i may have taken the original comment out of context. i've seen a couple CEOs being cool (hip, funny, etc.) when they needed a leader. i think that's dangerous, and that's the point i meant to make.

specifically to yours, no, its not cool to fire people, but i would rather hear well rationalized case for deciding to let me go (assuming it wasn't performance related) instead of a cleverly written kthxbai. still, that even that wouldn't be cool.