I got a call from a manager who wanted to fire an employee.  I asked “why?” of course.  In response, I heard a credible and comprehensive description of a litany of performance and behavior problems that the employee had exhibited over the years, climaxing in recent weeks.  I thought to myself, “this should be an easy one.”  But just to be on the safe side, and as I usually do, I asked to see the employee’s personnel record.  When I received it, however, I saw not a shred of evidence of the pervasive problems that the client had just described.  In fact, the only indication of the employee’s performance was a series of annual reviews reflecting that he was either meeting or exceeding expectations in nearly every regard.