Yes, it does. Sorry, it's a bad allusion to an even worse reality TV show.
What it means is that letting people go happens. Usually, when people were underperforming or showing other signs of problems, I just talked with them to clear up what the matter was. Sometimes, they had personal problems, or other temporary and resolvable issues. Sometimes, they were unhappy and needed to be somewhere else.
I remember one guy, an intern with horrible attitude, who said to me in confidence: "I regret this so much. I always wanted to become a baker, but my parents wanted me to have a real job." I kid you not!
The point is, it has been my experience that even layoffs can be borderline mutual. But this once, the latest screw-up in a long line of screw-ups... it was so monumental and malicious even. Worst of all was I felt kind of powerless, having this adversarial force on my team. Like a Trojan horse that wasn't even making an effort to disguise itself. I fired the guy on the spot. Of course, you can't do that in Germany, so eventually I paid through the nose for it following the lawsuit. But in that split second it was worth it just to have this guy off the floor immediately.
What it means is that letting people go happens. Usually, when people were underperforming or showing other signs of problems, I just talked with them to clear up what the matter was. Sometimes, they had personal problems, or other temporary and resolvable issues. Sometimes, they were unhappy and needed to be somewhere else.
I remember one guy, an intern with horrible attitude, who said to me in confidence: "I regret this so much. I always wanted to become a baker, but my parents wanted me to have a real job." I kid you not!
The point is, it has been my experience that even layoffs can be borderline mutual. But this once, the latest screw-up in a long line of screw-ups... it was so monumental and malicious even. Worst of all was I felt kind of powerless, having this adversarial force on my team. Like a Trojan horse that wasn't even making an effort to disguise itself. I fired the guy on the spot. Of course, you can't do that in Germany, so eventually I paid through the nose for it following the lawsuit. But in that split second it was worth it just to have this guy off the floor immediately.