The Day Before My Sixty-Ninth Birthday I Was Let Go From My Job.
- The Day Before My Sixty-Ninth Birthday I Was Let Go From My Job.
I Started the Job Only Seven Weeks Earlier.
This letter serves as written notice that your employment with Blue Company LLC has been terminated.
(Blue Company LLC) — is not the real name of the company
Your laptop, phone, company credit card, and key must be returned immediately following this meeting.
Nines Weeks Earlier.
I applied to five different local Information Technology support companies for an Information Technology Professional. Only one company responded, and after two interviews hired me. My resume contained years of experience in several fields serving in both management and non-management positions. They commented that experience was just what they needed to fill the position.
Besides the customary background check, a driver license check was necessary because the job required driving a company vehicle to customer sites. The driving record came back fast, but the background took a little longer. The owners decided that the need was greater, and they felt comfortable starting me before the checks were complete. I started setting up my laptop, phone, accounts, and everything I would need to get running quickly. The background check came back clear, as I expected.
The first three weeks were great. I received training from the owners, one of whom was the office manager, the other more technical, and the lead technician. Each week we were visiting customers sites. At the end of the three weeks, I was told I was going into the rotation of weekly visits to customers. Those in the rotation included the one technical owner, the lead technician, and me. The prior rotation comprised only the owner and the lead technician. I felt honored being placed in the rotation quickly.
I was taking an incoming customer call and relied on the lead technician for help. The lead technician strangely began giving me incorrect or incomplete customer information. In answering a call from a customer, I asked the lead technician for help, which giving that information to the customer. The customer was not happy and called one owner who resolved the issue. Neither of the owners discussed the incident with me. The next day I asked the lead technician why he gave me incorrect information which made that customer unhappy and called one owner. He said sorry he gave me the wrong information.
I spoke with one owner regarding the matter. I told her I had two opportunities to avoid this terrible customer experience. Once, if there was a closed case to refer to and the second opportunity when I had asked the lead technician for help and received incorrect information regarding the customer. Asking her why there was not a closed case for this issue, she went berserk. Telling me she does not open cases for everything and then replied with a snotty attitude that she would start creating a case for everything she handles. I replied she did not have to change office procedure for me and that maybe discussing it with the other owner was a better option. This transpired on a Friday.
Monday morning during the daily morning meeting the owners presented a new process, which they had likely spent many hours re-working the support systems to prevent this from happening again. I thought that was the end.
But that turned out to not be the case. The following four weeks resulted in fewer cases assigned to me. The other technician hired two weeks prior to me, their cases increased significantly, and my cases were then almost nothing. This technician had no experience and was in training, having recently completed a certificate program. I regularly reviewed the case queue, seeing most newly created cases when to the lead technician, and with some trickling to the junior technician. By the end of week 5, I was receiving no cases. I had two pending cases; they instructed me to close one and transfer the other one owner to order a part. Week six and seven, no cases came to me.
Monday was a holiday, Tuesday was the birthday lunch for one owner, the company brought in paid lunch for everyone. I was wondering what I should do for my Friday birthday. Both birthdays were on the team calendar. Maybe the owners were planning to buy lunch for everyone for my birthday on Friday. The owners had paid for lunch several times in the past. But that is not what happened.
Thursday was the end of the seventh week for me at this job. One owner invited me into the conference room for a meeting.
That Thursday at about 11:30 pm, my employment at the Blue Company LLC ended. I asked why and he replied, “too many customer complaints.” They both did not in the seven weeks discuss any customer complaints with me. He collected the laptop, phone, company credit card, and key. I left the building and was on my way.
The experience saddened me, and I decided there must be something better waiting for me and put one foot in front of the other.
