by TerryWalstrom 15 Replies latest jw friends
Here in Australia one has an advantaged in being fired, as citizens get social welfare almost straight away. If you quit your job & have no other, social welfare won't kick in until 25 weeks have passed. I'm a non-citizen so better to quit as I did with my last job, I don't get any social welfare even tho I pay the same (if not more) tax as citizens.
sorry it's abit off topic.
As I've gotten older, my memories of things I've said and done while employed make me wince.
I may be wrong about this, but I think much of my non-compliant nature came as a reaction to having been a Jehovah's Witness and going to prison for absolutely no good reason other than doing as I was told by people who had Truth on their side.
NOT!
After that experience and especially after leaving the Organization ( hey--I was fired!) I really became 'mouthy' and said what I thought was true and correct even to a Boss.
Without the wisdom and experience of age (which I'd like to believe I have now) I did the best I could at the time. Yet, I can't acquit myself and pretend I wasn't a pain in the ass or insubordinate.
Hey--I'm still insubordinate. I'm just more apologetic now :)
Great story, Terry. You're a great story teller and I always enjoy your tales of yore.
The only thing I might have done differently is that I'd have showed up to collect my winnings and THEN quit. Do you know for a fact that Mike was gonna win anyway, or did you just figure he would? If you had showed up and Chuck did let Mike screw you out of your winnings, that would have been the time to expose their chicanery and then quit in protest. You could even do it in style, leaving, as the saying goes, "in a huff and a Cadillac." By quitting preemptively, you yourself guaranteed he'd win.
I knew the Accountant, Ken Michaelson and the Office Manager, Jean Furuya, and they tipped me off.
Ken told me he had argued to no avail against Chuck's decision.
The purpose of the so-called contest was to generate sales, boost Mike's ego, and take me down in front of the others. Chuck was the owner and he wouldn't be sidetracked with a little thing like fairness :)
Part of me really enjoyed working for Creative Galleries. I have many fond memories. I've written about many celebrities I met while I was there.
But, as I mentioned at the beginning of my outsized tale, there is a character flaw in me where I get in my own way when I'm around AUTHORITY which has rigged things against any rational action. I can't seem to help myself.
So, it is as much a case study in my neuroses as the particular characters and events.
I went back to visit about 10 years later. I didn't see Mike. There were all new employees. Jean was there and Mike came out and took me aside and asked me not to tell any of the employees anything. He meant (I gathered) that it was possible to have a decent life outside of working for him.
The Antique Guild had closed and his river of opportunistic business had dried into something less than it had been.
It was bittersweet.
"a line of bullshit that could keep a field of alfalfa green all summer"
I absolutely love this line!
What a wordsmith!
GrreatTeacher: What a wordsmith!
______
If only!
Thank you.
CYRANO: "Oh! I have writ it and rewrit it in my own mind so oft that it lies there ready for pen and ink; and if I lay but my soul by my letter-sheet, 'tis naught to do but to copy from it."
