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Comment by AnIdiotOnTheNet | Hacker News Reader

The problem with the "win-the-lottery-go-to-Fiji-and-never-look-back" as an example is it doesn't quite get the point across because they'll have time to gracefully transfer knowledge and after that they're just somewhere else in the world so I can still theoretically fly over there and beat them with a wrench until I get what I need.

Death is a real thing that really happens to people, and from an organizational perspective it is valuable to keep in mind that no one in your company is immune to that.

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Yeah, it's not the same at all. I had an ex-employer that fired me multiple times, and came back to me to get forgotten passwords multiple times.

After a little soul-searching, and deciding I didn't want to harbor anger, I helped him with the ones I remembered each time.

Had I actually been hit by a bus, that wouldn't have been possible at all.

I'm sure that if I'd hit the lottery and gone to Fiji, I'd have been even more likely to help him with those passwords.

In the end, not-burning-that-bridge did help me earn more money as he hired me back several times, and I demanded more money each time until I was asking almost as much per hour as he was getting from his customers and he simply couldn't afford me.

I actually basically had this happen to me before, too. With two different employers.

Aside from one of them being super annoying, over and over again, helping them out was the right thing to do.

It's not like it cost me anything other than a couple of minutes of time.

If someone already screwed you over, then... But otherwise, why not

How do you get fired by someone multiple times?

Not learning the lesson multiple times. :)

The "hit-by-a-bus" scenario for me is expressed quite often where I work. I have no problem with it, if it is not repeaded a dozen times. Then it starts to sound like a threat..

“depart without notice and without looking back” can be just as much of a threat, though, especially if the person raising the scenario is a Key Person themselves.

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