One Friday I had to go into to the office for an early meeting. Walked in the, saw my boss, my boss' boss, HR, and an owner. I just said Fuck out loud and was immediately reassured that it is not what it looks like. They were laying people off, some of which were my friends. IT will always know before hand, we have to deactivate people's access in a way they don't notice until they get their meetings/calls. It does not feel good.

I've only had this happen one time. I didn't enter my time in our time tracker on time over 90 times in a year. We have till 1 the following day before we get a ding for it. Pretty deserved chat. I had already had a chat with my bosses boss before the meeting with HR and my boss so I was expecting it.

My boss also had to get the same chat, and I think his boss did too.

I'll take it in the shower, with automated screen effects linked to key words.

It amazes me that calling people resources survived the language-policing trend of the past 15 years.

Yuuuuuuup.

Invite also shows up in your inbox an hour or less before meeting time, and is completely irregular from your normal schedule.

Protip: BACK EVERYTHING UP NOW if this happens. There's a chance that IT hasn't shut down your access to systems yet.

Ooohhh, I've been there!

The CTO couldn't keep his grubby hands of his employees, loved to "tickle" everybody because it was suuuuch a positive experience for all involved! None of the employees dared to say anything

So anyway, I started blasting. I reported the fucker immediately, the branch where I worked for went ballistic, the one in Malta where he was stationed... Suggested I talk it out with him.

So the Americas branch where I worked started a shit show while I went on my (already planned) vacation. All the VPs said they'd have my back!

When I came back, my first meeting with my devs was replaced with a meeting with HR and the CTO who immediately dumped my ass.

The very next day, the CTO himself was fired and he committed suicide shortly after (no joke)

Moral of the story: fuck corporate environments, they're fucking toxic as hell and promote this behavior and for all the "we got your back!!" Nobody showed up when I got axed because they were all scared for their jobs, except me.

No. Regrets.

Oof i've walked into this before. Worked for one of the Big 4 banks in Australia. They start with "How was your morning? Good? Excellent opens folder now lets talk about the drugs in the carpark". Can't believe i survived that lol

Ahh yes, September '24. I got my email notice about the "Teams" appointment.

I sent a pre-emptive reply and notified them of my diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.

Kept my job. Enrolled in counseling.

Still pluggin' along.

From experience it’s a surprise meeting with your boss - and then HR joins - they’re not on the invite.

Some union agreements have rules against that, so that they're obliged to inform you in advance if the meeting has potential consequences for your employment.

Or, it can be more subtle, that they are obliged to inform you of your right to bring an observer to the meeting.

It won't save you from getting sacked, but it might give you a better chance of getting compensated when the company inevitably forgets to do it right..

And they have statement on why the senior engineer had to be involved in your maintenance job.

If I'm getting fired, I'm not listening to their bullshit. It's happening sooner, not later.

Horrible for all involved.

I've been the boss in this situation, and it sucks.

And a year later I was there with HR and my boss.

And a year later my boss was there with HR and his boss.

Fuck HR.

Oh N-