Tomorrow, You’re Fired
Share
45-second read
How much notice should an employer give? Ask the Shah.
‘Servant, fetch me my hot water bottle. And tomorrow, you’re fired.’
In 1797, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar, Shah of Iran, was trying to get some sleep in his tent when he was rudely woken by two of his servants having a loud argument about something.
The Shah wasn’t exactly a patient guy.
He got up, marched over to the servants, ordered them to pipe down, and decided on the spot that both would be executed.
The only problem was that it was Friday, so he postponed their execution until the following day and sent the servants back to work.
The Shah never made it to the following morning.
Turns out the notice period works both ways.
In 2024, a former worker at Spain’s Cepa 21 Winery was arrested after someone broke into the winery at 3:30am and opened the valves on several of its most expensive wine tanks.
Around 60,000 litres of the good stuff went down the drain. Damage was estimated at more than €2 million.
I’m sure there’s a sophisticated HR lesson in all of this.
Mine is simpler.
If you’ve just given someone very bad news, maybe don’t make them finish the shift.