DECEMBER 1st.
It was a cold Monday morning as I made my way to work. I had just gotten home the previous night around 11:30 after taking vacation days wrapped around Thanksgiving. My shift started at 9:30, and after a couple of phone calls in my headset, I had an unscheduled meeting show up on my desktop.
It said "follow up", in all lower case. It was scheduled for 10 am and the meeting room was listed as down on the 1st floor, in a conference room I had never heard of. My heart sank.
Two weeks before, I had an impromptu meeting with my manager, who had asked me about a number of phone calls that were less than 30 seconds in length during the month of August. My first thought was "it's late November and you're just now asking me about this?". I explained to her that I had been having problems with my headset ever since I had started sitting with a new hire, and I never thought anything about reporting the issue to her. Of course, her implications were much more severe.
Without saying it verbally, she and the 'management team' were implying that I had been disconnecting phone calls improperly. This was a serious allegation. My heart sank during that meeting as well.
I had a checkered past with my employer. I had been given one warning for not telling callers that they were required to contact their clients for changes made to documents. I also had a different warning for dead air time. This allegation, if founded, would force me out of a job.
I put myself in the status of 'meeting', and headed downstairs to the unplanned meeting, fearing the worst. I packed my belongings in my book bag and also took my phone, wallet and car keys with me to the meeting. I knew that if this was the worst, that I wanted to get out of there as fast as possible with no emotion showing.
I had to stop by the bathroom on the way downstairs, when matters like this arise, the first thing my body does is immediately liquidate everything in my stomach. I don't need a laxative, stress is my fiber.
I showed up for the meeting and put on a somber face. I did not smile or show any kind of emotion.
The meeting room was the one directly closest to the door. This signaled to me that this was, in fact, the worst. My manager spoke briefly, stating "we've stated in the past that your performance is under review, and after our last brief discussion, we've decided to end your employment, effective today."
After she was done, my eyes turned directly to the HR representative who was sitting in on the meeting. I was determined not to look at my now former manager ever again. As the HR rep told me about all of the things associated with termination of employment, my mind raced but my eyes glazed over. I thought to myself "I could do this, sell that, move back home"; all of the usual thoughts.
After initialing on a few lines, I grabbed my belongings and headed out the door. The wind blew a bit harder as I took the long walk to my vehicle in the parking lot. I threw my belongings in the back, and I pulled out of the parking lot and headed back home.
The drive home was not an urgent one. In the past, I would have been doing at least 5 mph over the speed limit to get home. This time, I was doing at least 5 mph under the limit. I drove in the right lane, out of the way, and stewed in my own thoughts the whole drive.
I arrived home, and after stripping off my work clothes, decided to do the laundry that I had brought home from my Thanksgiving vacation. As the washing machine kicked into gear, I closed the door to my bedroom, crawled under the cool, comfortable covers of my bed, and proceeded to take the mandatory three hour depression nap associated with being fired.
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