Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed

Even though I wrote a story for this book, I CAN BE OBJECTIVE because my contribution is only two pages. (The best two pages, by the way.)

Anyway, this book is a PERFECT gift for any friend or coworker who has just been fired and is not thrilled to bits about it. (The last job I was fired from, I WAS thrilled to bits because I had already taken another job and was facing the prospect of "calling in sick" until all my sick days were used up, but that's another story for another book.)

Anyway, this might also be a great gift for employers to give out as a parting gift to the employees they are about to fire. "Fired!" will make your fired employees feel like they have finally joined the ranks of the Truly Talented and Funny people who have fired stories to tell - and it might make you feel as if you have given them a promotion instead of a kick in the pants, so it's a win-win kind of gift.

This book will help the fired feel as if they are in good company (FABulous people have written their Fired! stories in this book!) and that they can overcome the firing to be happy, productive and funny people, with a good story to tell -- which is what life is all about anyway, right?

A quick, amusing read of true stories (mostly by comedians and entertainment writers) about getting fired

After I heard the author being interviewed about this book on NPR, I had to get it. It's a quick, and very enjoyable read, most of the stories are really funny, and self depreciating. As the cover makes clear, the book focuses mainly on celebrities that have been fired, and later found success.

This book is full of short stories about the experience of being fired. I loved it and found myself laughing out loud and sharing the stories with my family at the dinner table. It's not a great inspirational read but it takes a lighthearted look at "losing a job" and sometimes thats just want we need!

As a teen, I was fired from my job as deep-fry cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken for failure to adequately clean out the grease-traps. I have carried this mortifying secret with me for years, and after reading FIRED!, I am emboldened to share it with the world.

As for FIRED!, I should quickly point out that virtually all of the book's 50-plus entries about being canned are by successful show-biz types. Thus, their stories are generally atypical of the workplace experience. So if you're looking for hardcore blue-collar stories, this ain't the place; the author you're looking for is Studs Terkel.

But can these show-biz types write? Surprisingly, yes, most of them can. There are a few duds in here (I don't have the heart to dis them in this review), but most entries have a smile in store for you, and some are "LOL," as we hipsters say. Of interest to me was the fact that, due to the editor's National Public Radio association, there are a number of NPR contributors herein, among whom Sandra Tsing Loh distinguishes herself nicely.

As pointed out elsewhere on this reviews page, this book's highest ambition is to be a book of amusing trifles and anecdotes, and it succeeds on its own terms. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a grease-trap that needs tending. (And no, I am not speaking metaphorically.)