Nothing is personal anymore

Anyone can see that as the internet continues to grow, interpersonal relationships have become much less...well, personal. A recent survey by Yahoo! found that up to 14% of men would fire an employee via IM with an emoticon. My question is, what the hell would be an appropriate emoticon for firing someone? I don't think that the standard would cover it. Maybe could get the job done?
I'm pretty sure that if I got fired via IM I'd be pretty pissed off and probably steal some office supplies on they way out. But if there was an emoticon with the IM I'm pretty sure I'd walk into my boss's office and punch him in the face for being a pompous prick.

Additionally, the survey found that there are people who would propose to someone via IM. This is the person that you want to spend the rest of your life with and you can't even propose to them face to face? Come on, unless you're only going to get married in World of Warcraft land, get the hell off of the computer and spend some quality time with your main squeeze.

This isn't to say that some things aren't easier to discuss via IM. I'll be the first to admit that I've used the internet to initiate awkward conversations, even recently, but there is a line between when this is acceptable and when it is not. Marriage, firing someone (for work or a relationship) need to be done in person. Maybe you can fire someone via the phone, but definitely not via IM.