No I have not posted in awhile... I was displaced at work on April 4th and it has taken the wind out of me. I thought I was settled into a great place to retire where stress was low most of the time but you all know there's that one jerk who has to ruin everything. So I am now at age 52 looking for a job and it is not pleasant. I have a lot of experience in the automotive industry but no desire to return to it. The fast pace, hours, travel and people are just not my thing anymore.
I did go ahead and renew my Brokers license for Real Estate. The market is good, but having any income is at least 6 months away doing that and I need a 3 month turn. I am looking for something where I am not tied to one place all the time. I have even put in with Terminex... yeah a bug man I can be.... but going under houses doesn't bother me and meeting different people would be fun. I may not be pushy enough to sell things but who knows. I have to do something...
This all brings me back to relationships. I knew from about the 4th month that I might be a threat to some people where I worked. I had a lot of upper management experience and was a middle manager. I was taking direction from someone I did not respect or trust and it eventually became a loss for me. My wife had told me for over a year to get out of there... and she was right... again. There is a fine line between knowledge and pride. I knew better, but I knew I had a job that was low stress most of the time. I do feel that God has a purpose for me in this and I will be VERY obedient to it. I seek your prayers for His will in my life.
After all the years of managing others I can say I have never once talked down to anyone. I was always taking the mentoring role or coaching role and using steps to improve them or tell them those same steps if not helpful would get them out the door. I never had to curse anyone or be negative and say things like "you just are not capable" or "what the BLEEP do you think you are doing?" I was always able to manage through things more positively. If they have an attendance problem show them the policy... ask what I could do to help...make sure there isn't a deeper issue. I always got good results and felt I had people's respect.
When this guy talked to me like I was a dope dealer out on the floor one day over a shipment that had a wrong label on it and made me feel like I was 1" tall in front of all my team I was done with him. I later heard him do the same very early one morning to the HR manager in the office and I heard it through the wall.... so double done. I guess he knew it and once he saw I did not respect him he set out to can me. I did tell HR if he ever did that again I would file a complaint and want it addressed. We had policies that said you cannot do that... but everyone there was scared of him. I don't think one person there respected him... it was or is all fear.
He is one of those people that has MMIF on his forehead...Make Me Feel Important. He drives a BMW. He does not have a degree but studies up on words to use around you to make you feel stupid. I truly believe he had an app for a new word and he used one everyday. He dressed up in a tie and we were seldom visited by customers... thus casual would do and was policy. It was a power trip. He stayed in his office or in the front office area except for maybe 20 minutes a day. No one knew what he did all day and most said "nothing". Yet he was a Senior VP... over everything. All of the CSR's complained they knew nothing about anything going on and what I most remember is once he said "I don't need to have meetings with you it is your floor and you run it but if anyone comes to me over something I will get involved" and "I only manage from 10,000 feet.... you manage from the ground that is your job"... in other words "you do it and I'll be in here at my desk if someone wants to complain about you".
He said in year one I was making great progress removing walls between cultures and the office staff. That I was making great improvements. In year two it was more of the same and two new projects. I had started on one and hit a block with IT. They said they would keep him informed... apparently not. It was told to me off the record that his "straw that broke the camels back" was me not getting this done and delegating it off to other people. Had he EVER met with me or been involved in the operations side past walking through once a day on his morning walk he could have seen my detailed plan and where I was "on hold" because IT was dragging their feet getting the software people in. That's his 10,000 foot view.
I just had a review in January and it was good and I got a nice increase. He had not sat with me or talked to me much at all since. As above, 10,000 feet up and unaware of what REALLY was going on. So to be carried into a conference room on April 4 and told "you are not a part of our 5 year plan" and released was a shock. Like the way we had done others there, even hourly people, I was never met with over anything to give a warning or "plan for improvement" like we always did. I just got the shaft. Even the HR Manager was not in the loop until that morning. This guy went to the President who knew me from nobody and spoke little English and told him God knows what to get him to agree to let him fire me. This was a personal thing, not a business thing. My separation slip said "Due to production deficiencies Me Holden is no longer a long term fit for our company" so was it because I was deficient or because I was 52 and said a few times I didn't want to work past 55-60 bit I would HAVE TO!?
I can't disclose the terms of my release.... that would be grounds for a lawsuit. I cannot give away their "trade secrets" but that's not a problem... most companies are LIGHT YEARS ahead of this one. He can now go in knowing he won as he snickers under his breath and feels his power within. I on the other hand am worried how I will feed my family because I have not and will not draw a dollar from the feds. I do however have a God that will carry me and shelter me and provide. It may be the last hour but His help will come. It may be to humble me but I will still proclaim Him as mine and go forward.
I cant judge or know but I feel that that man who did this does not have that for himself. Most Christians have a heart of compassion and would always go about things the right way. Whatever his reasons for letting me go (they were not business reasons... I had done a lot to help the company and done everything I was asked to do and more... building bridges across cultures and automating processes) it was not followed like a person of belief. There was no discussion, no plan, no consideration for anyone else but him. He had a mission and he followed it without fail.
I always called him Barney Fife. Guess I got his one bullet right in the head!
Spotted Saddle Horses and Life on a Small Farm... Bent, Rusted, Broken and Busted!
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