A Blessing In Disguise

[centershot]

Two weeks ago, I was in my basement loading shotgun shells when I heard a car pull into the driveway. Looking out the basement window I saw that it was my wife's car! "Why is she home so early?" (2:30) I asked myself. She met me on the basement stairs and said "Guess what happened to me today? I got fired!" After a moment of consolation I asked her what happened.

Cheryl worked in a nursing home as an activities aide. She's always been a "people-person" and enjoyed working with the elderly, the job was a good fit for her. The "management" was.........well, I think Stephen Stills put it best when he sang

"An' ya' can't prove 'em wrong, they're so ***-**** sure that they know!" ( from Word Games )

The day before, shortly after she punched in, they told her she needed to come back in that night to help with the Bingo game. She looked straight into her supervisor's eyes and said "No" and went about her work. They fired her the next day. As far as I'm concerned that's fine, they'd been taking advantage of her for a long time and I didn't care if she just up and quit. She'll be 65 in June of '21, she can retire, and we have savings to fall back on.

These last two weeks have been a period of adjustment, but in a good way. The yearly canning and freezing we do each autumn didn't have to wait for the weekends this year! So far, we've canned 2 bushels of tomatoes, ground, stuffed and frozen 75 pounds of Italian sausage, and I'm not sure how many pounds of frozen corn have been put up! We've been busy!

My sister called about an hour ago to let us know how lucky we are that Cheryl wasn't working at the nursing home any longer. It seems that one of their per-diem employees was positive for Covid-19 and now three residents of the facility have also tested positive! :shock: There isn't a large Covid problem here, something I'm particularly grateful for as I've been an insulin-dependent diabetic for 61 ears now! Losing her job was truly a blessing in disguise! Thank You Lord!

[BigAlofPa.]

Yes that was a blessing. The one nursing home in my area. Has been hit with covid 19. Last i heard 8 residents and 5 staff members have it.

[Huskerguy]

Sounds like you are both making lemonade out of lemons.

[tinsnips]

I am always happy for a person that gets to retire then that person can start enjoying his or her life. Good luck to you both.

[Gone_rabid]

And with all that I’m sure she is much happier.

[Pipefitter]

I have been fired from a couple different jobs in my life (and just plain walked out on a couple more). Looking back it was the best possible outcome at the time.

[Alstep]

Good for her, good for both or you. I've quit and/or got fired a few times, turned out for the best. I finally packed it in at age 70, and never realized how burned out I was until I retired. That was almost 10 years ago, and life is good. Slowed down a lot and not as nimble, but count my blessings. Have a few laughs, be well, & enjoy life. Shootin lead & burning some cordite will help too!

[Rich/WIS]

My daughter went through this on her firdst job out of college. Was a sales position and sales was not one of her talents. After about 8-9 months on the job they let her go and she called me in tears. Conversation went like this:

Did you like what you were doing? Not really.

Did you like the commute? Well no.

Can you file for unemployment? yes.

Do you think you will have any issue finding another job? No.

Then why are you crying? I'm not now.

Result was she started subbing for the local school, then got hired full time. Went back to school and got her teacher certificate. Her job was with the "problem children" who were struggling in school, get them through HS and a diploma. She was really good at her job. The program was run in conjunction with the U of WI and after a few years she got hired by them and is still there. Readily admits getting fired was the best thing that happened.

[facetious]

You can't beat good luck !

I retired the end of last year. When I had my 401-k rolled over to a IRA thy lost the check and it took almost a month and a half to get it straightened out. In the meantime everything dropped and they had put everything in cash for the transfer , never lost anything. Just luck.

Talked to a guy I worked with a few weeks ago , people in all the other departments furloughed three weeks the first half of the year and then told they would be furloughed for three more weeks the second half. All the management told they were going to get a 10% wage cut for three months and then told it would be permanent . The department I was in (the press room, I worked for a newspaper as a printer) they don't have enough pressman to cover all the shifts so they are working six and seven days a week, but with three guys doing the work of five guys. Boy Howdy did I pick a good time to retire!! Just luck.

As to retiring you are going to love it. Give it some time and soon you won't even be able to imagine going back to work.

[gwpercle]

The Lord Works in Mysterious Ways !

Gary

[country gent]

When Dad was laid off ( do to plant closing) He found a job he liked a lot better and loser to home in a much better area. when I was moved to production when there were cuts I went looking and found a much better job with better pay and benefits. Most I have known when forced to change jobs have came out of it happier and better off. But it is a very scary place to be in.

Actually I was lucky and was looking for a new job while I was still working in production. Its a lot easier looking for a job when you still have one. I actually walked out of one interview when the guy got smart with me. LOL. In the end I used my 5 weeks vacation time I had to try out the new job before I resigned.

[elmacgyver0]

It is a traumatic experience to get fired, I never have but have been layed off , I guess it's about the same thing.
I am glad you and your wife are taking it as a blessing.
Take care.

[Winger Ed.]

Of all the good, high quality people I've ever known who quit or got fired under situations similar to that-
The next job they got, they liked better, and made more money.

[samari46]

I changed jobs after the company started downszing. Those that stayed had their vacayions cut from 5 weeks to just two and then they could start building more vacation time. My buddy was getting two paychecks, one from the company he used to work for and another from the company he started working for. He was happier than a pig in a pen full of greens. Making more money between the two checks together than just the one check from the company he used to work for. And as for me well I got to keep my five weeks vacation. But since I already had the time for an early out 3 years later I put my papers in and said Asta LA Vista baby and out the door I went. Frank