I’ve been working in finance corporate America for a couple of years now, at companies ranging from USD 500M to 50Billion revenue. Here’s some of my experiences.
Company 1
HR was run by a fat old white woman in her 50s. She was very humourless and people were scared of her. She sat on the other side of the building and whenever she was in my side of the office somebody was usually gonna get let go. Her nickname was “the Angel of Death”.
My first manager was a piece of shit and everyone hated him. He joked about beating women in a team meeting and some people reported him to HR. Nothing was done and he got promoted later. He was one of those guys who treated his bosses like gold and treated everyone under him like shit.
I later found another job and in my exit interview the HR lady informed me that I had to pay the company USD 7K because I had left the company less than 2 years after my green card was awarded. The company originally paid all my immigration fees and I signed and agreement stating that I was willing to stay for 2 years after my green card. I asked if her if the company would be willing to reconsider the amount because I also had a student loan to pay back. She said she would get back to me. I never heard from her again.
Company 2
My manager told me in a meeting that she felt that I was doing a good job, but the VP wanted to downgrade my performance so I am ranked below average. I was on the VP’s shit list because he and every other person above me had failed to review a presentation that I had made, and an error was pointed out to him by his boss. The HR lady I dealt with was 6 in her 30’s, about 20lbs overweight. I met her at a company bowling event before this and she seemed reasonably pleasant.
Since I was ranked below average I am put on performance improvement plan - I can tell I’m being fucked over during the whole process. In the middle of this a close family member passes away and I have to return to UK for the funeral. When I come back, they don’t give me a break and continue with the performance improvement plan.
I informed that I will either get demoted or fired. If I get demoted, that’s actually worse because it would mean all my prior experience was meaningless.
I get a doctor’s note and get 30 days off work. I managed to find another job and got the fuck out of there. HR wanted me to come in to do an exit interview and I only agreed to do it over the phone. I told her that I felt that I was being targeted by the VP and she disagreed with me so I thought “Fuck her” and I hung up.
Company 3
I was told by my VP that I was doing good work, and I was paid a full 12 months bonus even though I had only been there for 8 months. I was also told by him in January that I would be promoted by the end of the year. In February I have a new manager – this guy doesn’t like me.
I used to meet monthly with the CFO to discuss financials. My manager excluded me from these meetings because he said there’s not enough chairs in the office. He basically says that I am not good enough to work at my current level – he puts me on a Performance Improvement Plan and the same cunt VP who said he was going to promote me threw me under the bus. He took my manager’s side.
I have to meet weekly, with my manager, my VP and a HR lady. She’s a slim Chinese American 5. My performance improvement plan was for 30 days. After 30 days are up, I get called into a meeting room and I am informed that I will be terminated because I am not good enough to work at my current level. I was told my performance had improved, but that I was not consistent. (This is how they can keep you or fire you. If they want to keep you they will say” You’ve improved and we want to keep you on”. If they want to fire you, they can say you were inconsistent.)
The HR lady gave me a letter explaining healthcare benefits and I exit the building. I received my personal items from my cube in a box a few days later. Some of the items are broken and I fight for and get compensation from the company a couple of hundred dollars.
I am still on good terms with some of colleagues at that company. I find out a year later my manager got fired – apparently he pissed off so many people when he got me fired, that people just stopped talking to him.
Current employer
I get hired at a higher level than my last employer. I now manage 3 straight white males because as we all know, America disadvantages non-white people like myself.
At most of the companies I worked at, there was a recruiting team in addition to HR. Most HR women are fat, or getting fat. At my current employer one of the HR employees is a pale skinned black American woman who would be a 7 if she lost 150lbs. The head of HR is a skinny white lady in her 50s.
We used to have 2 recruiters – one was a hot blonde Albanian who was married to an American. According to rumours, she was let go because she spent USD 70K on recruiting agencies to hire 2 new employees. In a meeting with the CFO, he said what’s the point of the recruiting team if they’re using agencies? The other recruiter was a black male and he moved on to a much bigger employer.
I am currently in the process of getting a guy I manage fired. I didn’t hire him, he’s been with the company for over 6 months and he still doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. He’s so bad I only ask him to do menial tasks. I had a meeting with my manager and 2 HR ladies yesterday – both are white, one is skinny and the other is about 150lbs overweight. They said that they had prepared a file based on my and my manager’s input. We had to give examples of when he did bad work, and how he did no improve, even though we told him how to improve the quality of his output.
So they told me what do when I fire this guy:
I would say from my experiences that HR is there to protect the company, not the employees. Also, I have never had any diversity training in the US - I've only had leadership skills, teamwork and technical training, earthquake safety and what to do when there's an active shooter.
Company 1
HR was run by a fat old white woman in her 50s. She was very humourless and people were scared of her. She sat on the other side of the building and whenever she was in my side of the office somebody was usually gonna get let go. Her nickname was “the Angel of Death”.
My first manager was a piece of shit and everyone hated him. He joked about beating women in a team meeting and some people reported him to HR. Nothing was done and he got promoted later. He was one of those guys who treated his bosses like gold and treated everyone under him like shit.
I later found another job and in my exit interview the HR lady informed me that I had to pay the company USD 7K because I had left the company less than 2 years after my green card was awarded. The company originally paid all my immigration fees and I signed and agreement stating that I was willing to stay for 2 years after my green card. I asked if her if the company would be willing to reconsider the amount because I also had a student loan to pay back. She said she would get back to me. I never heard from her again.
Company 2
My manager told me in a meeting that she felt that I was doing a good job, but the VP wanted to downgrade my performance so I am ranked below average. I was on the VP’s shit list because he and every other person above me had failed to review a presentation that I had made, and an error was pointed out to him by his boss. The HR lady I dealt with was 6 in her 30’s, about 20lbs overweight. I met her at a company bowling event before this and she seemed reasonably pleasant.
Since I was ranked below average I am put on performance improvement plan - I can tell I’m being fucked over during the whole process. In the middle of this a close family member passes away and I have to return to UK for the funeral. When I come back, they don’t give me a break and continue with the performance improvement plan.
I informed that I will either get demoted or fired. If I get demoted, that’s actually worse because it would mean all my prior experience was meaningless.
I get a doctor’s note and get 30 days off work. I managed to find another job and got the fuck out of there. HR wanted me to come in to do an exit interview and I only agreed to do it over the phone. I told her that I felt that I was being targeted by the VP and she disagreed with me so I thought “Fuck her” and I hung up.
Company 3
I was told by my VP that I was doing good work, and I was paid a full 12 months bonus even though I had only been there for 8 months. I was also told by him in January that I would be promoted by the end of the year. In February I have a new manager – this guy doesn’t like me.
I used to meet monthly with the CFO to discuss financials. My manager excluded me from these meetings because he said there’s not enough chairs in the office. He basically says that I am not good enough to work at my current level – he puts me on a Performance Improvement Plan and the same cunt VP who said he was going to promote me threw me under the bus. He took my manager’s side.
I have to meet weekly, with my manager, my VP and a HR lady. She’s a slim Chinese American 5. My performance improvement plan was for 30 days. After 30 days are up, I get called into a meeting room and I am informed that I will be terminated because I am not good enough to work at my current level. I was told my performance had improved, but that I was not consistent. (This is how they can keep you or fire you. If they want to keep you they will say” You’ve improved and we want to keep you on”. If they want to fire you, they can say you were inconsistent.)
The HR lady gave me a letter explaining healthcare benefits and I exit the building. I received my personal items from my cube in a box a few days later. Some of the items are broken and I fight for and get compensation from the company a couple of hundred dollars.
I am still on good terms with some of colleagues at that company. I find out a year later my manager got fired – apparently he pissed off so many people when he got me fired, that people just stopped talking to him.
Current employer
I get hired at a higher level than my last employer. I now manage 3 straight white males because as we all know, America disadvantages non-white people like myself.
At most of the companies I worked at, there was a recruiting team in addition to HR. Most HR women are fat, or getting fat. At my current employer one of the HR employees is a pale skinned black American woman who would be a 7 if she lost 150lbs. The head of HR is a skinny white lady in her 50s.
We used to have 2 recruiters – one was a hot blonde Albanian who was married to an American. According to rumours, she was let go because she spent USD 70K on recruiting agencies to hire 2 new employees. In a meeting with the CFO, he said what’s the point of the recruiting team if they’re using agencies? The other recruiter was a black male and he moved on to a much bigger employer.
I am currently in the process of getting a guy I manage fired. I didn’t hire him, he’s been with the company for over 6 months and he still doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing. He’s so bad I only ask him to do menial tasks. I had a meeting with my manager and 2 HR ladies yesterday – both are white, one is skinny and the other is about 150lbs overweight. They said that they had prepared a file based on my and my manager’s input. We had to give examples of when he did bad work, and how he did no improve, even though we told him how to improve the quality of his output.
So they told me what do when I fire this guy:
- Book a meeting with the guy in a meeting room near to a building exit in the afternoon. In the invite only mine and his name will appear. When the meeting happens the head of HR will join me in the room.
- I will be a given a script before the meeting. It’s 3 lines informing him that he will be terminated.
- I then leave the room and the other HR lady will come in. They will have him escorted out of the building and have his desk cleared.
- There’s no need for me to explain to him why he was fired. California is an “At will” state which means you can fire somebody at anytime.
I would say from my experiences that HR is there to protect the company, not the employees. Also, I have never had any diversity training in the US - I've only had leadership skills, teamwork and technical training, earthquake safety and what to do when there's an active shooter.