Thursday, October 27, 2005

Firing People. This is not one of the really enjoyable aspects of being a boss. I have had to do it in times past. These were "must do" situations, and they helped the enterprise in ways not limited simply to removing a person from a situation to which the person was not suited. But the experience takes something out of you (and, strangely, puts something in you). Sometimes the experience is tougher on the person being fired, which leads me to a story.

I had been with my first firm, Smathers & Thompson, for several years. The firm had been having trouble with a secretary who would come to work drunk. She was drawing very near to middle age, did not have a husband or children, and was a sad soul. The day arrived when our office manager, Betty, had to deliver to her the bad news.

This event took place in Betty's office, around two corners from my office. Betty is behind her desk and the firee, whom I will call "Sally", is sitting in a chair in front of Betty's desk. The door is closed and Betty gives her the termination message. As it is the end of the working day, Betty, after telling Sally that she is terminated, also tells Sally that she is free to stay in Betty's office for awhile so that she can collect herself. Betty excuses herself and goes home.

Meanwhile, totally without knowledge as to what is going on, I am working in my office, and it begins to get late. Most of the people have gone home. But another secretary comes into my office (I am about the only lawyer left, apparently) and she says, "Oh, Mr. Stokes, come quick! Sally is in Betty's office and I think Sally's dead!"

"Shoooot!!!", I think to myself, as I hurry down the hall and around two corners to Betty's office.

In I go, and there is Sally sitting in the chair in front of Betty's desk, with her head thrown back and looking at the ceiling. It takes me no time at all to realize there is nothing on the ceiling worth looking at and that this lady is gone, gone, gone.

I get on the phone and call 911, and they are on their way. Meanwhile, I am left in the office looking at Sally and wondering, what in the world did Betty do? Then I had another chilling thought: should I be doing CPR on this person? Oh my gosh, no! I really did NOT want to get intimate with this dead woman (I was sure she was dead.) I decided against this course of action.

The EMT people soon arrived, and looked at her expertly, did their thing with the pulse and stethescope and whatever, and said, yes, she's dead. That really was not a great relief to me. Should I have given her CPR? I asked one of the EMTs if he could tell me how long she had been dead. He said an hour or more.

That was a relief, and I told him so and why. He laughed and said there wasn't a thing I could do.

Years later I got the opportunity to do my first firing.

Omigosh!

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