This is how it begins…

Back in March, after Vicky and I came back from Hawaii, my boss, Tim, told me that I took an extra day off… but I hadn’t.

This was when things started to go downhill… and they ended up where they are now – at the bottom of a ravine. Broken. Smashed.

When I received my review in June, it was filled with high praise. Great. And a raise. Great great. Okay. Me likey! But there was an undercurrent of warning. You see, Tim was a massive control freak. I knew that. But there was more. I learned that this week.

So, he told me I should do things more his way and that I should kiss up more. Okay, okay. Fine. After all, I had my raise, right?

But then, I didn’t kiss up enough.

And this new guy, we’ll call him “Carl”… his real name was Carl… when he started, I didn’t kiss up enough. He had the owner’s ear and said he wanted his own writer. The way it was explained to me, this meant I was O-U-T.

But wait? Why? What about that great review?

Sorry.

And then, things got worse. When I’d started, I was told that it was a low-pressure environment and that people wouldn’t be on my back.

Not quite.

At the start of July, I was told to stop using the company phone and (shortly thereafter) to stop using my phone, too. Now, I received a couple of calls per day from Vicky (each lasting about five minutes) but, honestly, that’s far from excessive. Then, I was told that I couldn’t use the Internet – HELLO! I’M A WRITER! I NEED TO DO RESEARCH.

Sorry.

Then, I was told I had to be able to report where any of my work was at any time.

Then, they increased my workload to where I was working on 20 projects at a time.

Then, they increased my workload to where I was working on 30 projects at a time.

Then, they increased my workload to where I was working on 40 projects at a time. Each project was stacked individually in my cube. I’d be tested daily as to the status of each project. I was quizzed on terminology and, without being able to do any research, grilled when I came up short.

On Tuesday, I heard they were interviewing a couple of people for the writer position.

Today, I was fired.

I needed to write all of this down because now, only a couple of hours later, I’m already starting to blame myself. But I know it wasn’t entirely my fault. Could I have kissed ass better? Probably. But I don’t think I want a job that I couldn’t keep because I didn’t go in deep enough, anyway.

So, that’s where I am. My job now is to find another job. And I plan to do that job damned well!