March 6, 2009
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Getting Fired or Firing Someone
I was just reading an article about how the recession has been tough on people who are in the position of laying people off.
Apparently it is putting them under stress. Here is the link: Link
Do you think it would be more stressful for you to fire someone or to be fired yourself?
Comments (88)
No. I’d love to fire someone.
I loved to be fired!
I’d rather fire people than be fired.
I think it would be more stressful to get fired.
I guess it just depends on if I’m firing someone I’m actually friends with.
I’d love to do both. I love power, but if I get fired, then I can tell them off. Either way I win.
Losing your job can mean losing everything.
I’d rather fire than be fired.
M
Ask Donal Trump, he’d know.
to do the firing. I’d feel cruel.
To fire someone.
losing your job is so much worse than fireingsomeone else, you may feel gulity and feel sympathy – but you donät have to live with the consequences of losing the job
Honestly, in the economy, being fired would be more stressful.
At least once you fire someone it’s over with.
Getting fired, you have to figure out what you’re gonna do to pay for everything.
I cried (in private) when I fired a bus boy once, but I slept that night. When I got fired, and subsequently started a new career, I made 1/3 of the money I had made the year before. That = much weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In my personal experience then, Getting Fired sucks alot more than Firing.
To be fired.
Being fired was awful. I’d rather have thrown someone else under the bus. That shows how selfish I am, I suppose.
I don’t think I’d enjoy having to fire someone. But once it’s done, it’s done. Being fired will probably have a dire effect on me for months, maybe even years. Really I haven’t fully recovered from the last time I was laid off, and that was almost eight years ago.
@relaxolgy - Do I spot a German keyboard? lol
Firing someone. I have been there and have horrible nerves.
I have a pretty impressive resume plus I now know how to keep an income that is enough to get by regardless of whether or not I’m working for someone else. So, I don’t stress over getting fired.
I’d be way more stressed if I were fired. I would hate to have to fire a good employee due to the economy though.
@nattata - donät make fun of me!!
These days they fire by email and text message, so what the heck are they stressed about?
Speaking from years of experience it is definitely firing someone. There are times I stress over this for several days before I will have the chance to meet the person and do the “deed” in person. I will not fire anyone over the phone or via email. That is just wrong. If I’m going to take there lively hood away it needs to be done in person. My stress comes from several things. 1. How will they react. Some people immediately want to hurt you. 2. They can’t do the job but are still good people, you worry about them and there families. 3. The always present risk of having to lawyer up to defend yourself in a law suite. I would rather be fired.
fire someone
their PUNY LIFE in my lil hands
what a fate
being fired, of course.
Firing someone wouldnt be stressful for me, hard maybe..but not stressful.
It depends. Does the person you fired return three weeks later with a gun in tow?
Oh wait. That only happened over here.
My poor husband.
Now, the serious answer: It depends on the person being fired. For one person, being fired strips him of his livelihood. He has to worry about paying bills, making ends meet, his family. For another person, being fired strips him of little more than his pride. We have to consider the life-situation of the person being fired and the mentality of the person doing the firing. (My husband hates firing people. We know others who work in his company who actually–and sadistically, might I add–kind of like it.)
I wouldn’t want either! But if I had to choose I’d want to be the one doing the firing.
I would rather get fired.
I hate working.
fire someone else
In the short run, firing would be more stressful. In the long run, being fired would be more stressful.
At the moment I’d say it would be more stressful to get fired.
If I was fired I would be feeling wayyy more stress from that, than if I had to fire people.
Well at least I have a job: firing someone.
Getting fired
It was pretty stressful for me being fired. I don’t think I could bring that kind of stress on somebody else. I’m just too nice.
To be fired. But I know it would be really stressful for me to fire someone. :-/
Both sides experience stress, no matter the outcome.
Probably to be fired yourself, but it is difficult (and stressful) to fire someone. Generally you don’t want to do it, but they’ve kind of given you no choice.
Crap, I’m self-employed so it would suck either way!
I’d rather fire than be fired.
To be fired!
Though I can understand the other end since my sister is in a position of laying people off.
I’d hate to be my own boss.
I think it would be harder for me to fire someone. I’ve been fired a couple of times, and it wasn’t so bad.
in this economy, i should want to be the one firing people, but if i didn’t really need the money i would rather be fired myself
I’d hate to fire someone. I’d rather be fired. That way I’d feel a whole lot less guilty. I prefer feeling frustrated over guilty.
I was fired once by a lunatic manager, only to be begged to come back two days later by his boss and HR. I enjoyed it.
Now, firing… In my current position, I have the power to fire people, and I hate it. No matter how much the person may even disgust me, I still don’t like to do it. I feel bad, but try to rationalize it in the sense that they brought it on themselves. Note that we build major files before letting a person go, so when the time comes, believe me, they had it coming. Still sucks.
Having been on both ends, I’d say it’s about equal. Though I hated having to disrupt someone’s life it was necessary to fire this person as a non-performer. I lost my job 4 years ago and it turned my life upside down (but all worked out well because I finished my degree graduating with honors at the age of 50 and found a sweetheart of a job about 3 months before graduation.)
definitely getting fired. jobs r too hard too find. :/
I would rather fire someone.
has to be more stressful to be fired =(
Depends. Some people would be a lot easier to fire than others. Some jobs wouldn’t be as difficult to lose as others.
to be fired.
getting fired. I hate the job hunt, it’s stressful
No one would ever get fired if I was in charge of that. I’d much rather be fired.
Firing someone else. Mainly because I am in no way above working two part time fast food jobs…
While I would hate to destroy someone’s livelihood, I am selfish and would rather it be them than me. …just saying.
Actually, if they deserve it, I would have little problem firing them… just some sympathy based on aforementioned point.
be fired.. then i’m out of a job.
The person doing the firing still has a job at that moment. As much as I would hate it I would rather be the firer than the person being fired.
i wuz fired wunse byan evil employer in the art werld imagine her azza devil sellz prada for yer wallz kinda persun she wuz sooooooo evil she wantid me to interview hire & train my replacemint & bein a profeshunal i did so funny thing tho she told my replacemint how grateful she wuz he wuz ther & that i wuz finally leeving & wen it dawnd on him that i had ben so dedikaytid only to be treetid lyke dogshit he quit on the spot & then the evil employer rehired me on the spot & i sed no thank you & walkd out only to meet my now former replacemint waiting forra cab which we hopped together & went bak to hiz place wer we spent the afternoon & evening fukin out brainz out watta way to end the day
both on each end
I need the money, so I would much rather fire someone than get laid off myself
yes on both sides
it would be harder to fire someone.
Firing. Even though it was deserved and the person I fired(and her husband) were stealing from me
I have been fired, and I have fired. They are equally enjoyable in my book.
I’d rather be fired than do the firing. Firing has got to be absolutely gut-wrenching. Having to see the look on the person’s face when you tell them would be haunting. I know when the gov’t contract I was working on was cut by 60%, my boss looked even more devastated than I felt. I felt sorrier for him than I did for myself. When I remember to, I pray for him — it wasn’t his fault.
To be fired.
I would find it equally as stressful for different reasons.
Seriously, I would never want to be the person doing the firing. I’ve been fired, that was not fun, but I bounced back. But I would feel horrible telling someone that they no longer had a job.
There are people who really love confrontation. I used to have a boss, who seemed to love to yell at people. She hated me for whatever reason (probably because I refused to kiss her old saggy ass) but she seemed a little heartless to me. They fired me after I called in because my Grandfather died. Only one person acknowledged the passing of my grandfather & she was the only one who spoke to me in the entire office, while I worked there. Anyway, I bet that boss lady was over joyed that she had me fired.
I’ve fired. Haven’t been fired. Firing is God-awful. But it’d be worse on the receiving end
to fire some one sucks, but being fired sucks even more
Both are pretty hard.
I’d definitely rather be the firer than the firee. I mean, sure, I’d feel bad… but I’d still be making money >.<
I’d like to be on the giving end for a change. I would have loved to fire some of my ex, co-workers!
To be fired
I think firing people would be more stressful than being fired.
You only get fired from a job once (maybe twice if you’re lucky enough to be rehired), but you would be stuck firing people several times a week/month.
To be fired would be worse I think.
Never been fired myself but had to fire someone else once.
It sucks, even though he deserved it.
It depends on the situation. Sometimes getting fired can be a relief. It opens up options… but you have to be in a place the receive them as an opening and not just a closing. Your responsibilities and financial situation really makes the difference. I don’t think I could ever enjoy firing someone.
to have to do multiple firings would be extremely stressful, i’ll give them that…. it would suck a lot either way.
while it IS stressful to fire someone, i think it depends on the reason behind the firing. if i have to fire someone because they suck at their job, it’s easy. if i have to fire someone because of the economy and cutbacks, it is stressful.
a few years ago i had to fire my best friend. she was my roommate at the time as well! we’re still best friends.
For me would be more stressful to fire someone than to be fired for sure…………is a horrible thing to do even to an enemy…………because his family is afected too
To me, it would be being fired. Firing somebody as a result of economical downturns(layoffs) would be stressful due to the concept of that person being an “innocent victim”. However, firing somebody because they were a chronic “screw-up” or troublemaker wouldn’t bother me at all. They are supposed to fulfill a purpose, and they didn’t do it. ‘Nuff said.
I spent 6 1/2 months unemployed last year. I’ve been in the position to have to let employees go. For me the stress of being unemployed without prospects was far more stressful than having to let someone else go. The stress of letting someone go passes much more quickly. I guess part of that is that those people could have stayed if they had performed up to expectations.
I’ve had to fire a few times. Never been fired. Firing is SO HARD! Even if you can’t find one redeaming feature to the one you’re firing, it’s still really hard.
Be fired. I am going into HR, so I shouldn’t soften up so much that I can’t let someone go for the betterment of the company.
I want to do the firing.
That being said, I think this is a stupid question.
To be fired.
As hard it is to fire someone especially someone you become friends with outside of the office I think it’s more stressful getting fired. I know that sound cold but, getting fired from a job is one of my worst fear. Fear over rule everything including compassion and sympathy.
fired yourself.
Well, it’s probably more stressful to fire someone… but it’s definitely worse to be fired in general.
Be fired.