The Newest Unwanted Adventure

I know it is an impersonal way to give everyone this news, but I just didn't feel like repeating the story a dozen times on the phone.

As of yesterday I no longer work for LDS Family Services. I no longer work for anyone, for that matter.

I wish I could tell you why it happened, but I honestly don't really know. I thought things were humming along nicely when I came in to work on Friday, but then my boss came in and told me that I was being let go. He cited that my paperwork had fallen behind, but couldn't give me more than two incorrect claims of arrears paperwork. So it remains a mystery. What I know for sure is that the company is restructuring, and I fear that I may have been an easy target to get rid of before the changes hit, so that there are less people in the office to move around. Of course, that is speculation, but a lot of evidence seems to point in that direction.

As one might expect, I am angry and feel betrayed. I mean, what I am accused of doing with my paperwork is nowhere near as bad as the mess that I had to clean up after the guy I replaced. He didn't have a single file that was not missing important documents. You know what happened to that guy? He got promoted. Where is the justice there?

So yeah, I am bitter. Maybe ranting against my newly-former employer is bad form, but I think they deserve it. My boss feels that he went to bat for me, but I don't see how all of the positive work and hours of overtime I have put into that job can count for virtually nothing, while a few unfiled documents can torpedo me without so much as me being given a heads-up about the problems before hand.

I mean, in the last two months, I have placed adopted children with 7 families, worked almost every other weekend, and come home later than 8 at least once a week. In fact, the day before I got fired, I was working until 10:30 pm. I thought I was doing a good job. Maybe I was just working too hard, and hence didn't have enough time to fill out all of my paperwork in a timely enough fashion. Who knows?

What I do know is that I expected better of an LDS organization. I would have at least expected them to work with me to resolve their concerns, rather than keep a super-secret collection of complaints against me without giving me the knowledge needed to change things. I am sure that the folks involved feel that they were fair. That is precisely the problem: their system is broken, so they can do tremendously hurtful and unfair things behind closed doors, pat themselves collectively on the back, and feel justified in terminating an employee for spurious reasons without even letting that employee face his accusers and present his own arguments.

I had precisely two hours to clear out my office and leave. My boss was told to watch me the whole time. I can only assume they were worried that I would steal a stapler or format the hard-drive. I mean, being fired was hard, but being watched like a criminal was insulting. What a joke. I have a Temple recommend, and have never stolen anything or acted in malice towards anyone. I think it just shows that they knew their actions were unjust. If they felt it was done right, then they should have had no grounds for fearing that I would do something irrational or spiteful. My boss watching me like I was a sex offender in a preschool is just evidence to me that he knew what was happening was not right, and he expected me to follow suit.

Well, I didn't, and I wouldn't have. But I now know more about LDS Family Services than I previously did. And hopefully, they know more about me now than they previously did. This blog entry is the extent of the venting I will do. I bear no malice for them, but I will always know that I was not treated fairly. I was set up to fail, so I failed. If that is what they wanted me to do, I only wish they would have had the honor and courage to tell me to my face.

So I am back in the job market, during the worst economy of my life. Hoo-friggin'-ray.

As a side note, my wife is the awesomest woman alive. When she found out, you know what her response was? "Should I put back this stuff I just bought at Costco?" No blaming, no anger, just awesome patience, level-headedness and supportiveness. With Dana at my side, I could be a homeless beggar and still have more wealth than LDS Family services (or anyone, for that matter) could ever give me.