Seventy Two Hours: Episode I
I remember thinking when I was with Cin on Thursday night that the next 72 hours would be "interesting." I was right - strange times.
I took Friday off. I went to my insurance agent's office, got blood drawn for an upcoming physical, got myself signed up for direct deposit from the one job I have that I still get checks from, finished a book review I had due, and then went to the gym. Normally that would be a relaxing day, but the book review took alot longer than I thought I really wanted to get it done before going out of town this weekend. So I did and I made it to happy hour at a somewhat normal time. Here's where things got crazy.
DrMo, her sister, and our friend Elana (she's one of the two twins that came to my birthday party - see the previous post) were enjoying dinner and drinks when our boss shows up. This is from the part time job that both me, DrMo, and her sister all work at (and Cin, but she wasn't there) and Elana used to work at. He looked like crap. I said hello, got him a stool, and asked him what was wrong. He then stated that sometime in November would be his last day with the company (hereafter called TheCompany). He was "asked to leave" and couldn't discuss the matter any further. Wow - what a shocker. For years, this guy (we'll call him MrSailor, as he liked to sail and was in the Navy for a while), and one of the VPs of TheCompany have never gotten along and butted heads all the time. There were always problems, and one had to wonder who would outlast who. But this? Wow.
To put this in perspective, I started working for TheCompany when I was fifteen years old. It was my first job. MrSailor was my second boss - he was working when I started and moved into the "boss" role about a year or so later. So he's really been my boss for over 12 years. He got me into being a lifeguarding instructor. He taught me almost everything I know about how to save someone's life and how to train people to save lives. He inspired me to be an EMT a number of years ago (which I can no longer do due to time, unfortunately).
What bothers me the most is that this is the absolutely wrong thing to do. I've been in countless situations where two people cannot get along in a professional environment. Every job I've ever had has been like this - some of these have been far worse than the thing between these two folks. The major problem is that there are about a billion things that TheSailor does for TheCompany that no one else can do right now. I'm not just trying to sound dramatic - there are no fulltime people working for TheCompany that know how to do some of the things he's done. Period. And these are important things - like hiring and training (in a customer service organization, don't you think you want to retain the guy who does all your hiring and training?). To get rid of someone because you don't get along with them, not taking into account all the work he does - working well beyond his job position and miles beyond his salary, seems very petty. It's a heck of a way to run a company.
So where do we go from here? I have no idea.
(Episode II of Seventy Two Hours can be found on the travel log - the companion blog to this one).
I took Friday off. I went to my insurance agent's office, got blood drawn for an upcoming physical, got myself signed up for direct deposit from the one job I have that I still get checks from, finished a book review I had due, and then went to the gym. Normally that would be a relaxing day, but the book review took alot longer than I thought I really wanted to get it done before going out of town this weekend. So I did and I made it to happy hour at a somewhat normal time. Here's where things got crazy.
DrMo, her sister, and our friend Elana (she's one of the two twins that came to my birthday party - see the previous post) were enjoying dinner and drinks when our boss shows up. This is from the part time job that both me, DrMo, and her sister all work at (and Cin, but she wasn't there) and Elana used to work at. He looked like crap. I said hello, got him a stool, and asked him what was wrong. He then stated that sometime in November would be his last day with the company (hereafter called TheCompany). He was "asked to leave" and couldn't discuss the matter any further. Wow - what a shocker. For years, this guy (we'll call him MrSailor, as he liked to sail and was in the Navy for a while), and one of the VPs of TheCompany have never gotten along and butted heads all the time. There were always problems, and one had to wonder who would outlast who. But this? Wow.
To put this in perspective, I started working for TheCompany when I was fifteen years old. It was my first job. MrSailor was my second boss - he was working when I started and moved into the "boss" role about a year or so later. So he's really been my boss for over 12 years. He got me into being a lifeguarding instructor. He taught me almost everything I know about how to save someone's life and how to train people to save lives. He inspired me to be an EMT a number of years ago (which I can no longer do due to time, unfortunately).
What bothers me the most is that this is the absolutely wrong thing to do. I've been in countless situations where two people cannot get along in a professional environment. Every job I've ever had has been like this - some of these have been far worse than the thing between these two folks. The major problem is that there are about a billion things that TheSailor does for TheCompany that no one else can do right now. I'm not just trying to sound dramatic - there are no fulltime people working for TheCompany that know how to do some of the things he's done. Period. And these are important things - like hiring and training (in a customer service organization, don't you think you want to retain the guy who does all your hiring and training?). To get rid of someone because you don't get along with them, not taking into account all the work he does - working well beyond his job position and miles beyond his salary, seems very petty. It's a heck of a way to run a company.
So where do we go from here? I have no idea.
(Episode II of Seventy Two Hours can be found on the travel log - the companion blog to this one).
posted by jeffsix at 8:53 PM
4 Comments:
I can tell you one thing he didn't do...he didn't spend an hour trying to inflate that 8' pool with a bicycle pump.
I thanked you for that. What more do you want?
BTW, the mental picture of you trying to inflate that thing with that pump continues to amuse me.
Now picture me doing it naked and sweaty.
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