Excerpt
Joel had already dropped himself into the richly upholstered
chair. “Look, Lee, I am just not going to take this. I babysat that
kid all of the way through the last project and you guys just don’t
pay me enough to have to babysit him all over again. Either he is
on the next plane out of here or I’m walking.”
“Joel, you are mistaken,” started Mr. Lee, but Joel cut in and
continued.
“No I am not. How is he ever going to gain the experience he
needs when I am constantly taking care of him? He is a good kid.
Don’t get me wrong, but my job description doesn’t say anything
about changing diapers.”
“Joel, you are mistaken,” Mr. Lee reiterated. “Mr. Fitzimmons
has been assigned by the company to take over your responsibilities.
This letter clearly states the terms of your dismissal. You
will see that it includes a very generous termination payment of
thirty days’ salary. I have been asked by the Director of Human
Resources to retrieve your office key and security pass and walk
you to the door and out of the office. Shall we?”
“Twenty-five flipping years with this company and this is how
they treat me? This is bullshit!” screamed Joel. “Get me Leduc
on the phone,” he demanded. “He’ll straighten this out in a minute.”
“If you want to phone Mr. Leduc you are welcome to. Let me
assure you that I have had several discussions with Mr. Leduc
and in his capacity as Director of Engineering Services he totally
supports my recommendation to relieve you of your duties.”
“You! You stole my job from me!”
“No Joel,” Mr. Lee replied. “You gave up on this job a long time
ago. Not only are you letting yourself down but you are also giving
this office a very bad reputation for being so behind on this
project and immensely over budget. The reputation of the Hong
Kong office is at stake, and our clients deserve better.”
“Our clients? Hell, are you kidding? The minute the terminal
management team hears about this they will be over here,
screaming bloody murder.
