Consumerist: Firings

Northwest Airlines is cutting 2,500 jobs. ...

Ben Popken — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:37:58 EDT

Northwest Airlines is cutting 2,500 jobs. Passengers may be asked to get out and push to help the plane taxi. [NYT]

17 Signs You May Be Out Of A Job Soon

Chris Walters — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:53:03 EDT

If you're still on the fence about whether to spend your stimulus check, pay off debt with it, or stock up on ramen noodles, this checklist may help you decide. Some of the tips are pretty unnecessary—"your job duties are marginalized" and "your company plans to move to a smaller building" shouldn't be hard to decipher. It never hurts to remind yourself about some of the signs of an impending downsize, however.

Here are a few more signs from the list:

4. The suits begin holding frequent "secret" meetings.
Confidential meetings among executives are commonplace at most companies, but more closed doors and hushed voices than normal should serve as a warning. For instance, if most of your department suddenly disappears for an impromptu two-hour meeting that you weren't invited to, you should at least ask questions — and be prepared to hear lies.

10. The email deluge suddenly dries up.
A sudden, pronounced and prolonged drop in the volume of email you receive may be a welcome respite from communication overload, but it also might mean that key projects that would have normally been assigned to you are being handled by employees that the company sees as key to its future. Meaning, not you.

13. You notice unfamiliar security guards around the premises.
Companies often hire extra security personnel on days that employees are let go, ostensibly so that those who blow a gasket can be manhandled off the premises before they cause a ruckus and that those with access to important company data don't walk out the door with state secrets. If a couple of 275-pound bruisers start hanging around the break room, you or one of your colleagues may have a shorter-than-expected work week.

"
Heads Will Roll: 17 Signs of Impending Layoffs" [HR World] (Thanks to Paul!)
(Photo: Getty)

Target Fires Security Guard For Stopping Shoplifter

Chris Walters — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 20:52:50 EDT

Usually our shoplifter stories focus on being detained illegally or held at knifepoint by a rabid senior greeter who demands receipts*, but Target in Milwaukee toes the line when it comes to dealing with suspected theft. That's why they fired a retired cop (warning: video) who stopped a teenager he saw stealing liquor for the second time in a month. He told her he'd seen her take rum a few weeks before and asked her what was in her bag this time. She showed him. He called her father. Target fired him because the store policy is that only certain managers can intercept shoplifters. We admire his attention to detail and desire to help, but we're glad to see a Big Box retailer following its own policy.

Babcock seems like a nice guy, and we hope he finds a more suitable job soon. We also hope that when Babcock was on the force, his partner's name was Goobcock, because that would make any reasonable criminal have a good laugh.

*Claim might be slightly exaggerated.

"Target Security Guard Fired After Stopping Shoplifter" [Fox 6 Milwaukee] (Video) (Thanks to Nicholas!)

Bank of America will "scale back its structured ...

Meg Marco — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:49:49 EST

Bank of America will "scale back its structured products unit, stop offering collateralized debt obligations and sell the prime brokerage that caters to hedge funds, eliminating 650 jobs."

This is on top of the 3,000 jobs they've already cut in October, when CEO Kenneth Lewis told the world he'd had "all the fun I can stand in investment banking."

The party is officially over, boys and girls. [Bloomberg]

Best Buy Fires Geek Squad Supervisor Following Negative Newspaper Articles About Porn Pilfering

Carey — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:14:57 EDT

Best Buy is on the offense, launching an internal witch hunt to unmask the "rogue employees" responsible for exposing Geek Squad's pervasive culture of porn pilfering. Their first victim is the Geek Squad supervisor of the Santa Clarita store, one of the only Best Buy locations whose former employees were quoted in recent articles, print as being a center for porn pilfering.

Former Geek Squad agent Brett Haddock, quoted in recent articles in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and the LA Daily News, reports, "I have confirmation that the direct Supervisor of the Geek Squad in the Santa Clarita store was asked to step down, but I do not have exact numbers right now as to how many employees have been terminated."

Furthermore, Haddock says that some of his fellow coworkers are none too happy with his whistleblowing. "Some employees have been terminated as a direct result of the articles," writes Haddock. "Said employees are a tid bit "miffed" with me, and the article I rode in on. I have already been sent text messages and emails from people upset with "what I did."

I'm standing up for what I believe is moral and right. I'm sorry for any legitimately innocent person that works for Best Buy whom was wrongfully terminated. It is obvious that Best Buy will seek a fall guy for the incident, so they can site it as "an isolated one" but what they do not realize is the stories that run on Consumerist.com depict a nationwide epidemic with Agents of the Geek Squad."

Hopefully, Best Buy/Geek Squad's vigor will extend to a systematic investigation of every single Geek Squad for possible breaches of customer privacy. An isolated report from a Geek Squad agent in the northeast that they had to remove their precinct's harddrives and mail them to Geek Squad headquarters to check for "privacy issues" could be signs of steps in the right direction.

PREVIOUSLY: Best Buy To Sue Geeks Who Spoke Out Against Porn Stealing?
(Photo: tellumo)

Capital One Cutting 2,000 Jobs

Meg Marco — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 19:36:55 EDT

Capital One, the credit card company notorious for slamming its customers with huge fees (and encouraging them to open multiple cards with low limits so that they can incur more huge fees) is cutting 2,000 jobs. "As a broadly diversified bank, we now compete across multiple businesses and channels with some of the biggest players in financial services in massively consolidating industries," Chief Executive Richard Fairbank said in a memo to employees. "They're increasing their scale and driving down costs every year. To win in each of our businesses, we must create a sustainable cost discipline."

What's in your wallet? A pink slip.

Capital One cutting 2,000 jobs, sees charge [Reuters]