Today, I was terminated for the first time in my working career, at least since I've been an adult. The company that I worked for had undergone multiple transitions since I began working for them in July of 2008.
It was a really nice job when my classmates and I first started. We fielded incoming phone calls from customers who were not the sharpest tool in the shed, but that's o.k. The work was easy and the pay was decent relative to the work.
But then something changed....our incentive structure was reconfigured, and the net result required us to do more work for less money. We had to sell more policies in order to make the same amount we had made only two months prior. I'm not really certain why the incentive plan was changed. The explanation we all received was that it better accommodated the top selling agents. Well, whoop-tee-doo! Why don't we just rearrange the lives and budgets of 40 people for the sake of keeping 12 happy. That makes perfect sense to me.....if I was completely insane.
Another thing that was a continuing issue both me and my co-workers was the incentive plan's complexity. I mean, if you're a Rhodes Scholar, you can probably figure the damn thing out. Rolling averages, and calls per sales, and utilization numbers....bullshit! Give me quota that I'm expected to hit or exceed and get the hell outta' my way!
When they fired me today, as I was telling The Queen over dinner, I was bitter-sweet. I was sad because I have made some wonderful friends at this company. Good, solid people. (Mike, Andy, Danica, and Brent....much love!) I have bills and "child support" to pay so I obviously need to have a job. But the truth of the matter is, I was relieved to get out of that place. I had come to a point in my employment where I hated...no.....I loathed my job. I dreaded getting out of bed in the mornings that I had to work because I disliked it so very much. I have come to the point in my life where I am disgusted with working at all. Where I once saw gainful employment as something to be honored and cherished, I now see it as a necessary evil.
I am not a lazy person, never really have been. I enjoy working, and truly hope to find a career that suits me. A place where I can put down roots like my Dad did and just do my job and go home, and be left alone.....
