Moving On
paypal-community.com
paypal-community.com
Obviously there can be no real clinical diagnosis of anything at all from a tweet stream, but what he's been posting really does scream "psychotic break" or "manic episode"; when people say things in those kinds of states, they might not be grounded on any real beliefs of theirs at all.
In an ideal world, it would be nice if the next thing that happened to him was for him to be placed on medical leave, surrounded by a community that supports his recovery; upon his return, a statement like "I'd lost my mind briefly, and obviously didn't mean anything that I said" could patch things up. This might not be that world today: as a society, we're remarkably bad at recognizing mental illness when it comes along, and we're not so good at dealing with it even when we figure it out.
So, PayPal did what it had to. A public firing is never a pretty thing, and maybe that was a little excessive, but I can certainly see where it comes from. Either way, I hope that this guy gets the help he needs -- and preferably sooner, rather than later.
Sometimes the problems manifest in private ways that a company and its workers can absorb. Sometimes they manifest in public ways, or ways that emotionally or physically assault your clients or employees. It can really be total luck which circumstance happens when the problem manifests, but there are other people in the company who also need respect and to be cared for. Like I said at the start, those other employees have issues, too.
I feel bad for the guy who had the psychotic break and has to be let go. I do. But other people also need help before you needlessly put them into stressful conditions; maybe that would be the last straw for their own psychotic break.
(I am not a psychologist or psychiatrist.)
Something like this happened to me once. I am a pretty good dev and I write solid code. But I'd been doing a lot of drugs and my mental health was way off base and I started talking to my boss about how I was the best programmer in the company and how he wasn't paying me enough and some other silly shit. Eventually I managed to convince him to convert me to a contractor, so I was working at the same job, without benefits, for a whopping $5K extra a year (if I worked 40/hrs a week for 48 weeks).
He didn't let me go as full-time before making sure that I had access to mental health resources -- his biggest concern was that I get the help I needed, but I assured him that living in Canada (I worked remotely) I had access to mental health care if I needed it. Of course I was certain that I did not need it.
Eventually, things came to a head, and I experienced psychosis to the point where I called the cops and told them someone was spying on me and they certified me and took me away to a psych ward against my wishes.
Things have changed a lot since then and I am much healthier and haven't used any non-prescription drugs (including alcohol) for about a year and a half (I'm lying, I have tried and failed to quit cigarette smoking a few times). The whole me getting taken away incident was about 3 years ago and neither of us work for that company any longer. But I've made amends for the grief I caused him (really, my description above just scratched the surface), and we are on good terms. Today I consider him a friend.
He was the first person who told me to get help. Honestly, that means so much to me.
If anybody wants any more context or someone to talk to about substance abuse problems or mental health issues, I am definitely no professional, but I have personal experience and would be happy to let you know how things went for me and how I got my life back together. My psychiatrist doesn't think it's necessary to see me anymore (I'm a bit torn on that one) and jokes that they should hire me because I've learned and followed their program so well. But a big hint for the main thing behind my success (first suggested to me by my psychiatrist, in fact): To paraphrase Craig Ferguson, "You can find us at the beginning of the phonebook." (I know a lot of people can't get over the "god"/"higher power" thing. Neither can I. But I still followed the instructions and they worked for me. I think it's akin to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Mindfulness Meditation.)
Anyway, might not be the same thing, and I don't know what the "official" name for it is, but this stream of tweets definitely sounds exactly like what my friend was saying at the time.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandiose_delusions
Grandiose delusions (GD) or delusions of grandeur is principally a subtype of delusional disorder that occurs in patients suffering from a wide range of mental illnesses, including two-thirds of patients in manic state of bipolar disorder, half of those with schizophrenia and a substantial portion of those with substance abuse disorders.
Also, it's really interesting how many senior corporate executives, politicians, etc. seem to be prone to manic-depressive episodes.
FWIW it seems unlikely that this type of behavior would be brought about by drinking alone, especially once the media took notice. I known people who have made idiotic career-limiting moves while drunk (like brazenly hitting on the boss' daughter at a party) and they usually get deer-in-headlights embarrassed once someone wiser advises them to knock it off. Maybe drugs, stress, or some type of medical condition?
In any case whether caused by substance abuse or some other problem, it seems irresponsible to comment on publicly like this. It doesn't even have to be caused by mental illness in a traditional sense. There have been cases of people with brain tumors acting out in wacky ways. It's not really fair to disparage someone who's acting unusually and may not even be aware or in control of their behavior.
Or maybe it's just some bizarre attempt at "going viral", who knows these days?
I also specifically mentioned uppers e.g.: cocaine, rather than alcohol which I agree with you isn't going to be used to work extensively (obviously).
I understand that junior employees can sometimes go publicly against the company they just left, but that's really not something you expect from somebody who is supposed to be a seasoned, professional exec. Good luck for the rest of your career, Rocky, you'll need a lot of that -- which CEO is the world is willing to hire you again?
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