This has been haunting me all day.
So this morning I was sitting in a branch of Pret, when a woman a table over started talking incredible loudly on the phone about a team member of hers who was underperforming. She was clearly on to her HR department, announcing her intention to fire this person, asking how much notice she'd have to give them, what severance pay, etc.
A moment later, she made another phone call, asking someone to come and meet her in Pret 'for a brief chat'. I thought, surely she's not summoning her employee to an entirely public place to be sacked? Cos you'd have to be a sociopath to do that, right?
A woman came in & sat down, the first woman told her perfunctorily she was 'no longer suitable for the role', talked her through what she would be paid, offered her the opportunity to clear out today or work a notice period. Bizarrely, she also told the sacked employee the team were going out for drinks and asked if she would be coming along! Throughout this the employee looked mortified, and at one point seemed on the verge of tears, and left when the conversation was done.
Just to reiterate, this was the middle of a coffee shop, 10:30 AM, so quite a few people in there but still quiet enough for EVERYONE in there to hear the entire conversation. I heard what this woman was being paid for her notice period. I heard all the reasons she was considered to be underperforming.
Sacker then got on the phone to HR, said it was done, had a little chuckle about how the sackee had 'got a bit emotional'.
Am I being U to think that this is unbelievably unprofessional behaviour?
And was I U to have left a little note to this effect on her table, as I had to leave for an appt before she was done chortling down the phone about her former employee's public humiliation?