I’ve been fired from several jobs. I won’t mince words. Even though the terms used included laid off, position eliminated, reorganization & let go, in the end, it was all the same. I woke that day having a job with a paycheck and by the end of the day, I did not.
Here are the specifics:
- I was fired from my warehouse manager job because I gave less than 2 weeks notice when I quit (I had offered to work another 5-10 days). My boss of 4 years, who was also a lifelong friend of my wife, was furious when I quit. I explained I had taken a night job delivering newspapers because it paid me 50% more and the take-home pay increase was significant. (I went from $7/hr to about $12/hr.). I had intended to give two weeks notice but, was so exhausted working all day at the warehouse and then working the overnight shift delivering papers I realized I couldn’t physically keep up. My boss started screaming, called me a fucking dirt bag loser who would never amount to anything, and stormed off. Five minutes later he came back to the warehouse and told me to get the fuck out of there. I tried to call him ant home that week and make amends to him several times but he refused to speak to me. (I did feel justified in leaving after this business went under about a year later. I also felt a bit smug 5 years later after I had embarked on my tech sales career and was on my way to making 6 figures.)
- I was fired from my sale position 6 months after relocating to Florida to join the company. Before accepting the job, I was apprehensive that the company that had already had 3+ reorgs, replaced its CEO and was teetering on bankruptcy. But I chose to put on the blinders and accept the recruiting hype they pitched throughout the interview process. We staffed tech and customer support people for the travel industry. The dotcom crash was happening when I joined. Then 9/11 happened. We lost 95% of our business almost overnight. I had sold nothing during the six months I was there. Then I received a call that my boss was fired. I was let go the next day as part of yet another restructuring. I was so glad to get out of that business. They had sold me a load of BS during the interview process. The market was a disaster. I was a failure in that job. Within 2 weeks I had landed a better position with a local tech startup that paid more and was well within my wheelhouse.
- I was fired from another small tech company one week after I purchased my house in 2008. I had worked with the owner as a partner (of sorts- not legally or monetarily) to build his business over the previous 3 years. Unfortunately, the business was having cash flow issues. My paychecks and commissions had been late several times in recent months and sales were slow. I could see the writing on the wall. After my boss completed his end of year financials, he decided to contract the business from 5 employees to one tech plus himself. We parted on good terms. Years later, I reconnected with him to thank him for the job and tell him how much I appreciated his kindness and understanding when my stepdaughter died and for supporting my relocation during that process. He was a good man.
- I was fired for the last time in 2017 from a VC backed tech company that I had worked at for almost 4 years. The company had burned through several VPs of Sales (whom I reported to) during the previous 5 years. Although it had received multiple rounds of VC funding over the years, it struggled to create a viable, marketable product. When I was hired, I was led to believe the finances, product, executive team and market opportunity were in great shape and that they just needed a good Inside Sales leader to build an effective inside sales team. Within a year after I was let go, the company was acquired by a Fortune 500. It appears to have been a moderately successful exist for the Executive team and a decent payout for the remaining employees who held stock. (I was not one of them.)
- After this firing, I was burnt out. I interviewed for a few positions, but didn’t want to relocate again, travel extensively and work myself to the bone to make another startup founding team rich. This was my last job. I started my consulting the following year where I made over $100K working part time doing freelance consulting for year. I enjoyed being self-employed but the opportunities dried up after about a year.
- Then, when my wife was diagnosed with lung cancer, I stopped consulting and took care of her for 8 months until she died. My purge, road trip and early retirement came after she was gone.
There were several other jobs that I quit throughout my lifetime. I won’t cover them here. Suffice it to say, I quit them for one of these reasons:
- I found a better job
- The owner (or my boss) was an asshole
- They went bankrupt and/or couldn’t make payroll
Here’s the thing about each of these firings (and also the jobs I voluntary left).
After an initial panic, I always felt a huge wave of relief wash over me.
The burden of sticking it out was lifted off of my shoulders.
I knew when I wasn’t a good fit. I knew when my employers were financially struggling or the business was no longer viable. I knew when things were going downhill. The signs were obvious and omnipresent.
I just had a very hard time leaving voluntarily because I needed the paycheck. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to pay my bills and support my family.
Getting fired (or quitting) resolved that fear for me. Once the decision was made, I leapt into action.
It was stressful being under the gun needing to find a job quickly. But I had no choice so I did what I had to – I put my head down, searched aggressively, sold myself hard and took risks. It paid off.
Usually I landed another job within a few weeks. The longest I was unemployed was 6 months.
Two times, I left the best job I ever had. The first time, it took me a decade to make it back up to the level of income I had made during the dotcom boom. The second time I left a great position, I immediately increased my compensation by 25%, but has lost out on job satisfaction, future earnings, career progression opportunities and unvested stock options with my previous employer.
Still, all in all, I ended up being OK every time.
I spent most of my life worrying that the next day at work could be my last. And, more than a dozen times, it was. I wish I hadn’t spent so many other thousands of days worrying about it so much.
Here’s my original How Do You Spell Relief post. It’s unrelated except for the title.