38:45 corporate world, that we can take these both sides to task and some of the mistakes that were made along the way. I just think it would be nice to deconstruct. Good. Construct it or deconstruct it. Deconstruct it. Yeah. Let's go with clip one. Hey, Brittany. Hi. Yes. I'm so sorry. My name's Rosie. I'm just joining the call. Nice to meet you. I'm on the HR team. Hi, Brittany. Hi. Thanks for meeting with me and Rosie. We have an important meeting today. Script. We finished our evaluations of 2023 performance. This is where you have not met Cloudflare expectations for performance. We've decided to part ways with you. Yeah, I'm gonna stop you right there. So I started August 25th. I've been on a three month ramp.
39:40 Okay, so first of all, script obvious. Man and woman, this is, and this is an, I'm going to bet it's an outside HR firm. I don't even think it's in-house. I had the same feeling. I think the mistake immediately that these two boneheads made were she stopped them from reading the script. Yeah, yep. I'm gonna stop you right now and took over the place. That is not in their script. There's no, there's probably in there if employee starts crying, stuff like that. But not, I'm gonna stop you and I'm gonna get in your face with this. No, probably not.
40:19 And so that's a screw up on their part. I think the guy or the woman, one of the two should have said, well, let me finish first and then finish the script. But they didn't do that. They, oh, okay, whatever. And so this girl went off on him, which means to me that she probably is a good salesperson. To be able to pull this off Good and I looked at it watching I worked with a lot of different sales people mostly in publishing But I've worked with you know they have to go out there and sell stuff And I can recognize a reasonably good salesperson, kind of, but she never, she says herself that she never closed anything. She was only there for three months. I don't know how big these contracts are. And she's trying to close over the holidays. Yeah, yeah, she made a big point about that. But she called it a ramp, which I kind of like, I'm on my ramp.
41:10 And my sales ran. And our guy who sent us the insight on this said that, because I asked him about what some of these terms, I didn't hear a few of these, ramp to him meant onboarding, which is probably what was going on. So she was only really working there for a month or two. And the CEO later says, well, when we fire the 40 people, we can tell right away if somebody's no good. And I'm not convinced of that, but okay, let's go on. And then it was three weeks of December and then a week of Christmas. And then here we are. I have had the highest activity amongst my team since I started. I have had three contracts out, done a really great job managing my deals up until the very end that decided not to close last minute. So I don't think that that makes a lot of sense. And when she says decided not to close last minute, to me, that means these are dead deals.
42:15 I mean, it won't matter to these HR people, but it sounds like she just didn't close. It's not like they're going to close. No, she didn't close. And she had three, I think, three deals. She couldn't close them, which is a problem. But at the same time, we're dealing with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. That whole period is impossible to do any work. Nobody's around. Even from November. You're right. That makes a lot of sense for me and my cloudflare journey here so far. I love the cloudflare journey Yeah, I love the journey. This is zoomers. It's great Every single one-on-one I've had with my manager every conversation I've had with him has he has been giving me nothing but a
42:58 I am doing a great job. I have had great activity. I have really great meetings. I'm picking up the products very quickly. By the way, what all this sounds like, great activity, that's all coming out of Salesforce. Salesforce is showing her activity being great. You know what I mean? That's a good point. That's how they track that stuff. Picking up the products very quickly and things have been going really, really well. I make really great relationships with my clients. So I disagree that my performance hasn't been, I haven't met performance expectations.
43:34 When I certainly have just because I haven't closed anything officially officially I hear you also. Why are you doing this and not my manager? Not you know we've never met so the little odd that My manager has no idea that this has been happening and the director is no idea that this has been happening so I'm just definitely confused and I Yeah, I would love like an explanation that makes sense. I'm confused. Doesn't every salesperson, I mean, I've hired lots of salespeople. You've been around, I don't know if you've hired salespeople. I'm sure you have actually. You give someone a certain amount of time to close something because a salesperson usually comes in with a Rolodex
44:25 Even if they're just starting out, you know, it's like you're gonna hire someone who has a contact. So maybe it was her three contacts, these were the ones and she couldn't close them. Now then I'd say, you know what? You didn't close on the things you said you should close. We need to find somebody else. But if it could be some and she could be lying about the her interaction with her boss could be yeah, yeah could be the one-on-one we don't know. Yeah, and I get the sense She's honest, but I could be wrong because some of these rumors you don't know I mean you had they have the reputation of not wanting to work at all. I or coming in late and doing all this stuff. She didn't seem like that. She seemed like a go-getter. No, she seemed like a conscientious person. Yeah. And she also seemed detail-oriented, the fact that she recorded this. And by the way, this is your future nightmare for all corporations who think they're going to get away with firing people.
45:19 over a Zoom call. You're not going to get away with it. Oh, you are taking the Zoomer side here. I am taking the Zoomer side. You have to stop. This has to stop immediately. because this is good this kind of an embedded this way zoomers think oh wait a minute I'm getting fired let me record the whole thing I think I'll document this oh I just did let me post it yeah good point this makes that this makes cloudflare look like a bunch of douchebags total douches yeah I know I agree with that but that's I mean that is that is Silicon Valley
45:54 And it's interesting that this is really one of the few phone recordings we're seeing because this happened constantly. Constantly. Yes, it's one of the few. This is... she is setting a new precedent. She's setting the bar. This is not going to be the first that we hear of something like this until they stop it because this is embarrassing. I hadn't even, you know, this video was posted kind of like, look at this crybaby Zoomer. And I think you're making some valid points here. Oh, there I am. Yes. That's why there's two of us. Onward. Yeah, I would love like an explanation that makes sense. 100%. Okay, you got me. 100%. Yeah, I would love like an explanation that makes sense. 100%.
46:48 He should have said let's put a pin in that that would have been another boring moment, but he Carved out let me put a pin in that I The second half, and Rosie might be better to explain the process of who's giving this information in the prior piece, which is your feedback and notes about your performance. So we add a little context to that. So just for clarification, you are not being singled out on this. Your peers are also being collectively
47:36 Collective calibration for cloud for cloudflare mmm that that sounds like a annual report the boing in there, too Collective calibration for Cloudflare. Um, assessed on performance. This is a collective calibration for Cloudflare. So, I just want to clarify that piece. I won't be able to add any kind of specifics on numbers or... Wait, yeah, no, can you explain for me why Britney Peach is getting let go? The... I won't be able to... By the way, great porn name. I'm sorry, I hate to say it, but Britney Peach is a great name.
48:18 Yeah, it would be as Peach it would be, but her name is actually P-I-E-T-S-C-H-E kind of thing. It's a complicated name. Even better! Well, I think, no, I think Britney Peach, P-E-A-C-H-E would be a good stripper's name. It's also a good name for a radio show. Hey, midday, is Britney Peach with you? Here's Berlin. Britney Peach. There's a weather girl on the Fox Weather Channel whose last name is Freeze. Oh no. Hello, I'm Britney Freeze Peach, everybody. Britney Peach is getting let go. I won't be able to go into specifics for numbers. Wait, why though?
49:00 Just started I've been working extremely hard Just because I haven't closed anything that has nothing to do with my performance On a three-month ramp with just one month with two halt major holidays in the middle I don't think that has anything to do with why I should be let go if that makes sense so I really need an answer and an explanation as to why Brittany peach is getting let go not why I Cloudflare decided to hire too many people and are now actually realizing that they can't afford this many people. If that's the real answer, I would rather just you tell me that instead of making up some bullshit and telling me that right before I lose my job from someone that I've never met before. If you can respect. Okay, first of all.
49:43 She shouldn't have dropped the bullshit thing. That's too bad. That kind of ruined everything the way she did it. And I have to give it to her though. When I had to fire and everyone, we literally lost clients. This was Think New Ideas, this is before I knew you. But it was the same with Podshow. We don't have enough money. I say we have to cut back and I literally said like we lost clients. We don't have work for you. I'm sorry. I got to let you go. But that was the real reason and it I would just guess that's the real reason Cloudflare is letting people go. I would say yes to that too and I think she was right when she nailed it.
50:29 I don't know, I don't object to the way she presented it personally with the bullshit. It doesn't bother me, no. But I think that's what is going on and that's what she pointed out and she said, I'd rather you fire me for that reason, which is, hey, we hired too many people. Sorry, you're at the bottom of the list here. You gotta go. We can't do anything about it. Yeah. That would be fine. And she's I think she would be happy with that, but not the nonsense. Well, happier. I mean, it's not joyful. Well, no, she's not going to be happy at all. But happier. Yeah. Or less just just be honest, be honest. That's I mean, I've I've fired people. I was like, you're fired. Here's why I'm not going to you know, they're not going to pussyfoot around is like you're fired. I got to let you go. And here's why. But okay.
51:19 God, I hated that so much. I hated that so much. But I certainly didn't pussy out and let HR do it. Yeah, you have to do it yourself. Okay, onward. Yeah, I can totally respect that and I don't think Dom or myself today is going to give you any clarity or answers. It's going to meet the expectations that you're communicating to us, Brittany. So I can't speak to... So am I getting let go for no reason? If you guys can't give me a reason? I'm happy to follow up with you separately to give you the data that was calibrated.
51:57 I'll need to speak with revenue leadership specifically to see if we can get that for you. But Dominic, I cannot share that with you right now, unfortunately. It's understandable how you feel and your frustration. I cannot stress that enough. I have been working extremely hard. Sorry, I just knew that this meeting was coming after knowing what's been happening with my peers and how extremely frustrated and upset everyone is. I know you guys must not be able to understand that given the positions that you are in and it must be very easy for you to just have these little 10 minute, 15 minute meetings, tell someone that they're fired, completely wreck their whole life and then that's it with no explanation. That's extremely traumatizing for people.
52:43 traumatized if you can imagine that and I don't well now back to the zoomer position if these people truly were thinking about the people they're firing being quote-unquote humane, knowing that this generation and even the generation before her, I'm just guessing, you know, have always had participation trophies and, you know, you're doing great, it's okay, don't worry about it. It would have been much more, it went much nicer to have just blamed it on
53:19 the company's position, which is ultimately always the truth. Like, you know, it's not working because we need more money and you can't deliver, but not this, you know? Yeah, I wonder where this evolved from. I mean, again, I refer back to the movie Up in the Air, which was not about a tech company, but it was the same kind of thing where you had these, it was a big corporation that had to do a lot of firing. And, uh, I'm trying to think, I didn't get fired a lot, but I have been. Now that's surprising. It's not surprising to me. Well, because you brought in the numbers, you brought in the moolah baby, you were the cash cow. No one ever went broke advertising next to a Dvorak column. Right, that's what I'm talking about. But now I'm talking about when I was younger and working in factories and
54:14 I was almost fired from International Harvester one year, but I was taken in to my direct supervisor and he told me what was wrong and he said, you have to stop that. And so I went back to work, but there was this idea, what I'm interested in is this third party, which again goes back to the movie, this third party that comes in as the hatchet man. And the hatchet man comes and we had one of these at, IDG, when I was working for Info World. There was a hatchet man known in computer world, because Pat McGovern had to be loved by everybody, and he was a nice guy, sop on the back, everything's fantastic. And he had a hatchet man named Walter Boyd who was kind of a gay character that wore an ermine coat.
55:04 And he was very flamboyant and he'd go in and he just loved firing people and he would be the hatchet guy and he'd come in and if you were having a meeting with Walter Boyd, you were out. And everybody knew in advance, which is kind of what this girl is going through because she knew in advance that she was going to get fired by these these nudniks and nobody knows who they are. I just wonder where this professional outside source idea... I forget the name of the company, but I always hear it advertised on CNBC. It's like, it's on tip my tongue. And you hear these people calling up like, we have an employee who has horrible body odor and I just don't know how to talk to him about it. You know, then, yes, we have an employee who's always late. And, you know, so all and then it's the payoff is don't worry, we'll come in, we'll take care of it for you.
55:53 Don't know this oh, oh man. It's on the tip of my tongue. I should Yeah, it's an HR company and Interesting yeah, well somehow along the lines this happens. Let's go. What are we on clip three four? We're still four we're still four we finish up. Oh, we're still four I don't Think that this is it's it's just very very shocking very very shocking. I have like really given my whole energy and life over the last four months to this job. And to be let go for no reason is like a huge slap in the face from a company that I really wanted to believe in.
56:32 I can absolutely understand how you feel that way, why you feel that way. And I'll be honest with you, there's nothing that we're going to say in this call and the time that we have that's going to undo the way that you feel right in this moment. Back to the script, the way you feel right at this moment. I love this, that part of it. And this, the time we have, in other words, you got your 10 minutes was what she said at the beginning of these 10 minute calls. And this, this call was nine minutes. In the time that we have, in other words, shut up so you can get fired so we can go to the next fire somebody else. We got to wrap this up people. We're on the clock too lady. Peach, Britney Peach, we're on the clock here.
57:16 Yeah, pretty much is what it amounted to. This is the last clip. I personally will do everything that I can to give you as much specific information as I can after this call. I can't make any promises. I understand where you're coming from. I can tell you that Dom and I do care. I understand the feeling that you have right now. And I can't change that so just be honest. But why can't so but there you guys have still not given me a reason why I'm being let go Despite constant positive praise from my manager great meetings that I'm having The amount of activity that I have has all been positive. I have not received any negative inclination I have not been put on a performance improvement plan nothing, so
58:07 I cannot... Good point! Performance Improvement Plan. I'm sure that's a real thing. Yeah. In fact, our guy who sent this, our producer who sent this stuff in, mentioned a performance improvement plan. is code for it is a real thing and it's done when you're screwing up and now they're going to start documenting it so they can fire you with cause. There you go. And they didn't do that with her. But again, before you finish it. You have another clip after this, by the way, that you have a six. This is five. Oh, and then I'll stop because it's going to take forever. No, I want to hear them all now. What I was going to say was it seems to me that Zoomers, you know, when they're hired and if they have the reputation that they have of being super sensitive, it's possible that their managers are kind of alerted to this and
59:03 and have to treat them with kid gloves, and so you never get the kind of feedback you need to say, hey, hey, you're not working hard enough. So I'm at a crossroads at this part of her discussion as to how much of this is her fault by virtue of her peers and peer group of Zoomers who are not known for being hard workers. She seems... But think they are. Is she deluded? Let's get back to the tape. I cannot speak to what your manager has communicated to you directly. But that should be the indication of... Your performance based on your attainment and leading indicators of data. That is the rationale. But I've been here for...
59:50 Only a month after ramping and that was during a holiday. So I don't understand what those can you explain? what those performance metrics are or is that just like a Vague term to give to everyone that you're speaking to today. I'll say that the performance indicators and the force metrics are Well, they are what did he say that did he say force metrics? Oh I don't know what he said. I think it was force metrics. That's probably sales force metrics. This is how your future is determined. Oh, you're right. It has to be force metrics. Sales force. It would be, yes. That's exactly what it is. A big term to give to everyone that you're speaking to. Performance. People are saying we're mishearing it. Performance. I'll say that the performance indicator, performance metrics,
1:00:38 No, he's ss force metrics Performance based on force metrics. He says performance based on force metrics I'll say that the performance indicator force metrics are Well, they are. We're not able to go into specifics and there's no situation where we won't be able to go into specifics. Do you guys even know? Do you guys even know? No. Like why? Like who you're talking to each day? Like every single 10, 15 minutes, do you guys even know who you're talking to? No. Like why you're letting these people go when you don't even understand like the kind of work and everything that they've put in?
1:01:15 I hear you, I'm what you're saying. No, no, no. Wow. Now, I wonder what this costs for them to hire this team. They could have probably kept her on for another six months or what it costs for these two. Right now, I would going back to force metrics. This is kind of what happened with SAS. Who was the other? The big bond, the big bond. No, SP, it was SPS. It was. It was another big, it's a big personnel software system. Somebody should... I only know Bon. No, no, this is you.
1:01:56 I keep thinking SAS, but it might be something else, but it's like three letters or a couple of letters. And they're the ones who have built it. SAP. SAP. SAP. Thanks, Ned. Thanks, Mike. SAP has built it, which is a system, another system that you implement it and then you don't have to do any thinking because you don't have to meet, really understand your employees. SAP does the work for you. And SAP is incorporated within it I don't know if it's from Jack Welch or they're the ones that first came up with it. The rank, stack ranking. And so SAP would create the stack ranking situation and you'd get to fire people without having to really do any, it's no surprise that Microsoft stock and the company has just skyrocketed once they started
1:02:47 seemingly eliminated stack ranking from their, they don't do it anymore as far as I know. Oh, interesting. When Ballmer left out, it left with it. I think Ballmer actually may have canceled it while he was there, but he didn't get the benefit from it. And this is a very bad system because what it creates is stacked ranking creates, and I think that this may be incorporated into the Salesforce thing, Stack ranking creates a environment that is very similar to the TV show Survivor, where people scheme against the one guy they want to get rid of. It's a scam. It's not useful. You end up getting rid of your best people by accident or by schemers. But Jack Welch was a hero for stuff like this. He was the business guy. Yeah, Jack Welch. Yep, pretty much right. The worst. The worst.
1:03:42 We have one more here, okay? It just doesn't make it it just doesn't make any sense that you guys have still not been able to give me a reason why I'm being let go From a process perspective Your questions are valid. This isn't going to be the forum script in the situation where we're able to go into the detail that you're looking for. But then when? If it's not right as I'm getting fired, it's certainly not going to be after when I'm no longer part of the company. No, no. So I don't think there's anything we can say in this moment or today, Brittany, that's going to change the way that you feel. And it's under again, like understandable. I'm taking notes and feedback. I know you definitely asked me to, but that's...
1:04:32 We do get into more of the specifics of what the next steps are because I think it's clear that you have questions that we cannot give answers to and If you'd be open to it, I'd love to move into what the next steps are so that you're not Any further blindsided than you already feel wrap it up. Okay, and Thank you, Del. Okay. And again, I'm really sorry that you're having this experience and feeling this way. One of the things that we want to confirm is your personal email address because that's where... Remember people, when you divorce, please say to your ex-spouse or future ex-spouse, I'm really sorry you're having this experience. It's really the way to go. It's really the way to go. I found this, this little bit to be, that's where I clipped it.
1:05:22 And I wanted to discuss it because I think it's it portends for a lot of interesting situations down the road the least of which is this this idea that you're gonna get somebody on a zoom call and fire him and get away with it. Yeah, I think those days are over. Well, the troll room is all over this saying that they know all kinds of people are getting fired by zoom. It seems to be the standard. Yeah. Start recording this. This is good material. Yes, a little long. I could have done with a little less, but thank God. I tried to cut it down by the side to put the whole cloth because I did have commentary. Back to some news because it's flu season. Flu season is raging. Fever, aches and runny noses. Listen to these Nat Pops. Flu season is raging. Fever, aches and runny noses.
1:06:13 Especially in the South. We had a very early start to our flu season. Dr. Andy Shane is the head of infectious diseases at Children's Health Care of Atlanta, where cases of COVID and both flu A and flu B are up. She says the flu vaccine appears to be working this year. The problem is people aren't getting the shot. Vaccination rates of children are much lower this year. Uptake of vaccination has been less. The CDC says numbers of outpatient flu cases decreased last week, but they have remained higher than expected since November. Altogether this flu season there have been 14 million cases and nearly 10,000 deaths. Numbers back to pre-pandemic levels. Deadly illnesses are hitting even those young and healthy. What does that mean? Levels back to pre-pandemic levels? Does that mean it's just back to normal?