Negotiating with Terrorists

You may have heard this phrase used by Ronald Reagan- "We don't negotiate with terrorists". While it may not have been entirely true, it contains some good advice. Sometimes the answer is just no. Period. No discussion.

Recently we had someone quit. No one on my team was sad. He can be a first class jerk, and he showed his behind in his first week of employment (The first day to be precise. Talk about making a first impression). While he may be gone, he's certainly not forgotten. He's been lobbying for close to a month to get paid for his remaining vacation. Our handbook (of which he had his own copy and access to an electronic copy on our company intranet) plainly states that if you quit with less than a year of service, you will not be paid for any vacation time.  He claims he didn't know. Well, dumb dumb, that's your own stupid fault. This week my boss decided to pay him for one day, trying to shut him up I think. I did not agree with this idea. The rule is the rule. When you break it for one person, it's pretty much no good. And guess what? It didn't work. The guy is STILL trying to get more, and he has said some very not professional things to my boss via e-mail.

Here are a few excerpts from his most recent rant:

"You say that that you would have expected any employee to work through their 2 week notice, this is not a given and now I am being penalized for doing the honorable thing."

Comment: It is common business practice to give and work two weeks notice. We only pay you the portion of the notice that you actually work. Funny how that equals out isn't it?

"I continue to become alerted to your 'policies' but in actuality it clearly shows your shortcomings in handling this matter in a professional manner."

Comment: Yep, insulting people generally makes them more amenable to your point of view, especially when the e-mail is sent to others in the organization.

"You should maybe do some soul searching and ask yourself "what is the RIGHT thing to do in this situation?""

Comment: Nice ending for his e-mail huh? Hehe.

I finally told my boss that this situation reminded me of Reagan's saying. I know he liked it because he told this person's former manager (who of course up until now has thought this guy was a fabulous employee) about it later. My boss has now decided he is going to ignore any further messages from this guy. Yep, should have done that after the first time you sent the policy to him.