Thursday Ramble: Departures

 

Reading comments on a recent post, I got to thinking about some of the jobs that I have departed from.  The first half of my working life was spent in the homebuilding industry, work that goes through a lot of people and money. The risk was high, the margins sometimes low.   

The first company was small, family owned, and treated people like underpaid family members.  I was there seven years. Then the owners received an offer they couldn't refuse and sold out to a massive British conglomerate.  Changes were rapid, and ugly. People were moved around, assignments changed, schedules changed, prices went up, communications went down. I was not happy, and I started to look around. A former boss played tennis with Wild Bill, and I got an offer, and he needed me to start the next day - he had fired someone that morning and I was the replacement.  I remember going into resign, I was kept we waiting for an hour.  I was emotional. When she asked why, I simply said, "I lost faith in what we are doing." I handed her my keys, and drove home. 

Wild Bill, told me when he hired me that he would "screw with my mind, but not my money."  He was a master manipulator, but the money was really-really good. Then he tried in intervene in an affair between his boss, and one of my colleagues. The stress level in the offices was high, and I was very burned out, and needed a change. I took a sabbatical, a semester off from work and went to University full time.  I was invited to a staff party a couple of months into it, that was great fun, and ended up being sort of a going away party for myself and my boss.  He was replaced soon after.  When I called to get back on the schedule, I was told by my former colleague, who had been promoted to replace Wild Bill by the boss she was having an affair with, that I should move on. 

The next builder was another large national company, that was really an accounting firm that built houses to keep the accountants busy.  It was a nightmare. The product was poorly built, and overpriced, and the solution from the bean counters was to keep adding more staff. I mentioned to my boss that more people was not the solution.  A few days later, on my birthday, he showed up in my office late in the  afternoon to tell me, that I was right, and I was the 8th person he had let go that afternoon. 

I did a brief interlude for a building supply company, then returned to the previous builder.  After most of the staff was let go, the boss was axed, and replaced by the Wild Bill.  Things were better, the product was improved, I had a few good months.  Then a well meaning friend "outed" me to Wild Bill, and I was asked for my keys and told to leave.  I was fired for being gay, in a state that offered no protections.  

The next builder was from out of state, and really didn't understand the market. It was an easy place to work, but not great.  We were paid once a month, one payday we showed up and there were no checks.  The guy who owned it had decided he didn't want to lose anymore money and shut it down.  

Then strangely enough, I went back to work for the Brits that owned the first company that I worked for.  They had gotten their act together, the product was good, the prices somewhat competitive.  I worked there until we decided to move. My plan was to collect my check, take it to the bank, and go back and hand in my keys. Someone had tipped off the boss that I was leaving, and there was no check.   

The building industry used large numbers of people and money.  I wanted out, though I still miss parts of the magic of turning raw land into finished neighborhoods.  

I had a year to fill before I started graduate school, and I had a couple of short term jobs.  The first one I left with notice for the second one, and I left the second one to start law school with little fanfare. 

My first job out of law school lasted 9.5 years.  I was overworked, underpaid, and burned out. There were some internal challenges with the director. I spent some time looking for a work in a place we wanted to live in. I interviewed with the ABA.  The director resigned, and my colleague stepped into the hot seat as director.  Her first day on the job, I accepted the offer from the ABA, and tendered a month's notice, assuring her that it was not her.  If she is reading this, Nan it really was not you, I felt so bad leaving just as you were starting to lead. We talked about a going away lunch, and at the last minute finally found a day that fit everyone's calendar.  I was scheduled to be at a holiday luncheon that day hosted by the local aging center.  I figured I could skip that and no one would notice. As we are heading out to lunch I get a panicked phone call from a friend at the aging center wanting to know where I was.  I explained that I was headed out to lunch with my co-workers.  He broke the news to me that I was to be honored at the luncheon, and I was not there.  The plaque is on top of the safe in my bedroom.  I felt guilty, but you can't be in two places at one time.  That one was complicated.