Comment by e12e

8 days ago

> (...) he should be fired for it.

I don't know about that - I'd say it's the managers responsibility to make sure employees don't feel pressured to work when they're to ill to function.

And also brings to mind the IBM one million dollars story:

(...)

A very large government bid, approaching a million dollars, was on the table. The IBM Corporation—no, Thomas J. Watson Sr.—needed every deal. Unfortunately, the salesman failed. IBM lost the bid. That day, the sales rep showed up at Mr. Watson’s office. He sat down and rested an envelope with his resignation on the CEO’s desk. Without looking, Mr. Watson knew what it was. He was expecting it.

He asked, “What happened?”

The sales rep outlined every step of the deal. He highlighted where mistakes had been made and what he could have done differently. Finally he said, “Thank you, Mr. Watson, for giving me a chance to explain. I know we needed this deal. I know what it meant to us.” He rose to leave.

Tom Watson met him at the door, looked him in the eye and handed the envelope back to him saying, “Why would I accept this when I have just invested one million dollars in your education?”

Did it happen? I'd like to believe it but it's a lot of money even now and in Thomas Watson's time it was worth a great deal more.