had the employee lock himself in the office and refuse to leave. We had the contractor that was "let go" that laughed and just kept showing up for work. My boss that "let him go" was fired 3 weeks later. We had the guys that were let go but slipped through the cracks and nobody told them until HR sent them a packet. I saw the CEO fly into town just to fire my boss but she panicked and left before he got to the office and refused to answer her phones. Most of us kept all of our stuff packed in cardboard boxes, ready to walk out the door or change offices whenever people left. One friend kept a wall of ex-employee nameplates in his cube. The day I quit, I handed him my nameplate on my way to meet with my boss to resign, so everyone else knew by the time I walked out of his office. The winners were two I didn't get to see. In some customer crisis, we hired a new guy with some special expertise on a platform and put him on a plane somewhere with a VP / Director of Development. They start talking on the plane and by the end of the flight, the VP realized he was so full of crap that he fired him, told him to not even leave the airport and go rebook his return flight back home. The same VP hired another new guy but on his first day he went to lunch with other developers and somewhat joked about how he realized that it isn't what you do but what they think you do that gets you ahead in this business. He was fired 30 minutes after lunch.

recroad 13y ago
Amazing. Please start a blog and post more stuff like this.
- andreipop 13y ago
  I second this.
  - caycep 13y ago
    for some reason this whole thread reminds me of that SNL skit with Donald Trump and Jimmy Fallon. "Jimmy, you're fired."
- bradleyjg 13y ago
  As he alludes to there used to be a website called fuckedcompany.com that chronicled the first dotcom collapse. Very entertaining, and a good way to find out where lightly used aeron chairs could be found to boot. I'm sure nothing like that will happen again, this time is totally different.
  - damian2000 13y ago
    Its still there on archive.org - the owner now has a book available documenting the funniest cases. Takes all of about 4 hours to read, but worth it.
- ja27 13y ago
  I've thought about it a few times, but there are too many people that would take offense, even if I changed names and details, that I might still need to go work with. The longer I'm out of that industry and running my own startup, the more I think about doing it though.
kamaal 13y ago
>>VP realized he was so full of crap that he fired him That's strange, because VP's are themselves full of crap. Its exceedingly rare that you can find a good VP. Most VP's haven't done anything 'real' in years. And generally never have context on what they are doing, why they are doing, or even why its necessary. Two to three difficult questions in a row and they many not even be able to explain why they or their title should even exist. Most VP's get hired through their network and survive by means of their network. The middle to senior level management is generally the most hopelessly inefficient part of the whole hierarchy chain, while being the biggest money sink in terms of the compensation and benefits.
- brg 13y ago
  This is completely opposite of my experience in the industry. Stephen Sinofsky is famous for sending people bug reports with the line of code that was causing the windows bug. My presentations to Harry Shum were the highlights of my time in Bing, as he was both interested and insightful. My conversation with Satya Nadella about incentives and alignment of the OSD organization taught me a lot about how the businesses operated. I've met and worked with vice presidents in Microsoft, Google, and Facebook and every time I been impressed with their levels of interest, insight, and passion for the product. There may have been a time with being a vice-president was a parking title and reward for a lifetime of work, but that time has passed.
  - kamaal 13y ago
    I never said every single VP ever was like that. But exceptions only prove the rule. >>but that time has passed Hardly!!!!. You have worked at nearly every outlier company, there is. And you think culture you've seen there is the norm. If there is any famous company with awesome executives, you will hear about them. You will never hear about those that crash and burn because of bad executives. Which are far more common than the ones that win.
    - F_J_H 13y ago
      http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rul...
samstave 13y ago
We also have very recent versions of this... I'd be happy to provide some anecdotes...
- bagosm 13y ago
  But you don't because...?
bane 13y ago
Or the guy who's first day on the job was the day the company decided to shut down. http://www.washingtonpost.com/jobs/Content?Content=/communities/hightech/techstory301101.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/jobs/Content?Content=/communit... http://myinterplant.blogspot.com/2012/03/one-day-career-at-dot-com-kerry.html http://myinterplant.blogspot.com/2012/03/one-day-career-at-d... Or having a remote office drive 4 hours to the HQ for a meeting, but some VP could fire all of them as soon as they got there and then made them drive all the way back to clear out the office and ship the equipment back.
mathattack 13y ago
I was expecting something like F-ed Company to reappear in 2008 or 2009. Dealbreaker.com was the financial equivalent. It's too bad that someone didn't keep it running. Then again, it embodied the Point of View of the founder too much to survive without his enthusiasm.

by ja27 13y ago

recroad 13y ago

Amazing. Please start a blog and post more stuff like this.

andreipop 13y ago
I second this.
- caycep 13y ago
  for some reason this whole thread reminds me of that SNL skit with Donald Trump and Jimmy Fallon. "Jimmy, you're fired."
bradleyjg 13y ago
As he alludes to there used to be a website called fuckedcompany.com that chronicled the first dotcom collapse. Very entertaining, and a good way to find out where lightly used aeron chairs could be found to boot. I'm sure nothing like that will happen again, this time is totally different.
- damian2000 13y ago
  Its still there on archive.org - the owner now has a book available documenting the funniest cases. Takes all of about 4 hours to read, but worth it.
ja27 13y ago
I've thought about it a few times, but there are too many people that would take offense, even if I changed names and details, that I might still need to go work with. The longer I'm out of that industry and running my own startup, the more I think about doing it though.

kamaal 13y ago

>>VP realized he was so full of crap that he fired him That's strange, because VP's are themselves full of crap. Its exceedingly rare that you can find a good VP. Most VP's haven't done anything 'real' in years. And generally never have context on what they are doing, why they are doing, or even why its necessary. Two to three difficult questions in a row and they many not even be able to explain why they or their title should even exist. Most VP's get hired through their network and survive by means of their network. The middle to senior level management is generally the most hopelessly inefficient part of the whole hierarchy chain, while being the biggest money sink in terms of the compensation and benefits.

brg 13y ago
This is completely opposite of my experience in the industry. Stephen Sinofsky is famous for sending people bug reports with the line of code that was causing the windows bug. My presentations to Harry Shum were the highlights of my time in Bing, as he was both interested and insightful. My conversation with Satya Nadella about incentives and alignment of the OSD organization taught me a lot about how the businesses operated. I've met and worked with vice presidents in Microsoft, Google, and Facebook and every time I been impressed with their levels of interest, insight, and passion for the product. There may have been a time with being a vice-president was a parking title and reward for a lifetime of work, but that time has passed.
- kamaal 13y ago
  I never said every single VP ever was like that. But exceptions only prove the rule. >>but that time has passed Hardly!!!!. You have worked at nearly every outlier company, there is. And you think culture you've seen there is the norm. If there is any famous company with awesome executives, you will hear about them. You will never hear about those that crash and burn because of bad executives. Which are far more common than the ones that win.
  - F_J_H 13y ago
    http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rule http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exception_that_proves_the_rul...

samstave 13y ago

We also have very recent versions of this... I'd be happy to provide some anecdotes...

bagosm 13y ago
But you don't because...?

bane 13y ago

Or the guy who's first day on the job was the day the company decided to shut down. http://www.washingtonpost.com/jobs/Content?Content=/communities/hightech/techstory301101.htm http://www.washingtonpost.com/jobs/Content?Content=/communit... http://myinterplant.blogspot.com/2012/03/one-day-career-at-dot-com-kerry.html http://myinterplant.blogspot.com/2012/03/one-day-career-at-d... Or having a remote office drive 4 hours to the HQ for a meeting, but some VP could fire all of them as soon as they got there and then made them drive all the way back to clear out the office and ship the equipment back.

mathattack 13y ago

I was expecting something like F-ed Company to reappear in 2008 or 2009. Dealbreaker.com was the financial equivalent. It's too bad that someone didn't keep it running. Then again, it embodied the Point of View of the founder too much to survive without his enthusiasm.