Victor: What appears to anger you so deeply about CPQ is, I regret to say, the end result of, "Watch out or I'll get a lawyer," America. Fear of litigation hangs heavy in all sectors of the U.S. labor force today, no matter how high or low one is on the totem pole.
In his reply, rudedog said: "It is routine at least in this country for departing executives to get a nice departing letter, unless they are on their way to jail.." In some circles, even a jail sentence is not enough for a person to get a glowing recommendation. I am not kidding.
>And while we are on the sacking issue, was very slow to sack the HR guy who was allegedly sexually harassing staff members.
The key here, Victor, is "alleged." There was someone in my department who was "alleged" to have sexually harassed female graduate students as well as a few undergraduates. Actually this guy "allegedly" went beyond harassing with a few. He also published a paper he was supposed to have been second author on under his name alone. The heat was on so he went looking for a new position and got absolutely glowing references from people in our department. I talked to some of the people who had been requested, by the villan, to write letters. They had tried to get out of writing them but had been bullied into writing ones. All made the guy sound wonderful. His immoral and unethical professional behaviour was not mentioned.
The relative of a friend was told to resign when upper management determined that she was stealing from the company. The woman was an assistant manager at a convenience store and said she had not stolen any money but would resign if the company gave her an excellent reference. They agreed, it was indeed a superior reference, and she got a much better job!
No, this is not right, but it is a fact of life in the U.S. today.
Lynn
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