For several weeks, I knew this day was probably going to come. And now it's happened.
In this post, I'm going to refer to my boss's boss as the power that shouldn't be. I have no desire to mention his name. And my former place of employment will be happen as the school.
At the beginning of May, I received a write up, a final written warning. In reality, it was a first and last warning. I had been working over a report for many months, and I had felt I had gotten better and better at it since February and March. I had spent each Wednesday through those two months training with the more experienced assistant manager in Virginia Beach, and I felt I was more focused and more detailed in the way I was handling the report. Now keep in mind when I was hired, I was working with two other people in financial aid, and they had been at the school for less than two months each. So we were all inexperienced to begin with. In retrospect, I wish that I had trained one day a week in Virginia Beach from the beginning.
The fact is getting used to working at the school was different than anything I could have have anticipated. After ten years of working in this specific industry, I had a way of doing things. I was used to Federal guidelines and working under those. At the school, however, there are many additional quirks and nonsensical rules as well that don't make sense. For instance, they require an additional document to finish a process, or they complicate the reentry process by making necessary information hard to find. The systems were not user friendly by any means.
So despite the issues, the power that shouldn't be gave me three months to prove myself. He said he needed to see progress with how I was handling the report. Now at no point did he ever say how much progress needed to be made or how to write the comments or how I could specifically improve. He just said progress was needed. That was one of the biggest issues I had with the school. There were no clear goals, no clear standards, everything was subjective. But from this point, there was a black cloud hanging over my head, because I realize I could work to my maximum level of ability, but one person up in Falls Church, Virginia could just decide that it wasn't good enough for him. It felt like a no win situation.
Tuesday, May 22
The day started with great news. Our campus President, who I have great respect for, told me that after six months of deliberating, the Sports Information Director role had been approved. I didn't know any details, but this was something I wanted to do and I never dreamed I could make a living in that role. I didn't have a huge reaction and I wasn't going to react until the papers were signed and I had an offer letter in my hand.
That afternoon, the power that shouldn't be made me aware of a position in Glen Allen, which is a nice suburb just west of Richmond. It would be less money, and I'd be commuting three hours a day as opposed to ten minutes, but at least the report would be off my hands and I wouldn't have to deal with the power that shouldn't be anymore. But of the 3 choices that I seemed to have, taking a position in Richmond was my number 3 option, behind staying in my current role and the sports information director role.
Oh, on a side note this was also the day that I learned that my rent would increase $125/month come August and I had two weeks to notify the leasing people if I would stay or leave.
Thursday, May 24
The power that shouldn't be visited our campus and we had a great conversation. He was friendly, we were able to talk about non work things, which we had never done before. He said he was definitely seeing progress in the way I was doing the report, and he felt we were heading in the right direction. I walked away feeling comfortable and confident that I as in a better place.
Friday, May 25
I pulled in for an abbreviated day and half the parking lot was being paved. So I had to walk around a set of ropes to reach the door. I began walking from my car and the president was a few steps ahead of me. She's generally very upbeat, but I could tell by the sound of get voice that something wasn't right. She told me the Sports Information Director pay had come in and it was only going to be about 80 percent of what I was making. That was a disappointment, but I thought maybe I could pick up an additional job and make it all work.
Well that hope lasted less than two hours. The president told me that was pulled because we didn't have room in the budget for it. Rather, the new athletic director was going to bring in his trainer, who would handle most of the SID duties. At 1:45, feeling disgusted, I left for the day and spent the next four hours scouting new places to live.
Tuesday, May 29
Everything died that day. Coming into the office, I was feeling okay despite not getting a chance at the SID role. I had attended WWE events the prior two nights and was feeling good. I checked in with my boss and she didn't seem pleased.
The power that be had reviewed my latest report and apparently it wasn't good enough for him. Never mind the issues I had solved that week, never mind that it was the first week of classes and people were still registering at a fervent pace. Nothing I could say mattered. He wanted to have a conversation with my boss and me that afternoon about where we stood going forward. Just by the tone of the email, I could tell it wasn't good.
More bad news came in that day. After getting the news about the report, I decided I had enough and I had to relieve the burden of stress that he was causing me, so I decided I would just take the position in Richmond. Well, that afternoon, the Glen Allen offer was pulled because they didn't have enough room in the budget to support the position. What that really meant was that campus did not have enough students to support the position, they were down to under 150, compared to around 250 at Newport News or Virginia Beach. It amazes me that they could not foresee that they would not have enough students to justify the position. It's not as if 100 or 200 students suddenly dropped in one week. So this was the 2nd time that I had been misled about the possibility of a different position at the school. My level of disgust and concern were growing.
Friday, June 1
So the meeting that was supposed to happen on Tuesday got postponed to Wednesday and then it got postponed again to Friday. The power that shouldn't be wanted to have the meeting on Friday afternoon, but I said that was unacceptable because I already had half a day off, because I was driving up to Washington DC that afternoon.
There was no explaining my case. There was no listening to anything I had done. After the power that shouldn't be gave me his typical garbage about concerns and progress, he gave me three options. One, I could take a two week extension and after the time, he would decide if I should stay or not. Two, I could resign that day and take x amount of dollars as a severance package. Three, I could relocate to Baltimore, MD for a lesser position and for $5,000 less, but I would get a little bit of money to help with my relocation. Now Baltimore is four hours away from where I currently live.
And here's the best part. This was all presented to me at 10:45 am. He said he needed a decision by 4 p.m. So the power that shouldn't be was basically demanding I make a decision regarding my entire life in less than five hours.
Can a company be any less professional? What if I had a family? How would I handle it then? This is the absolute lack of respect and terrible communication that I've been talking about.
I went straight to the leasing office of my apartment complex and asked them if there would be any penalties for if I left due to a job transfer. I like Krystel, but she gave me the typical corporate bullshit. As soon as she said the words "Regardless of the reason..." I knew what was about to happen. she crunched a few numbers and calculated that if I let early, I would owe over $4,000. Baltimore option eliminated.
Straight from there, I had a 2.5 hour drive in front of me to Springfield, VA where I was going to take the train and meet Lori for the first time. Those 2.5 hours in the car felt like they took maybe 45 minutes. I talked with Laurie, my mother, my boss, my father, and maybe 1 or 2 other people. I felt as though my best option was to resign and everybody else seemed to agree with me. At 3:30 on the Metro train near Arlington VA, ironically not far from the school's main headquarters, with Lori by my side, and holding my hand, I emailed my final decision to my boss and the power that shouldn't be. I accepted the package, but I really wanted to tell him to stick it.
So it's been six days since I made my choice. I have my freedom. And for the first time since 2015, I'm looking for work, but this time I also don't know where I'll be living in two months. While it is a little bit scary, and I am fighting restlessness, I am doing my best to stay calm, stay busy, and save money. I am thankful for the severance package that I have, my rent is covered, and I should have a good chance at receiving unemployment. And I have a group of friends and family who genuinely care. Thankful for my blessings.
I have learned that you can work to your maximum level of ability, but that isn't always enough. The job needs to be the right fit at the right time and you do need to have support from above. And despite a good paycheck, a good boss, a great commute, and a pretty good work atmosphere, I had no faith or confidence in upper management at all. They simply did not know how to run their business and that is a huge reason why the school is struggling as bad as it is.
God is not finished with me yet! I will be okay.
