FWD: Cutting a contract short

[James Barrow]

>Beth Agnew wrote:

>There seems to be a lot of support for "think of yourself first, and 
>it's okay to bail, don't worry about what others will think if you cut 
>your contract short. [] Whatever happened to integrity and commitment in
>business? File this under Ethics in Technical Communication.


I think Anonymous' post is a special situation.  It seems that that work
that he/she was hired for is nearly completed.  That being said...

Ethics is a two-way street, and I've been involved with major corporations
and well known recruiting agencies that were simply unscrupulous.  Companies
that not only didn't tell me that they were in the midst of a takeover, but
also told me on Monday that I would "be there through the holidays", only to
let me go that next Friday for "lack of work".

I worked for a major entertainment company on a six-month contract.  As the
end-time neared, I began asking about an extension to my contract, or at
least other work in my field.  My manager at the company decided to go on a
golfing vacation the week that my contract ended.  Can you imagine how I
felt walking the hallways asking "Uh...is today my last day?".  I then
arranged to meet with my recruiter and flew to the opposite coast, only to
have the recruiter fail to show up for our meeting.

As I posted previously, I believe anyone reading this should make a good
faith effort to resolve any work-related issues with their manager/HR before
leaving a company/contract.  But when Visa calls me asking why my payment is
late, the following isn't going to get me very far:

"Hi Visa, I'm really sorry that I'm unable to pay.  My former employer told
me that I would have a job until the end of the month, but later decided
that they would release me at the end of the week."