It absolutely is worse to not hear back at all. As someone who has dealt with this recently, the one positive thing I can tell myself about the experience is that I would not work for a company that cannot be bothered to write a rejection letter.
It reminds me of a restaurant I worked at in my youth - because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Sad.
> because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule.
Firing someone (without cause) leaves you open to having unemployment claims filed against you. Writing them off the schedule so they're forced to quit on their own accord negates that leverage; underemployment claims are harder for complainants to pursue/win.
Restaurant owners being the stingy type, I guarantee you this wasn't done to avoid hurting employee feelings.
You make a strong, valid point. However, in this case, as someone who worked there for a long time, and knew both the owner, and her family rather well.... I can say with absolute certainty it was to avoid the conflict / hard feelings.
Hourly workers who have their hours dropped below a minimum threshold qualify for unemployment in many states, as that is frequently treated as a de-facto layoff.
It reminds me of a restaurant I worked at in my youth - because the owner and her daughter were so conflict averse - rather than fire someone, they would just slowly write them off the schedule. Sad.