I think enough time has passed that I can tell the story of how I lost the one and only job I have had in 25 years. Let me clarify a little- I have had mine own business several times, I have worked with friends numerous times and I have worked along side my trucking husband. But this was the first real “get a W2 form” type job I’ve had since I became a mom.
I can tell you the how of losing a job but I can’t tell you the why. The person who fired me couldn’t really give me or the unemployment office a reason. I was granted unemployment because they found the whole situation as bizarre as I.
It was a beautiful summer day. The duplexes we managed were in the middle of all getting new heating/cooling systems. This was taking a lot of coordinating from me. There were legal hoops to jump through as well as workman things. You know, can’t make it today, will be late, etc. which led to paperwork and tenant notifications on my part. To say I had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off would be an understatement.
As a matter of fact, the entire year had been this way but we had persevered, worked 80 hours a week and were actually looking at things quieting down soon, at least a little. We had been told by the owners that they loved us and wanted us to work forever. We were having some strange problems with our boss and others in the management company we worked for but we hoped that would clear up soon. There was a lot of contradictory information heading our way sometimes from the same person, the boss. It was confusing and frustrating but we figured it was just because we were still learning the ropes.
So this day, the big boss showed up unexpectedly. It was no problem for us. We assumed he wanted to check out all the work being done. He ran into my husband and my sister in law just outside the office. She was picking up a rental application. Brent introduced them. When he used the word boss, he was corrected, “Oh, we are all family in this company.” Okay.
He asked Brent to join him in my office. We realized something wasn’t right immediately. He had cutoff shorts, a t-shirt with a saying on it and he was barefoot. This was all very much against company dress code. Well, maybe it was just a casual drop in just to say hi.
After sitting, helping himself to my candy bowl, and saying how much he liked coming to my office he announced that he had good and bad news, what did we want to hear first? I replied that we would let him choose. He said, “Thank you.” He then slid an envelope across the desk towards me and stated, “This is your last paycheck, we are letting you go.” He grinned as he said this. He added, “Do you have anything you want to say?”
Stunned, I ran rapidly through the things I would have very much liked to say. I’m sure you can think of a few of them. Instead I replied, “There doesn’t seem to be much point to talk about anything. It’s already a done deal. You obviously aren’t interested in anything I might have to say.” The next ten minutes were bizarre! I did ask why but all he could say was that I was the smartest person in his organization. He said this several times. When I pointed out that we had saved this particular account for him he agreed. There were a few other things I tried to discuss but it was getting more and more confusing. He agreed with everything I pointed out about our hard work. He agreed that we had turned a slummy, low income complex into a beautiful desirable community. He really couldn’t come up with anything negative. He wasn’t making much sense and I wanted to get away before I fell completely apart.
The owners were upset, the tenants were angry but it was already done. Later we found out that the next day he checked into a hospital. He was diagnosed bipolar and it appeared that he had been “self-medicating” for the past year and a half. That sure explained a lot of things that had been hard to understand. He was in the hospital for four months.
We felt compassion for him and often included him in our prayers but there is one thing I may never forgive him for. When my husband gets in certain moods he likes to egg me on by saying something along the lines of I actually drove a person crazy. Sometimes I really think I probably did. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
I can tell you the how of losing a job but I can’t tell you the why. The person who fired me couldn’t really give me or the unemployment office a reason. I was granted unemployment because they found the whole situation as bizarre as I.
It was a beautiful summer day. The duplexes we managed were in the middle of all getting new heating/cooling systems. This was taking a lot of coordinating from me. There were legal hoops to jump through as well as workman things. You know, can’t make it today, will be late, etc. which led to paperwork and tenant notifications on my part. To say I had been running around like a chicken with its head cut off would be an understatement.
As a matter of fact, the entire year had been this way but we had persevered, worked 80 hours a week and were actually looking at things quieting down soon, at least a little. We had been told by the owners that they loved us and wanted us to work forever. We were having some strange problems with our boss and others in the management company we worked for but we hoped that would clear up soon. There was a lot of contradictory information heading our way sometimes from the same person, the boss. It was confusing and frustrating but we figured it was just because we were still learning the ropes.
So this day, the big boss showed up unexpectedly. It was no problem for us. We assumed he wanted to check out all the work being done. He ran into my husband and my sister in law just outside the office. She was picking up a rental application. Brent introduced them. When he used the word boss, he was corrected, “Oh, we are all family in this company.” Okay.
He asked Brent to join him in my office. We realized something wasn’t right immediately. He had cutoff shorts, a t-shirt with a saying on it and he was barefoot. This was all very much against company dress code. Well, maybe it was just a casual drop in just to say hi.
After sitting, helping himself to my candy bowl, and saying how much he liked coming to my office he announced that he had good and bad news, what did we want to hear first? I replied that we would let him choose. He said, “Thank you.” He then slid an envelope across the desk towards me and stated, “This is your last paycheck, we are letting you go.” He grinned as he said this. He added, “Do you have anything you want to say?”
Stunned, I ran rapidly through the things I would have very much liked to say. I’m sure you can think of a few of them. Instead I replied, “There doesn’t seem to be much point to talk about anything. It’s already a done deal. You obviously aren’t interested in anything I might have to say.” The next ten minutes were bizarre! I did ask why but all he could say was that I was the smartest person in his organization. He said this several times. When I pointed out that we had saved this particular account for him he agreed. There were a few other things I tried to discuss but it was getting more and more confusing. He agreed with everything I pointed out about our hard work. He agreed that we had turned a slummy, low income complex into a beautiful desirable community. He really couldn’t come up with anything negative. He wasn’t making much sense and I wanted to get away before I fell completely apart.
The owners were upset, the tenants were angry but it was already done. Later we found out that the next day he checked into a hospital. He was diagnosed bipolar and it appeared that he had been “self-medicating” for the past year and a half. That sure explained a lot of things that had been hard to understand. He was in the hospital for four months.
We felt compassion for him and often included him in our prayers but there is one thing I may never forgive him for. When my husband gets in certain moods he likes to egg me on by saying something along the lines of I actually drove a person crazy. Sometimes I really think I probably did. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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