# Capitalism’s A Bitch **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446 "2012-06-27T11:36:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/41 "2012-06-27T21:11:39Z")
If the OP was so valuable to the company, then maybe the company should show its appreciation a bit more. If the company wants people to stick with them for the length of the project, then that should be part of the contract…and the company doesn’t get to let anyone go before the end of the project, either. ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/42 "2012-06-27T21:23:23Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I don’t see it as scolding or guilting. I see it as the person he was working with being genuinely distressed by the fact that he has a project to finish and the person he was relying on to help him with it was leaving. I’d shout, too. Of course they’re distressed when someone leaves on terms inconvenient to them. But do they plan on that contingency? Hell no. Then they act all butt hurt because you “betrayed” them. I’ve never quit a job, but I’ve worked with a lot of different management groups and they regularly give the same reaction. Better to pretend that an employee leaving is a “rogue” occurrence than to budget resources for the continency. Heaven forbid you budget for it and offset that by pointing out ramp up costs for a new employee. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/43 "2012-06-27T21:50:39Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I see it as the person he was working with being genuinely distressed by the fact that he has a project to finish and the person he was relying on to help him with it was leaving. I’d shout, too. How menschlich of you. I hope that at least the experience would teach you not to rely too heavily on the help of employees whom you don’t even value enough to offer them anything better than a six-week contract. Mind you, I’m not trying to argue that all temps should just up and quit in order to show their disdain for their terms of employment. Temporary contract labor has its place in the business world and can be a valuable thing for employer and employee alike. But any employer who doesn’t realize that a six-week contract worker is likely to be looking for other employment opportunities is a fool. And any employer who doesn’t know that a good permanent job is presumed, by the person offering it as well as the person accepting it, to take priority over a short-term temp job is naive. And any such employer who shouts at a short-term temp worker in such a situation for quitting ( **with** the statutory two weeks’ notice, mind you) is a jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2012, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/44 "2012-06-27T21:56:54Z")
I am in a similar situation. My employer “expects” 2 weeks’ notice of resignation, according to its employment handbook, etc. However, pretty much anyone who has ever given 2 weeks’ notice has had their stuff boxed up at the end of the day and been frogmarched out of the building. Needless to say, the company does not pay employees for the 2 weeks, other than payout out accrued vacation time. Given that, why should anyone give more than a day’s notice in the future? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/45 "2012-06-28T00:23:38Z")
> [@Darth\_Panda](#): > > On behalf of capitalists everywhere, I approve of your decision to take a higher paying job. +1. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/46 "2012-06-28T01:43:57Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > Sometimes, the dick move is the smart move. oh hai guys ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/47 "2012-06-28T01:52:36Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > There is a significant subsection of the American population who seem to believe that companies and corporations are justified in making rational business decisions based on issues of profitability and economic gain, but that individuals should disregard those issues in favor of moral calculations about “right” and “wrong” or “good” and “bad.” > > For these folks, a company laying off people when times are tough demonstrates sound business practice; a person leaving a job in the middle of a project demonstrates selfishness and a poor work ethic. > > There has been similar thinking in evidence during the mortgage crisis, where banks that foreclose on people who miss mortgage payments are just taking care of business, but people who walk away from underwater mortgages and leave the property to the bank (as provided for in the mortgage contract) are labelled irresponsible and selfish. I was coming to post the same sentiment, but you did a better job than I would have already. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/48 "2012-06-28T02:15:47Z")
> [@New\_Deal\_Democrat](#): > > Unless you are supremely talented and well educated the employer is in the driver’s seat. Once I had to sign an agreement not to accept a job with a competitor of my employer for six months after leaving the company. Who would hire me? A competitor of my employer. That is where my experience was. It’s called a non-compete, and is usually unenforceable. If that’s what you know how to do, then them’s the jobs you can get, and a judge won’t keep you from working because of a piece of paper. Now if you try to take clients with you, or proprietary information, they may have legitimate beef. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/49 "2012-06-28T10:31:05Z")
> [@Uber\_the\_Goober](#): > > It’s called a non-compete, and is usually unenforceable. If that’s what you know how to do, then them’s the jobs you can get, and a judge won’t keep you from working because of a piece of paper. > > Now if you try to take clients with you, or proprietary information, they may have legitimate beef. Non-competes are often enforceable when the employment would lead to the “inevitable disclosure” of trade secrets (but not if you are in California, 50 states and all that). Read this if you’re bored: [http://library.findlaw.com/2004/Mar/1/174690.html](http://library.findlaw.com/2004/Mar/1/174690.html) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/50 "2012-06-28T15:04:38Z")
They’re not _usually_ unenforceable. They’re just usually not fully enforceable. They are generally written more broadly than absolutely necessary, and courts will not enforce them to the extent that they’re overbroad. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/51 "2012-06-28T22:51:19Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > They’re not _usually_ unenforceable. They’re just usually not fully enforceable. They are generally written more broadly than absolutely necessary, and courts will not enforce them to the extent that they’re overbroad. So…what I said, and what **Darth Panda** said. Plus, employers often use them as a tool to dissuade you from going to the competition, even if they do not have the intention or ability to pursue the enforcement of one legally. That was the case with my former employer - he just wanted to keep his people from going to work for the one competitor he had in the area, because he knew the working conditions were better there. So he paid his people 10% more, and made them sign a non-compete. Then he proceeded to make our lives a living hell, since he thought he had us all locked down. I still left, and went to the competitor, and missed out on a few bucks an hour. Overall it was worth it, given the improvement to my mental attitude after having left that hell-hole. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2012, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/52 "2012-06-28T23:49:47Z")
Unenforceable implies that they are entirely void. That’s not the case. ---
**Author:** ![Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bag_of_mostly_water/32/1029_2.png) [@Bag\_of\_Mostly\_Water](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bag_of_Mostly_Water)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/53 "2012-06-29T03:41:40Z")
Thanks everyone for the comments. I needed to vent and just posting did make me feel a bit better. Everyone’s comments made me feel much better. The HR person who yelled at me tried calling me several times over two days. I felt no obligation to take the call. They finally assigned a new HR person. We did speak and were both polite and respectful. The new person asked me nicely if I would contact my new employer and ask for a few week delay in my start date. This would bring me to about week nine (of the 12 week project). As a carrot, they offered me part time work after I leave as my availability permits and the project requires. I also said that I would like to leave on good terms so I can use them as a reference. I haven’t heard back from my new employer about a start date. I suspect we’ll be able to work something out and keep all three parties happy enough. It’s now clear that the project manager seriously underestimated the difficulty in finding someone to support the part project I was hired to do. My part is a tiny fraction of the overall project, but is critical as it’s the user interface. The yelling was due to everyone’s frustration with the poor planning. But, this doesn’t excuse their unprofessional behavior. Given they had to assign a new HR person to work this out, I’m sure the person who yelled at me was reprimanded. ---
**Author:** ![OtisCampbellWasRight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/d78d45/32.png) [@OtisCampbellWasRight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtisCampbellWasRight)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/54 "2012-06-29T12:15:49Z")
Good for you **Mostly a Bag**. It has always amazed me how corporate rules that are seemingly cast in granite can be negotiated away if everyone keeps a clear head and acts like an adult professional. I once had an HR person tell me that “nothing is ever not fixable” during an exit interview. Six months later I came back to that same company at a 25% higher rate. And never, ever forget the value of the bennies. That vacation time and Healthcare is a huge bargaining chip if they lock you into a salary range. Be well and good luck. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/55 "2012-06-29T21:25:04Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > This is…wow, I guess I must laugh. It _is_ funny, though it’s pretty freakin sad, too! You would laugh (or cry) harder if I told you what company it was. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2012, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/capitalism-s-a-bitch/626446/56 "2012-06-30T00:04:45Z")
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