Should I feel worse about this?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

OK, I need a few opinions.

Recently, a woman I worked with, let’s call her Sally, was fired, and I think I may have had something to do with it.

Before Sally was hired, I had her job, but I agreed to move to another position, so she was hired for my old spot. Anyway, about two weeks ago, I got a phone call from a woman I was friendly with in my previous position. She called to find out what had happened to me and to complain about Sally. [Keep in mind that although I have a new position, I had no authority or rank whatsoever over Sally]. I was chatting with this woman on the phone for about an hour, laughing from time to time. Every so often my boss would shoot me a look, wondering who I was talking to. After I hung up, I went into his office and explained the purpose of the call so he wouldn’t think it was an hour-long personal call. My boss and I are friends, so I also told him about the woman’s complaints about Sally, not intending in any way to cause trouble for her. The next day, he discussed the complaint with her, [I don’t know what was said, only that the discussion took place] and it seemed like everything was OK between the two of them.

Well, on Wednesday, Sally got fired. She and the boss had had a number of disagreements, and to be honest, he complained to me about her quite a bit, even before I told him about the call I’d received. She was lazy, wanted to choose her own assignments, would nitpick with him about ridiculous things, etc, basically she did not do what she was hired to do. I really believe she brought her termination on herself. She was talking openly about finding a new job anyway, so I can’t imagine she’s all that upset about losing this one.

I’m in line for a promotion at the end of the month, and after Sally was fired, my boss asked me to help out where I could until a replacement can be hired. So, of course, I agreed. Not only does her work have to get done, but this could be an opportunity to take one for the team, and demonstrate my value to my boss.

Here’s the question. I don’t feel responsible for Sally getting fired. Even if I hadn’t said anything about my phone call I honestly believe that she would have gotten the axe anyway. And it may just turn out that her getting fired could be the best thing that happened to my career. So, am I being helpful and cooperative for the sake of the business and my own career, or have I been manipulative and opportunistic? Should I feel worse about this than I do?:confused:

2

Don’t sweat it. Whats done is done, and it sounds like you’re right, she probably would have gotten fired anyway. And if she was that lazy and annoying, she kinda deserved to get fired. But, this comment is coming from me, and i consider myself somewhat of an asshole. I’d feel slightly bad about it for a day or two, but don’t dwell on it.

3

You shouldn’t feel bad about this. It’s not as if you set out to sabatoge her or anything… right? As long as your actions didn’t have malicious intent, you shouldn’t feel bad about her being fired. More than likely she did, as you say, bring it on herself.

4

It seems pretty clear that “Sally” would’ve been headed towards unemployment regardless of what you did or said. Only you can really know if you were bring manipulitive. Being manipulitive in business is not that uncommon anyway.

I’d say, if you really, really feel bad about it, you should hire an attorney and sue the company you work for. They’re the ones that fired Sally, not you, and now you seem to be suffering from some sort of post-tramatic strees disorder which would not have happened if Sally wasn’t fired. If you’re really manipulitive, start acting like a complete whack-job at work–support your case a little.

Seriously…I wouldn’t worry about it.

5

Chill. Like you said, the boss had heard complaints about her before you mentioned the call. You may have nudged him to act a little faster than he would have, but you didn’t say “please do something about this woman”. Did you? Sleep well…your conscience is clear now.

6

You did exactly right. People who don’t do thear job and complane a lot, make more work for everyone else and bring them down with thear attitude. And sense you wern’t lieing to make yourself look better then you have nothing to feel bad about. And doing the extra work just shows what a good employee you are, I’m glad you are being recognized for it. Congradulations and good luck.

7

I contributed to someone’s firing in very similar circumstances. I felt bad for about 24 hours and then thought why should the straw that breaks the camel’s back feel guilty? So I don’t any more, and neither should you. Just hope you never ever bump into Sally again!

8

Motive is everything. If you meant no harm (and it’s pretty obvious you didn’t), I wouldn’t lose a moment’s sleep over it.

9

Haha!
Welcome to the boards, Five Inches Wide!

I agree with jjimm. Everyone’s right that she was getting fired anyway, and if your comment made it happen a week earlier than it might have, no big deal. Don’t worry about it.

10

Thank you all, I appreciate the input. I don’t feel so bad anymore, and to be totally honest, I never felt all that bad in the first place. To be completely honest, I’m kind of glad she’s gone. I had just never been in a position where I said something to my boss about a coworker and that person was fired shortly thereafter. I wasn’t sure how I should feel about it, but I think you’re all right. It was her own damn fault!! Thanks again.