After teaching for about 10 years, most of which I was running a minimum of two side jobs with four being my max at one point, I decided to change gears. I found a position in Louisville, KY in tech support.
Applied, drove out for an interview, and impressed them enough to pull out a hire in July of 2020. It was a pay increase over teaching, a new home, a new start…everything I wanted. Unfortunately, there was an on-call rotation, which should have been a red flag, but I was just desperate enough for a change not to care.
I was learning the ropes fairly quickly, and had been prepping to take the lead on one of our projects – for the record, it was restaurant POS equipment and tech support. We sold, supported, and installed the front- and back-of-house equipment that allowed restaurants to take orders, display menus, run registers…pretty much everything. And then December rolled around.
Despite business being very strong due to the explosion in takeout and delivery, it seemed like we weren't getting much call volume for support. I found myself doing busy work to look productive while I was on-call. It raised a few warning flags.
Around 5:30 on a December day a week before Christmas, our manager pulled me off a project and brought me into the conference room, where the owner's daughter and HR manager sat with an odd smirk on her face. The manager was a good guy, and I could tell by the look on his face what he was about to say was going to hurt him.
“I guess you might have noticed that things haven't been as busy lately…”
I cut him off. “I'm getting laid off, right?”
“Yeah.” He truly looked pained to have to break it off. We'd made good friends, I had been learning quickly and impressing him…he told me all this as I sat through the meeting. The HR manager's smirk started to get under my skin. I faced her.
“So how long did you guys know? What steps were you going to take, or warnings were you going to give us?” Not three weeks ago, I'd traded in my older car and taken on payments for something newer. I was pissed. Especially about the smirk.
Her face soured. “It's not something we'd be apt to…”
Again, I interrupted. “I wouldn't think you'd do something like that. Instead, you'll hide behind this guy and use him as your hatchet man, instead of doing your own hard work. Save me the platitudes.”
I shook hands with the manager, and told him point-blank, in front of HR, “I know this wasn't your decision, and I consider you a bro. You are top-class.”
HR started talking at me, but I walked out without acknowledging her. I called my mom on the way home, immediately started filling out applications, and got busy living. Luckily, I found a temp job and was able to bridge the first week or so, before finding something slightly better – I went from working in a COVID-rich hospital setting with no PPE offered, to a repair depot doing soldering and improving my electrical repair skills. After a few months of that, one of my other applications panned out: Manager of a Tech Support Desk of a sign manufacturer – a sizable pay increase over the restaurant place, with other benefits.
Lots and lots of shit happened in between leaving the restaurant place and starting work at the sign place. I lost one relationship, got stalked, started another relationship, mended fences with an old friend, got engaged…lots of stuff. However, the biggie was a phone call that I got from an application two years in the past. A position doing some writing. I'd been passed over for a more-experienced writer who was now moving on. I was the only choice for the newly opened position.
I had a few gripes about the sign place, but they were really good people to work for, and miles ahead of the restaurant place. As fate would have it, I had a catch-up lunch with my old manager, and he had mentioned he was not enjoying the work at the restaurant place; they were swamped and understaffed (wow, imagine…). And so, I gave him a phone call.
“Dude, I'm realizing I'm not a good fit for my current position. You're a great manager, like working in tech support, and this has opportunities for sales stuff, which you mentioned you would like. I don't want to leave this place high-and-dry if I leave. Would you like to apply with my reference?”
While my superior was shocked, he understood, interviewed my old manager, and prepared for my exit. I quickly moved into my new and current position – another pay increase, with good benefits and a positive work environment, and let my old manager make his own decision. A couple of weeks ago, he texted me and let me know he was going to take the new job.
Now, I consider myself an altruistic person. I saw he was looking for a change, and offered him the chance to decide whether he wanted the move or not. I'm not particularly mean-spirited. However, knowing he had 17 years in at the restaurant place, and they would never fill his position with someone as competent, I took great pleasure in poaching him from there. All because of the HR manager's little smirk.
Later, I found that they had received two separate PPP loans – one forgiven, and the other not specified – in the amount of more than $500,000.