For nearly a century, American Workers from all walks of life have lived in fear of one day receiving the PINK SLIP from their employers - notices printed on pink paper informing employees that their services are no longer required.
Pink slips have long since become symbolic rather than literal, however. Noone can seem to remember a time when it was a common or widespread practice in the USA for workers who had been laid off or fired to receive notification of their dismissals via pink slips of paper, and these days terminated employees often receive no written notification at all.
Although there have been many findings aboiut its origin, no authentic one has ever been found. Of the many examples people have offered for companies that supposedly used pink slips to fire their employees, the most common predictably concernsthe Ford Motor Company: Each worker had a cubbyhole where at the end of the workday, a manager would place a piece of colored paper. A white piece of paper meant their work was acceptable, a pink one meant the boot!
Maybe back in the day they would use carbon copy paper to write the termination letters on. The pink copy would be the copy that they would give to the employee (or former employee).
The pink slip remains a "colorful" mystery!!
Pink slips have long since become symbolic rather than literal, however. Noone can seem to remember a time when it was a common or widespread practice in the USA for workers who had been laid off or fired to receive notification of their dismissals via pink slips of paper, and these days terminated employees often receive no written notification at all.
Although there have been many findings aboiut its origin, no authentic one has ever been found. Of the many examples people have offered for companies that supposedly used pink slips to fire their employees, the most common predictably concernsthe Ford Motor Company: Each worker had a cubbyhole where at the end of the workday, a manager would place a piece of colored paper. A white piece of paper meant their work was acceptable, a pink one meant the boot!
Maybe back in the day they would use carbon copy paper to write the termination letters on. The pink copy would be the copy that they would give to the employee (or former employee).
The pink slip remains a "colorful" mystery!!