People say that “being let go” is a euphemism for “being fired” and “he isn’t working out” really means “he’s screwing up.” Maybe that’s not the case. Maybe “being let go” and “not working out” just reflect the new reality of employment.
The group that calls itself “The Greatest Generation” went on endlessly about how hard they had it, but they had it much easier than young people going into the job market today. Back then you got a job and kept it for years and decades, being promoted if you could. You only got fired if you screwed up royally.
Today you get a job for exactly as long as you are useful, then they let you go. There is no job security, so you don’t get “fired” from a job that is your lifelong property, you are “let go” the moment your usefulness ceases, whether you screw up or not.
Today very few people get let go because they screw up. They are let go because they are really “not working out.” When you go in to see your boss he wonders why you are bothering him when you could do the thing yourself. If he has to do it himself he may as well let you go.
It always astonished me when I made the most inexcusable mistakes and the boss took them in stride. I never got fired or let go, and I couldn’t understand it. Now I think I do.
The boss wanted ME to DO things. I screwed up because I DID things, usually on my own or with a quick BRIEF note to him. I seldom saw my bosses.
Making appointments with my boss took time and attention he needed elsewhere, and that was exactly what he hired me to avoid. Naturally when someone takes on that kind of responsibility they will screw it up a lot. Back then one would say in today’s parlance that “Whitaker is working out” because I was doing something for him NOW, not lying there inert until he told me what to do.
The group that calls itself The Greatest Generation got through life by just following orders. We have computers to do that now. Young people now have to show initiative or be let go.
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