I once had HR and my boss tell me to disable a user’s account at 8am because they were going to fire this woman. 8:30 rolls around and she shows up, super upset she can’t sign into anything. I tell her I’ll see what I can find, thinking that will delay the inevitable.
Nope. Her team lead took another two hours before he could be bothered to get to her. When I asked everyone what I should say to the increasingly stressed woman, I was told I should lie and say that there’s a domain controller issue.
They finally got around to firing her and she gave me the worst look on her way out the door. She definitely had it coming for some of the stuff she did, like stealing an entire Thanksgiving turkey meant to share with the whole company. But that is probably the worst moment I’ve had in my IT career so far.
Now if someone tells me to pull a stunt like that I just say no. They need to figure out their plan instead of forcing IT to lie.
I think it’s also worth bearing in mind that he was told to by his bosses as part of his job. I understand it would be nice to let her know, but risking your employment (and therefore your income, home, healthcare, etc.), is a bad idea. Unfortunately I think OP was caught behind a rock and a hard place. The blame here falls on management, as it usually does, not on OP.
I once had HR and my boss tell me to disable a user’s account at 8am because they were going to fire this woman. 8:30 rolls around and she shows up, super upset she can’t sign into anything. I tell her I’ll see what I can find, thinking that will delay the inevitable.
Nope. Her team lead took another two hours before he could be bothered to get to her. When I asked everyone what I should say to the increasingly stressed woman, I was told I should lie and say that there’s a domain controller issue.
They finally got around to firing her and she gave me the worst look on her way out the door. She definitely had it coming for some of the stuff she did, like stealing an entire Thanksgiving turkey meant to share with the whole company. But that is probably the worst moment I’ve had in my IT career so far.
Now if someone tells me to pull a stunt like that I just say no. They need to figure out their plan instead of forcing IT to lie.
You were asked to be a total asshole and you complied.
In the company’s defense, stealing an entire turkey is Lex Luthor levels of villainy.
I think it’s also worth bearing in mind that he was told to by his bosses as part of his job. I understand it would be nice to let her know, but risking your employment (and therefore your income, home, healthcare, etc.), is a bad idea. Unfortunately I think OP was caught behind a rock and a hard place. The blame here falls on management, as it usually does, not on OP.