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Greentea
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30 Apr 2009, 1:22 pm

I was laid off this week and, according to procedure, you have to return all the company stuff (phone, car phone, laptop, etc.) and get your form signed in order to get your last salary. I did everything according to procedure, I braced myself to be strong because it's a very hard hour, but then I had a meltdown when I was told that I had to go back to my office (where I haven't wanted to be since the moment I was fired) and wheel my desk chair and office phone 5 floors (by elevator) and along the corridors to the next building in order to get a signature that I had returned them. Just the idea of having my few hundred company colleagues see me pass by them in the offices and corridors, pushing my own chair made me furious. I was lucky that a maintenance employee who I'm acquainted with agreed to do it for me and he signed the form.


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beja
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30 Apr 2009, 1:37 pm

Absolutely! There is no excuse for this. There's no reason why someone from the company couldn't see to this matter. I understand having to return those objects which you may have had in your possession, such as laptop, car, keys, etc., but requiring you to move standard office equipment goes beyond what is normal. I'm sorry that you had to experience this.



CanyonWind
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30 Apr 2009, 1:43 pm

You ran in to one person with a conscience.

There might be others.


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zeichner
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30 Apr 2009, 1:52 pm

What exactly do they do with office furniture once you've moved it five floors away from it's proper location? Seems like a burden on the maintenance crew to move everything back once you've left.

So yes - it's humiliating. I would have been very tempted to tell them to take their form, fold it until it's all corners & stick it... What can they do - charge you for a chair & phone that they still have in their possession (it's not like you had them in your house)?


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Woodpecker
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30 Apr 2009, 1:56 pm

I think it is unreasonable, I do not think it was right to make you take the chair and the phone back to the store.


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Greentea
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30 Apr 2009, 1:57 pm

Zeichner,

What a good idea! I should've told the HR person that when she told me that if I didn't wheel the chair and phone they'd deduct them from my salary. I wish I'd thought about it, fraidcat me.

Zeichner is our advisor on how to navigate the NT ridiculous procedures.


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Last edited by Greentea on 30 Apr 2009, 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

AnAutisticMind
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30 Apr 2009, 1:59 pm

that was disgraceful


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iMark
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30 Apr 2009, 2:21 pm

so many employment transition rituals involve some form of humiliation. i am sorry you found one more.

by the way did you remember to fill out your tps form?



sbcmetroguy
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30 Apr 2009, 2:31 pm

CHARGE you for something which they still have possession of if you didn't move it? Excuse me? Hell no. It's easy for me to talk big here, but I honestly believe they would have had to call the police on me because someone deserves a foot up their behind for that disgusting policy.



millie
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30 Apr 2009, 3:28 pm

hideous. just hideous.



2ukenkerl
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30 Apr 2009, 5:27 pm

I was going to say what zeichner said! AT&T tried to pull a SIMILAR stunt on me, even if it WAS a TINY bit more reasonable. They wanted me to move THEIR stuff to another building where they wanted me to be. I told them that that was NOT my job, and that I had a bad back and would not do it.

Should I risk my life and comfort to save them a few bucks on their stupid plan? NO THANKS! BESIDES, it REALLY would cost more, as I would charge for every minute I could at a rate 10 times what the market for a mover was. That means it would cost about $540 to start, and might end up to be tens of thousands. I USUALLY bill for LESS time than I am there.

They got someone ELSE to do it. Interestingly, their systems blew and the place where they moved many, including me, no longer had a network. We left early, since we couldn't do anything.

What they asked you to do is INSULTING for you, STUPID, SENSELESS and, in some places, JUST NOT LEGAL! Of course, I don't know about israel, but I bet they wouldn't like it.



Postperson
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30 Apr 2009, 5:54 pm

never heard of anything like it. outrageous.

in high security places, they will have packed your stuff in a box and a security guard escorts you from the premises, but that's mainly for employees who can access the database or do some other kind of damage.



JetLag
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30 Apr 2009, 6:37 pm

No one should have to go through something like that. Obviously the wrong person was laid off.


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Last edited by JetLag on 30 Apr 2009, 8:30 pm, edited 1 time in total.

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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30 Apr 2009, 6:45 pm

It was a crappy request for them to make BUT the good thing: there was someone who helped you out so you didn't have to do it! What a nice dude. The maintenance employee sounds like a cool friend to have.



AnAutisticMind
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30 Apr 2009, 6:49 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
It was a crappy request for them to make BUT the good thing: there was someone who helped you out so you didn't have to do it! What a nice dude. The maintenance employee sounds like a cool friend to have.



very well said

the OP is probably better off since this company revealed its true heart


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EnglishLulu
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30 Apr 2009, 6:51 pm

Yes. Absolutely. This is unnecessarily humiliating and also intimidating behaviour on their part. Not to mention ridiculous and petty.

I wonder whether they are hoping that some of the laid off employees will feel this is too humiliating and they will fail to do it, and therefore the company will try to escape their obligation to pay final salary? It seems like a ploy of some kind like that to me.

There is absolutely no justification whatsoever for their actions. They could easily have a member of staff attend your workstation and tick a form to say that your chair and desk phone were still there.