Hacker News Reader

Comment by jacquesm | Hacker News Reader

Plenty of people resign via email simply to make it official. That's where the whole 'handing in your notice' expression comes from, people used to literally hand deliver their termination letter, these days letters are emails so it is a logical - even if it feels rude - development.

View on HN

I'm admittedly assuming, based on the severity of Jason's reaction, that the email was the first he'd heard of Evan's resignation.

Had it been a face-to-face conversation, then a letter, the fireworks could have been avoided. Speaking from first-hand experience, it can be absolutely gut-wrenching, but ultimately feels like the right thing to do.

In light of the response, you could even say that mahalo employees might prefer to resign via email rather than to face the full brunt of the response in person, your assumption could easily be right and there might be a good reason for it.

In which case you have an opportunity to wake up the next day, decidedly the bigger person, wholly assured in your decision to leave, and with no regrets about how you did so.

opting to email rather than hand in a resignation is not going to undermine anyone's decision to leave.

I am sorry, maybe I'm old school but resigning by email is weak. If you think you know how it'll go, prepare, have a response ready. Maybe, you'll be surprised at the very least you will be respected for walking in the door.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com