As mentioned in the previous post, I lost my job in March. The reason given me, after 33-1/2 years
working in the aerospace industry first as a specifications writer and then as
an editor, was tardiness. Naturally, I believe that the real reason was
something else, mainly the personality conflict between me and my supervisor—a
man with no background, education, or ability in the field of documentation,
someone who was basically a computer equipment and facilities planner. Nothing about the situation was different
than it had been at other times during my years at that company, and
although I sometimes came in late, I always got in at least my required 40
hours. The only difference was the
supervisor. The nature of my work—which
I really enjoyed—meant that it was not unusual for me to need to stay later in
the evening, depending on the project.
Unfortunately, the supervisor had documented his
"counseling" sessions, and I never documented any of his behavior. The next two levels of management up from the
bad guy were new to those positions, and didn't know me from Adam, although I
had good working relationships with my coworkers and the people I did work for,
my customers. The universal reaction
expressed, both to my face and communicated by several third parties, was disbelief
that I had been fired.
Because I was discharged "for cause," the State of
Texas turned me down for unemployment compensation. I pursued the appeals process, as far as
possible without hiring a lawyer, but dropped it after the second level of
appeal was denied. One thing I learned
from all this was that you should document your side of the story if you're
having problems with a supervisor.
All during that time (from March until sometime in August) I
was actively but unsuccessfully looking for a job. Fortunately, I was fully vested in the
retirement program, and was able to take a lump sum that I rolled over to avoid
a big tax hit (since my termination was involuntary, I avoided the tax penalty
for withdrawal before age 59-1/2). I'm
still covered by COBRA, although the really ironic aspect is that at age 60 I
could have retired and continued my insurance to age 65 at the same cost as if
I were still employed. Insurance had
been the chief reason I turned down a fairly generous voluntary separation
package in 2011.
Once I got past the initial hurt and shock, I let go of most
of the anger. Oh, I'd still probably
flip off the creep if I ever saw him; but since the first quarter of 2011, out
of fewer than ten employees over whom he has supervisory responsibility, six or
seven people —not counting me—have either left on their own or been discharged
by him. At some point when that company
is looking to thin out lower-level managers, he's going to come under some
close and uncomfortable scrutiny.
During the time I was looking for a job and appealing the
state's decision, I realized that I was feeling so much better. Don't get me wrong, I loved the work I was
doing, and was proud of the job I did; but I realize now that I hated going in
to deal with all his crap every day—and all the seemingly ill-advised decisions
being made every day by the management farthest from the day-to-day work. I miss the work, I miss the people, but I
don't miss the situation.
After looking into several universities, things came
together so that just in time for the fall semester, I was unconditionally
admitted to the University of Texas at Arlington. So I'm back in school, my first semester underway,
working on a PhD in English. I'm running
as fast as I can, having a very busy but very enjoyable time.
