Current Events > Should a person be ashamed about getting fired from a job, or not?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've noticed that a lot of people think getting fired from whatever job for whatever reason, whether fairly or unfairly, is a shameful thing. I think this attitude is a lot more common with people in late middleage, and old age. You know, how dreadful it was that your employer felt the need to fire you, it must be your fault, and so on. I don't see anything bad about it at all.

Thoughts?


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Youve also never held a steady job, so

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Fired, probably should feel shame. But that assumes the cause was fair or at least reasonable.

Laid off, no. That's failure of management.

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Phynaster posted...

Youve also never held a steady job, so

One job I did fulltime for three years; there was another job I did fulltime for almost a year and a half; there were various other shorter lived jobs. Wtf.

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I was proudly escorted out of my last job with dong in hand. No shame in my game.

I ain't proud of the one time I got fired so I wouldn't brag about it. Only reason I don't give a damn about it is my current job is much better.

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depends on the reason.

like, if you're a shitty person, make the company/organization look bad, misconduct, theft, etc., then yea.

if it's because you don't do well at your job, not necessarily; there are things that we don't do so well at and for some people, that's not going to change no matter how long they might work at them.

if it's a layoff like someone said, then no.

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SevenTenths posted...

Fired, probably should feel shame. But that assumes the cause was fair or at least reasonable.

Not even remotely true. Employers in most states can fire employees for no reason at all.

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I'd say it depends on the circumstances.

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FursonaNonGrata posted...

Not even remotely true. Employers in most states can fire employees for no reason at all.

SevenTenths posted...

But that assumes the cause was fair or at least reasonable.

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FursonaNonGrata posted...

Not even remotely true. Employers in most states can fire employees for no reason at all.

This. "At-will" employment really puts employees at a disadvantage, especially those who are higher up and/or older. They can file a complaint, but there is a time limit. If someone has not yet secured a new position (and that is much more difficult for an older person, especially one in a high position), s/he may not want to risk a new opportunity by being embroiled in a complaint against a previous employer. Who wants to hire a "troublemaker"?

The company is more likely to have the financial resources to hire a good team of lawyers. It can just wear down the former employee.

This is part of the reason companies continue to treat their employees badly.

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It depends on why the person was fired.

My wife has been "let go" from a few jobs because of incompetent managers and asshole coworkers. There's nothing shameful about that, it's a sad facet of certain corporate cultures.

If you were caught siphoning money out of account transactions or royally fudged up a deal by being a complete asshole then yeah I'd say that's shameful.

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If it's a reasonable firing for doing something dumb or shitty, yes. Though the amount of time one should be judged should be limited to the severity of it. Being a dumb, lazy teen who gets fired for lack of attendance is not the same as stealing hours through clock-in fraud. If it's a shitty employer being shitty, no.