So, I finally got the courage up to publish the movie I made the day I was fired. I’ve held off on it for quite a long time because it’s not really the complete story. It’s missing some of the build up to this event and I don’t want people to think that it just came up one day that my boss went berserk (though it is kinda like that). If you haven’t seen the video, you can watch it here (Your Fired, My Termination Story). You see for 15 years I worked for a very nice guy who was a long-term employee of the company, who had moved from several different paper mills to finally the one I worked in. He and I got along fairly well and had a good plan for continuous improvement over the long-term. We hired this young engineer about 6 years ago and he showed great promise as an engineer. He made some design changes in some machinery that eliminated a number of hazards from operating that machinery. He was subsequently promoted to maintenance manager and then he bid on the production manager position. All in a pretty short period of time. As production manager he was a taskmaster always whipping his managers and supervisors into doing more and pretty much threatening them if they weren’t successful. When my friend and co-conspirator, the plant manager, transferred to another location he could retire from back in his home state, this engineer competed for and got the plant manager’s job. Suddenly becoming my boss. Now originally, from the time he was hired until this year, he and I got along pretty well. He would hold people accountable for doing the required safety activities that build a low injury no accident safety culture. We agreed on most of the activities and changes that needed to occur in the plant. However on his 2nd year as plant manager, he decided he wanted to speed things up and get more efficiency out of everything and everybody, and pushed people hard to work harder. And I’m talking about machine operators and hourly workers who were already working beyond their physical limits. But we had a culture of understanding and accommodation and we had a very low injury rate. But as he started pushing people and showing them that he did not care if they could not keep up. His attitude was if you can’t keep up, then quit. As a result our injury rate was skyrocketing. Because plant managers and executive bonuses and capital money and many things were dependent on a good safety record by the corporate bean counters and overseers, he would get upset whenever anybody got injured. He wasn’t sympathetic that somebody got injured, he was upset that they “purposely” got injured in his factory. As a result he was always asking for me to deny workers’ comp claims and fight claims and deny them being an OSHA recordable. This was unethical for me and so I began looking around for a better position. With over 30 years in many different companies working in employee safety and health, I figured I had a good enough resume that I would get a job somewhere.

I had also decided that I had wanted to sell my house and move out of New York State. I do absolutely love the state, I think it is full of great recreation and opportunity, however for somebody who is single without kids living at home it’s a very expensive place to live. I know that they do a phenomenal job with snow removal and road repair, which costs a lot of money. And I know the great schools they have in the suburbs require fairly high tax rates. But again, I no longer had children in school and I had no need to be in those areas. So I looked around the Southeast and Midwest for something that I thought would be interesting. I interviewed for jobs with Lennox in Des Moines, Electrolux near Nashville, Baxter healthcare in Cleveland, and seven companies down in Pennsylvania (the Pennsylvania Highland videos were done while interviewing in that area). But the real answer to my search did not come until July 2017. This is when I interviewed for the job I took and I knew when I interviewed I would love this job.

Now usually when I go to an interview I am pretty relaxed and very open-minded about what is the current safety program at the company I am interviewing with. Most people believe that a good safety program is compliance with government regulations. While that is a good business principle to follow, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re going to have conscientious workers working safely on the factory floor. So often times when I go to an interview, they have a specific set of requirements and targets for the safety person to complete, I give them my opinion on what those requirements and targets are going to do to accomplish a safe low-risk work environment. Many companies do not take this advice very well because in reality they’re not interested in being safe, they’re interested in meeting simple government requirements. When I interviewed with my new employer and I walked around the factory with the corporate safety person and the union safety person I got the distinct impression that they were looking to do what is right without worrying about just meeting the government requirements. I had a fairly short interview with the plant manager (who was going to be my boss), and I got the impression that he was going to let me run the show and have his support. I also found out during the interview that they had a full relocation program. Something I had not seen at over 50 interviews in the last 10 years. They would buy my house, pack up all my goods professionally, and move them to a new location. While looking for a house they would pay for 3 months of temporary living in a fully furnished apartment. They also paid for food and expenses as necessary.  In addition to that, it was a one shift 6-2pm operation.  It was a dream job.

So the truth is, I had the job long before I got fired. And I figured I would give them a two-week notice. So we could put programs in place for a smooth transition of the next person. However, 3 weeks before I wanted to start the new job I got a “Personnel Performance Improvement Program” email outlining 12 areas that the plant manager thought I was not performing satisfactory in. This caught me by surprise and irritated me because I was working hard to get things in place so things could continue once I left. So I wrote him back on his email answers to his suggestions that I’m not doing what he thinks I should.  I pointed out that he is a micro-manager and he should stop interfering with a successful program. I regrettably also said that if he thought I was not up to his standard he should fire me. Which of course would save me from resigning. But I guess it hurt his feelings, and of course the way that they decided to fire me was rude and hostile and they lied about several things when they did. I know because they knew they had no real justification for firing me they were afraid I was going to sue them. Because of my job. Because of my age. Because of my responsibilities for government compliance. They promised me that I could get unemployment. But, according to the unemployment office, they told the unemployment office I was fired for insubordination, which made me ineligible for unemployment benefits. But I was in pretty good shape financially anyways, so it didn’t really matter. It just would’ve been fun.  The silver lining is that it did give me time to clean out my house and prepare for the move.  Something that would not have been so smooth and nice had I stayed on until the last day.  So even in something so miserable (I was miserable-I’d never been so rudely terminated) the was a golden reason !!

So I think the moral of the story is, if you really feel trapped in a job you don’t like, put the documentation together and go out and look for a new job. Especially today there are a lot of job openings all over the place. Some of them in a much better place than you currently are. And it will be a great benefit to my video channel to be in this wonderful area where the boys and I can run around camping and hiking 9 months more than we could in New York. So stay tuned to my channel and follow along on my blog. I will try to keep up on the blog a little better than I have. And I’ll share more of what’s coming up in the new year.

So if I don’t get to video you again or blog again, I hope everybody has a great Christmas and a very happy new year. Remember, you are in charge of your happiness. There are alternatives to absolutely everything in life. Do not be afraid of taking a chance to do something different. And on the other hand, sometimes life isn’t really as bad as it seems. Just take a look at Caesar and Dakota. Despite all their issues they are having a great time.

Day safe my friends
Rick, Caesar, Dakota