Not all viral resignations are flame outs

Lately the public, viral, and virulent types of employee resignations have been getting seemingly more and more popular. Whether it is on Twitter, via a blog post, a letter published in the New York Times, or via a YouTube video - the 'epic resignation', usually accompanied by some choice bashing of the company, its leaders, co-workers, and/or customers is enjoying a little run of popularity.

And while I am certain many of the complaints and concerns raised by these public and attention seeking kinds of resignations have some merit, I generally don't look too favorably upon how they are executed. Perhaps it stems from seeing too many instances of people taking to whining on social media for the slightest inconvenience or perceived slight perpetrated by organizations in their personal lives, ('I can't believe Starbucks made a small mistake in my ridiculously complicated drink order. #FAIL.'), or maybe it was how I sort of recoiled at all the attention the 'United Breaks Guitars' guy received, when I kept thinking while sure, United handled that situation badly, the amount and sustained negative impact the company received was probably not fair.

So it was pretty neat to see a couple of weeks ago another kind of 'viral' resignation get reported, this one much more positive, (if kind of cheesy), from a Microsoft employee who took to YouTube to offer up a little resignation song, one that actually is equal parts respectful, thankful, and positive. Sure, this video and its message will never make it as big as the Goldman Sachs guy, or the United Breaks Guitars story, (face it, 'United successfully transported me and and my stuff' isn't a story), but I think it is worth a couple minutes of your time on a Friday, (email and RSS subscribers will need to click through).

What did you think? Nice for a change, right?

Have a great weekend!

Too much information?

I read an excellent post on the Savage Minds blog about college students and the need many of them feel to offer explanations or excuses when they know they have turned in substandard work.  That professor's take was essentially, 'Save the trouble of the explanation, don't admit the work is under par before I have had a chance to look at it, and if it is crap work, get over it and do what it takes to improve for the next assignment'.Flickr - The Kozy Shack

I think that is good advice and wonder if it applies to managers as well. 

As a manager when an employee is late for work, makes some careless mistakes, or otherwise is not really producing to their 'normal' or expected levels, how much do you really want of the backstory?

How much of 'My dog is sick', 'My daughter has a loser boyfriend' or 'I stayed up all night playing World of Warcraft' do you want to hear?

Or would you prefer they just shut up, do their job, and leave the drama for their mama?