My Novels

Sunday, October 13, 2013

End of the Road



Getting the news that I was not going to lose my job after all was truly a gift to me.  To be told almost a year earlier that my services were no longer needed was an experience I would not wish on my worst enemy.  You go through all the emotions of what you might have done wrong, blaming yourself for not doing a better job, then the anger and frustration, and the “why me” hits you as well.  Despite all of that, I still was determined to do the best job I could with the time I had left.  I know I should have begun a job search during that time, especially since I assumed the job would be ending even though I had gotten a few extensions, but I held on to the hope that things would turn around, and they would reverse their decision.  When that did happen, obviously I was thrilled.  I am fully aware that this is something that does not happen very often.  In fact, usually when one is let go, that happens immediately.  I’m sure you have heard of many stories of people being escorted out of the building 5 minutes after being told they no longer are an employee of the company.  I could not begin to imagine what that would feel like. 

Even though our enrollments were still down, I went into the fall of 2012 feeling very optimistic, as we were working on projects that would help the working MTs of the company, further enhance our curriculum, and with a little luck, even see signs of growing enrollment again.  In March of that year, I was asked to take over grading of the preemployment tests for the company’s MT applicants, and in September, I began work on creating a new preemployment test, so I was very involved on the MT side of things, but I also still had a few students, so it was the best of both worlds with working on both sides of the table.  I have to admit I was surprised by the types of errors I was seeing on these preemployment tests by what I thought were experienced MTs.  As these MTs were hired, I felt our instructor staff was going to be instrumental in helping these MTs improve their skill set.  That along with having the best of our grads possibly move into working for the parent company led me to think that bigger and better were just around the corner. 

Unfortunately, that was not to be the case when the decision came down that enrollments were to be discontinued after November.  To say I was stunned is putting it mildly.  To this day I can’t understand why a corporation would not see the benefit of owning one of the top schools in the country whereby you could not only continue to bring new people into the MT profession, but also have the opportunity to hire the best of the best of our grads.  Is that not a win-win scenario? 

I have never understood the mindset of the people who run huge corporations.  Not just the company I worked for, but in general.  It has been shown time and time again that if you treat your employees well, production goes up, turn-over goes down, and more than likely you have people banging down your door to get hired.   Of course, I am simplifying that a bit, as I don’t know all of the ins and outs of running corporations, but it does not seem to be that difficult a concept to follow.  In any event, the focus was now going to be working with the MT staff, and while I would miss working with students, I was looking forward to this new direction and challenges I would be facing in the near future. 

I continued my work as always, going into 2013 with high hopes for what we would be offering in the way of helping our working MTs.  I felt this was actually very unique, since most MT services tell you what you are doing wrong but never offer any help to correct bad habits or help to improve the MT’s skills.  You get a few chances to figure things out on your own, or you are fired.  We would be offering the chance for our MTs to work on any particular issues, from punctuation and grammar to researching, and creating a top-notch educational and professional working environment.  I was feeling very optimistic, despite my complete disagreement with closing the school. 

In April, I took a week off to visit my brother and his family in Florida.  It was such a wonderful time for me, because I had not seen my brother for 3 years, and it had been even longer than that since seeing his 2 daughters, since they were not able to attend our last family outing.  We were still getting used to living in Las Vegas, so this break came at a good time after moving ourselves from Idaho, figuring out what to unpack and keep packed up for the next move, and my husband still getting acclimated to his new job.  It was a great week and one that went way too quickly.  Heading back home at the end of the week, I was looking forward to getting back to my projects and wondering how things would play out as our student roster grew shorter and new developments would come up as we prepared for working on the MT side of things.

About a week or so after getting back to work, on a Tuesday right before quitting work for the day, I got an email from my boss with the title of “updates” and  a scheduled conference call for the next morning.  We already had a scheduled meeting an hour after this call was to take place, so I was at first confused why I would not just give any updates at our normally scheduled meeting.  I asked if I was to prepare any reports for this meeting and was told that was not necessary.   It took zero time for me to know what this call was about.  I had to go out to dinner that night with my husband’s co-workers, meeting most of them for the first time, and it was the hardest thing to do to spend the evening with a smile on my face and acting like all was well.  

I wondered how much time I would be given before my last day.  I had a feeling I would not be fortunate this time to have an additional 5 months to prepare.  Remember when I said I could not imagine how people must feel when they are escorted out the door within 5 minutes of being told they are no longer an employee of the company?  Well, now I did not have to imagine it.  The words “we are eliminating your position effective immediately” sound like a bad dream in which you know you will wake up and realize it’s not real.  But it was real, and I had literally minutes to clean out my email and no longer be a member of the team.  I was at least permitted to say good-bye to the people I had worked with for many years, most of whom I also considered my friends. 
I truly believed this was going to be my last job before retiring.  Being a part of educating MTs was a wonderful way for me to end my very long career.  I don’t have any particular age in mind for retirement, but since almost my entire working life has been in this profession, I just took it for granted it would be my one and only career.  I still miss the job and the people I worked with—I miss it terribly.  I went through the grieving process just as if I had lost a loved one or a dear pet.  I still get angry; I still get sad. 

I have been through a lot of difficulties in my life, not just in my career, but in other areas of my life as well. When that happens, I try to at least find a way to learn something from the experience, grow from it, take something away from it that will help me or maybe help someone else through me.  Part of what I have learned these past months is that you should never take any job for granted.  Being the best you can be, staying loyal, working hard—none of those things guarantee you will keep your job.  It will guarantee you will feel good about yourself, though, so you can walk away realizing it is their loss, not yours. 

It can also mean it is never too late to make a change, a big change.  I’m still looking for a  new teaching job, as it is still a thrill for me to see someone go from barely being able to spell appendectomy to understanding the medical language and transcribing and/or editing an accurate, high-quality report. 

But I’m also in the middle of trying something completely new. Well, maybe not completely new.  In case you have not noticed it, I love to write. I have loved writing for years.  I thought it began when I became newsletter editor for the Greater Akron Chapter of AAMT (now AHDI, of course) back in  early 1990s. An old grade school friend whom I have connected with again after many years reminded me that in the 7th or 8th grade, when we had to write an English paper, I was one of a few who was asked to read their paper out loud because Sister Holy Scary felt it was one of the best papers.  So I think I had this hidden talent that came out for a while with my newsletter days, moving on to articles in MT journals and articles written as part of the school curriculum, to this blog, and now I’m working on writing a novel.  I’m also writing an MT book based on 13 years of questions from my students.  No, I’m not a working author just yet, since so far I have made zero money, but it’s what I’m working towards now.  I did submit a short story to a magazine, so if they do publish it, they will pay me a dollar a word!  If they reject it, that’s okay too.   That’s just part of the learning and growing process that comes with any career. 

So this may be my last post for a while, since I’m not quite sure where this new road is going to take me.  I’m excited about the journey, I can tell you that.  I will be back to share the journey with you, but I have to find my way first. 

I thank you so much for reading about my MT career.  That part of my life may not be over yet, either.  I simply don’t know what’s around the corner, but I’m ready to see what’s waiting for me.  Until next time, enjoy your day, and never take what you have—your family, friends, job, your life—for granted.  Take care.

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