Read Part Two here
I got canned at my job a few weeks ago. I’ve never been fired before .The bastards did it to me at the beginning of the holidays. I can get a job in any environment. But no one hires around the holidays. That meant, I knew from the onset, I would be out of work for around six to eight weeks.
I was fired without sufficient cause. Because I offended the sensibilities of management.
Sound familiar? In this the first of two parts, I’m going to share my story, in the second I’m going to discuss it against the larger backdrop of workplace conditions for the average Joe in this country. I’m going to pose a question more than once: what are you going to do about it?
To give a little context, as with the vast majority of writers and artists as a whole, I have a stupid day job. The stupid day job I have is as a Programmer. it’s a thing I fell into after my English teacher job was phased out. It seemed like a good idea at the time- it is now one of the five biggest mistakes I ever made. Under ideal job conditions, my paying career is marginally tolerable for me. So it takes a fair amount of time to find a job where I can survive and not get too fucked with.
The job I just had met those requirements. I was the lone programmer; I could sit in my cubicle and work unmolested. They never required overtime like so many companies seem to think they have a right to do.
Despite my disdain for my paying career I am ferociously good at. I worked at this last place for six months. My code was virtually flawless. I fixed a lot of existing failed code. I saved the company from critical failures on numerous occasions.
I was fired because management dragged its feet getting me what I needed to finish a job and hit a deadline. I made a decision about the project on my own. They didn’t like the fact that I went around the channels of so-called command.
That’s pretty much it. Looking back at it, all that was needed was a five minute meeting discussing who had what role- because that was never made clear. I’ve been doing projects like this one, building a web site, for 15 years. The bosses are absolute rank amateurs next to me. Beyond giving input, which is fine, they choose to dictate technological decisions in what is my area of expertise. That’s as absurd as me busting into a meeting discussing legal changes in mortgages, puffing out my chest and demanding they do as I say because I read an article in Newsweek about it.
The reality was the fewer decisions management made the better the finished project would have turned out.
But that’s often the case for many of us, isn’t it?
I also refused to treat management any differently than anyone else. When they had silly ideas about what they wanted for this web site I told them that their demand was not a good one. They didn’t like that. God forbid I should actually tell them the truth!
Alright, given all this side by side with fact that they have always been delighted with the quality of my work, which often was, I kid you not, spectacular, I suppose it’s possible to see a crease where they would want to have one of those ”attitude-adjustment” meetings. I think it’s a stretch to even consider firing an employee who has done rock-solid work for six months based on one email and a direct attitude.
I was fired because of the immaturity of management and their inability to do what managers are supposed to do- “manage” and get the best out of imperfect people.
If my principal goal had been making the managers feel good about themselves instead of actually finishing the project, I would still be employed!
I think it was stupid for them to fire me, it will cost them tens of thousands in lost efficiency over the next several months to get someone else up to speed. But that was not what has turned me into a calculating beast of prey.
It’s the “how” it happened.
I walked in, 8:30, the Friday before thanksgiving, went to my cubicle in a cubicle city. Before my ass hit the chair, my manager hauls me off to a meeting.
Suddenly, I’m in the vice-president’s office. They tell me I’m being fired.
My manager escorts me back to my cube and they watch me while I pack up- like I’m a criminal about to pilfer something. I start to delete some personal files from my workstation. I carry boxes to my car. By the time I get back to my workstation, my company account has been voided and I can’t get to any emails, files, nothing.
And I’m out on the street.
Sound familiar? If it does- my question is what are you going to do about it??
Your answer is, the same as mine usually is: that you’re going to be as polite and “professional” as possible just in case you need a reference , you don’t want to burn bridges, I have a family and I can’t risk… and on …. and on…. forgive and forget.
Well, that’s simply not going to happen this time. Not this time.
In this case, if I was to just move on, the company would be inclined to think they can get away with this kind of treatment whenever they feel like it. And these yahoos fire and hire people like it’s a bodily function.
To all of you, I ask, when did we all become such fucking whipped dogs? When did we become so compliant and afraid? When did it become okay to swallow abuse and unfairness in the workplace without a fight?My short answer is that we became afraid when they told us to become afraid. We react as they instructed us to react.
In my next article I’ll tell you more about the questionable legal activity at this company and the definite moral lapses.And how we, the average joe workers, continually allow this to happen. And, more interestingly, why?
To the company that fired me: I’m calling you out. What you did to me was not okay. We are not okay on a personal level.
The company that fired me was Wealthbridge Mortgage in Beaverton, Oregon. The people responsible were Nick Shepherd, Ken Frye and Dave Morgan.
I’m going to send this to every media outlet and personal contact I’ve ever had. I’m going to send it to every mortgage company in the Pacific Northwest. And I’m going to make no effort to hide that it was me sending this out.
Stay tuned.
Read Part Two here
