One year ago today I was fired.
Today I celebrate.
Jobs are like relationships.
If they don't want you, you should leave.
Yes, I had my moments of fear.
Maybe even a soupcon of despair.
And yes, I had a bit of a drop of income.
But I learned a lot.
First of all, I gained a deeper understanding of who's a mentsch and who's a schmuck.
Second, I learned that if you work hard at finding work and at doing work, you usually find work.
Third, I learned that while I can castigate myself for having burned some bridges in my career, my integrity commands respect in the job market.
Fourth, I got to see the inside of a lot of pompous old-school agencies that have as much hope of returning to flight as a Louisiana pelican.
Fifth, I learned to have a bit more faith in myself, in what I can do and what I bring to an agency.
Sixth, I remembered this quotation from Hemingway's "The Last Good Country": "He had already learned there was only one day at a time and that it was always the day you were in. It would be today until it was tonight and tomorrow it would be today again."
So to all the mofos who fired me, two things.
1. Fuck you.
2. Thank you.
I think getting hired and getting fired is part of our industry. I think you're the same person wherever you go. Publicly held agencies have more politics than privately held ones but at its core, our business (particularly creative people) and the passion people have or dont have for what they do plus ambition and a touch of neuroses is what drives the people aspect of what we do. Eventually everyone gets fored and if you have talent you get rehired.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I agree with anonymous. I've been told I'm talented. I've won many awards. and yet I was laid off three years ago and have not yet found a job. I have had steady freelance all three of these years, with one freelance gig lasting 14 months, but no staff offerings. The phone is always ringing with freelance offers but damn, I need some fucking health care.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Anonymous #2. I was let go from the same organization as our Esteemed Blogger, and decent jobs -- let alone jobs as good as the one I had -- are an increasing rarity, at least in Chicago. Fortunately, I've got freelance...but no security blanket. At all.
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