Every office has the guy who spends all day looking at internet porn, or the woman who unknowingly provides entertainment by constantly screaming on the phone to her ex about what a jerk he is. Managers are reluctant to fire them because it means loads of paperwork and tedious meetings with the HR department who demand some sort of justification. The problem employee may be transferred to another department, but in return you'll get the creepy guy who doesn't believe in basic hygiene.
Managers are increasingly using eBay to dispatch the losers as well as get some cash in return. As the world's biggest marketplace, eBay is the place to go to find the rare firm willing to take on the fellow who is apt to crawl under his desk and yell out "Guess where I am!"
Joe Teclado is an IT Manager who has disposed of several problem employees on eBay. "It's quick and easy, and you can dump even the most socially inept annoying dork in the world if you start the bidding low enough. We don't have a policy about selling our folks on eBay, so it's really no problem."
Workers who are sold on eBay are often shocked that they have a new employer and often a much lower salary, but are relieved that they don't have to suffer the humiliation of telling friends and family they'd been fired. "I wondered if they had a problem with me using the company servers to run my black-market Viagra business," said one worker who was sold on eBay without notice. "But I figure, hell, that's the beauty of capitalism."
