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Humour ... it can be tricky

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  • #1

    Humour ... it can be tricky

    We had a couple of guys come in to my store the other day and order drinks. I was making the drinks and was chatting with them as I did so. The one guy said he'd just lost his job.

    Me: "Oh, that's too bad! What happened?"

    Him: "Oh, I commented that 'I sold my soul for minimum wage.' My former boss would've laughed but the new one didn't think it was funny."

    Um ... yeah. Good idea to get to know somebody's idea of 'funny' before you start cracking jokes.
    Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
    ~ Mr Hero
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  • #2
    How does this merit a firing? i don't care if the new boss didn't find it funny, but unless your performance sucked, WTF?

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    • #3
      There might have been more to it than that. It was just one of those casual conversations between employee and customer, so I only got the highlights.

      OTOH, I was once told by a labour lawyer that you can be fired for anything, up to and including the colour of your socks. Whether it was a legal firing (that includes not only the reason for firing but also severance pay and so on) would be a whole different issue; if not, you could certainly fight for your day in court. However, I got the impression the guy was working at some sort of minimum-wage job, so even if it was an unfair firing, it's extremely unlikely that he'd consider it worth going the legal route.

      He could probably talk to the local labour board instead, although he didn't sound terribly upset or angry about it all.
      Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
      ~ Mr Hero

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      • #4
        In the US -- If your state is purely "At-Will Employment," which most are: You can be terminated at any time, for any reason or none at all; you can also QUIT without notice for any reason or none at all, and there is normally no need to give a notice. Obvious exceptions for a) having a contract or b) having a Disability.
        "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
        "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
        "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
        "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
        "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
        "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
        Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
        "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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        • #5
          Quoth EricKei View Post
          In the US -- If your state is purely "At-Will Employment," which most are: You can be terminated at any time, for any reason or none at all; you can also QUIT without notice for any reason or none at all, and there is normally no need to give a notice. Obvious exceptions for a) having a contract or b) having a Disability.
          There's also the whole discrimination thing. Race, color, creed, national origin etc.

          I know someone who got a very nice settlement when the company owner became a born-again neo Nazi and fired anyone who might possibly be Jewish.

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          • #6
            That, too. Mea culpa
            "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
            "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
            "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
            "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
            "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
            "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
            Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
            "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

            Comment

            • #7
              Quoth nutraxfornerves View Post
              There's also the whole discrimination thing. Race, color, creed, national origin etc.

              I know someone who got a very nice settlement when the company owner became a born-again neo Nazi and fired anyone who might possibly be Jewish.
              Ye gods.

              My maternal grandfather's name was one of those multisyllabic types that might be spelled this way, might be spelled that way, who knew ... even Grandpa wasn't entirely sure, LOL. He shortened it legally to a single-syllable name that is also quite common in the Jewish community. And one of the effects of that was one of my cousins, when he lived in Toronto, started getting deranged phone calls from some frothing-at-the-mouth antiSemite.

              The irony, of course, is that Grandpa and Grandma were Roman Catholic.
              Customer service: More efficient than a Dementor's kiss
              ~ Mr Hero

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