from thinking about being fired that when it actually happened, all he could do was let out a big sigh. Dear valued employee. If he were so valued, why was he getting fired? Corporate doubletalk. He didn’t even want to burn the building down anymore, or call the fire department to report violations in safety codes, or go into the supply closet and take a lifetime worth of pens and a few bags of the cheap coffee from the breakroom. All he wanted to do now was get all of his stuff and get out.
He clicked open the e-mail from his manager that arrived right after Harrison’s and saw the document that said Brian was to receive a 10-week severance package upon termination. One week for each year of service. What a horrible word. Termination. Terminated. Hasta la vista, baby.
Brian then read that he was to leave his computer in his office, hand in any outstanding project work to his manager, and vacate the building with all of his belongings. Ten years of loyalty with the same company and this is how it ends. With an e-mail and a kick out the door.
Just then, Brian heard someone crying down the hall. He poked his head out of his office to see people telling each other that it would be okay, that everything happens for a reason, and there is always a light at the end of the tunnel and that they would be there for each other, and all the other meaningless platitudes people say in these situations.
This wasn’t the way life was supposed to happen. You don’t get fired for being loyal. You don’t get fired for making quota. You don’t get fired when you have a family of five to feed and clothe. When you and your wife have decided that she will stay home and raise the kids, and you will work because you have great job security and she wants to spend time with the kids while they’re young. It’s just not supposed to happen that way when you are already making sacrifices for the greater good in life. So, if it wasn’t supposed to happen, why was it happening?
After he shut his door, he went back to his desk and put his head in his hands. Brian’s eyes began to well up with tears. He couldn’t believe at 39 years of age he would have to go out and try to find a new job. Would anyone even hire him? Was he too experienced or not experienced enough? He had friends in sales who were still looking for jobs almost a year after getting fired. How could this have happened? What made him so expendable after all his time and effort?
“Damn it!!”
Brian grabbed a napkin that was sitting on his desk and dried his eyes. He wasn’t sure how much time he had to get his stuff together before he would be escorted out of the building. He went back to the computer and continued to copy his personal files. In the meantime, he checked the rest of his e-mail to make sure nothing important was missed before he was gone.
There was an additional e-mail from Chris Conroy titled, “Sorry.” Brian deleted it before even opening it. There were e-mails from people working on current projects, most likely looking for answers that only Brian would be able to provide. He deleted those as well without opening them. They would have to find out the answers themselves. Maybe they would find out how valuable he really was. Or, then again, maybe he wasn’t. He began to question everything he had done the past 10 years.
As his files copied, he continued to delete e-mails, until he came to the last one titled “TIP” from Jack the bartender. Maybe it was the virus Brian had asked for. He clicked it open.
TIP
Dear Brian:
I believe people come into your life for a reason, a purpose. Some are there to give you something, and others come to receive.
TIP is the title of an e-mail newsletter that I send out to friends and customers. A TIP is something you can give, but also get. Being so close to my customers, just about three feet away, allows me the chance to see life in a different way. So, from time to time I share observations that are personal, professional, and always universal.
You said to me last night that I would be singing a different tune if I was the one about to be fired. Well, I wrote the e-mail below a long time ago, but I think you will appreciate it today. I hope you don’t need it and that you still have your job. But, if not, please allow me to share my experience as someone who has been where you are now.
YOU’RE FIRED
I worked in the same place for close to five years. After working an entire weekend on an important project, I was called into the new manager’s office first thing Monday morning. He proceeded to tell me that it was time for the department to make a change, that they were going in a different direction and my services were no longer needed. “We’re going to have to let you go,” he said in a very business-like manner.
Five years of my life in a job that was a part of my identity. A place I shared defining moments of my life. Many successes and failures along the way. No longer needed. I would have to start over.
There comes a time in everyone’s life when someone more powerful than you decides that you have no value to them anymore. For whatever reason, real or fabricated, that person has the ability to shake up your world and change everything. Their perception suddenly becomes your reality.
It’s not just your job. It could be a friendship, a love, a marriage, or even a family relationship. It doesn’t matter, because when you are on the receiving end of being let go, it hurts. It cuts to the core of who you are. At that moment you can do one of two things: you can cry about how you are no longer needed and begin to question your own value, or you can believe that somewhere out there, someone needs your services. Someone else wants the unique talents that only you can bring.
People who self-destruct after being fired do so because they are looking at themselves through the eyes of the person who fired them. They start to question themselves. They lose their confidence and, ultimately, continue through life scared, waiting for someone else to drop the hammer on them. They stop living and just start surviving.
But the people who get fired and bounce back are the ones with resilience, who know they have real value in their world, and whether it’s a job, a love, a family, or a friendship, those people know there will be others who will want their services. There will be others who will appreciate that special something that they have to offer. Many times, it turns out to be even better than the situation they were in.
You are the hero in your story, and heroes always bounce back. Choose to be resilient. The rest will follow.
Take It Personally,
Jack
Brian read the last line over and over again. For the first time all day, he smiled. He thought of his kids who would come running and jump into his arms when he walked in the door from work.
Brian would not look at his world through the eyes of his president, or his manager, or his co-workers saying how sorry they were to see him go. Brian would look at his world through the eyes of his family and those he loved, and those that loved him. He would take control of his own life. He had 10 weeks of severance to find another place where he would be respected and valued. But, Brian realized, only if he valued himself first.
5 First Impressions
Two weeks after Brian was escorted out of the building he had called home for 10 years, he found himself back at the bar called Crossroads.
Brian walked in and found a seat in the middle of the bar. He was looking for Jack, but instead there was a pretty woman with long dark hair behind the bar. It was fairly busy for a Wednesday happy hour, and Brian had to wait about five minutes before she could get to him.
“Hi,”
