[MBAtarga]

True story - don't burn bridges...

(I was a fellow employee at this company.) SW Developer had worked for the company for less than 6 months - planned to take some vacation and got the okay from his Mgr to take the vacation on "credit." Just a few months later - before developer had actually built up enough vacation time to account for his time away - he turned in his notice so he could go to work for a start-up immediately. Mgr asked developer about that credited vacation time - developer basically said he didn't owe anything in return.

Mgr went to HR, told them of agreed upon arrangement - informed them they should withhold pay equal to the balance of the vacation still owed, but HR decided to play it safe - told Mgr he was at fault for making arrangements such as that.

Not long after Developer has left, Mgr gets opportunity to work for another company out of state with a big promotion. Mgr moves away - 2000 miles. About 6 months later, Mgr has several SW developer positions open in his group and gets a call from his HR dept for a candidate that has ideal qualifications - they conference candidate in on the call. Want to guess who this candidate was? He had no idea he was being "introduced" to the same Mgr he stiffed earlier at previous company. Mgr cuts interview short - explains that he has no positions open for someone of his qualifications.