I’ve never been fired. Have you?
I’ve never gotten the pink slip, the axe, the boot, or the heave ho.
Never been downsized, transitioned, restructured, or offered an early retirement package.
Nor have I been let go, laid off, terminated, or streamlined.
I have, however, exited early on more than a few occasions. Once I went too hastily, impulsively really, and it’s a regret I acknowledge. Usually though, when it has been time for me to leave, there have been no tears.
Except in Kazakhstan.
Remember this song by Johnny Paycheck?
Once upon a time, I pretty much (kind of, sort of) said “Take this job and shove it.” It felt as good as the song leads us to believe. At the time. I ran to the door.
How about you? How have your exits been?
( a small lengthy post script by way of explanation for the surprise post Monday morning. I was as surprised as anyone. Last March, when I began this “Three Things I Wish I Knew” series, I wrote and scheduled them through April. Then I bundled the remaining ideas into a single post and scheduled it for the first weekday in May: time enough to be sure I’d revisit it. Then promptly forgot about it.
I will be revisiting this idea at some point. Or perhaps it’ll wind up becoming my summer series. Time, as “they” say, will tell.)
Marian Beaman
You said last week I owned you only one since I gave you five on the “hired” post.
I haven’t been officially fired, but if my stint lasted more than the summer before I got married and moved on, I might have. I was in a receptionist/secretarial position in the church Cliff and I were married in. Operating the buttons on the phones flummoxed me. I panicked every time the phone rang and pushed wrong extensions. If I had just relaxed, taken a deep breath, I had been all right. Clearly, it wasn’t my thing!
Janet Givens
Boy, Marian, isn’t that the trick in most of life’s challenges! “Relax, deep breath, go!” Of course, often easier to say than do. But “knowing” what is and isn’t “our thing” is also so important. I spent a full year in nursing school before discovering that being a nurse, “wasn’t my thing.” Thanks for starting us off.
Ian Mathie
I’ve never been fired. Shot at, yes, and hit by the bullet, yes, but not fired.
Still, can’t complain, I survived! 🙂
Janet Givens
These things are so much simpler to deal with there in the bush (I’m assuming this was not one of the jobs you held in the UK) — no employee handbook to review, no legal counsel to implore, no severance package to negotiate. But, Ouch. Which book did this story make it into? (I’m afraid I haven’t been on the exercise bike in a while; so, my reading has suffered).
Ian Mathie
It’s in the Danakil book, but I got shot at in other places too, they just didn’t hit me on those occasions! Life in the developing world could get exciting at times, trying to get constructive work done with revolutions going on. But hey-ho, I survived to tell the tales!
And never got fired! 🙂 Although at times I wondered why not…:)
Merril Smith
No, I’ve never been fired either. I have a similar experience to Marian’s in a summer job at Wendy’s. There were people there whose big ambition in life was to be an assistant manager at Wendy’s, but I really didn’t care about the order ingredients went on for a hamburger, and I also messed up at the cash register. I never did any of my summer jobs for more than one summer. 🙂
Janet Givens
Ah summer jobs. Now, there’s a topic for a future blog post. I’m just glad you can’t relate to Ian’s experience.
Joan Z. Rough
I’ve never been fired by anyone either, except when I fire myself when I need an attitude adjustment. At the last Insight Dialogue Meditation I went to I learned a great term for just that: working with the mind. Now when I tell myself I’m not enough or can’t do something, I sit myself down and talk to my mind about not going there. It works!
Ian Mathie
Firing yourself? How does that work, Joan?
Janet Givens
Thanks Joan. Your comment seems to have slipped in while I had my head turned. I’m so sorry. Sometimes we can be harder on ourselves than any tyrant we might have worked for. I’m glad you’ve found a way through.