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Well, it was a cross between getting fired and walking out. Under the circumstances, I couldn't have stayed at any rate.

I was working for a small software company that had opened an office in Europe. Under the terms of my contract, I was guaranteed a two year stay if I transferred to the Swiss office. Unfortunately, that promise was never secured in writing. Once I had moved my family over there, I found the soulless, amoral - no, immoral - manager took great delight in changing the terms of my employment at every turn, as well as bedeviling me and my family personally because we belonged to a faith for which he had nothing but contempt, and because I wouldn't kiss his ass. Example: I don't smoke, and he knew it well. Driving him back from Geneva to Neuchâtel, this drone took immense pleasure in hauling out a huge cigar and smoking it on the drive, insisting that we keep the windows in the car closed. After about 5 months of this kind of crap, he told me that I'd need to start spending evenings and weekends in the office, this despite spending over half the month on the road away from my young family. I simply told him that I wasn't going to do that. 2 weeks later we were back in the states.

I sued the company for breach of contract and hardship - they had the arrogance to tell me that I was the one who broke the contract, and said it was nothing more than a nuisance suit - but they settled. They settled for a dollar amount that basically made us financially whole - the escapade probably cost us more than what we recouped, and we took away many great experiences - but working for that particular individual was like working for Satan incarnate. As a postscript, it was only about 6 months after we left that this sub-human was fired for malfeasance, but I never got an acknowledgement from the corporation that this guy had screwed me over. This is one instance in my life that I've had a really hard time getting out of resentment, resistence and revenge, and moving into forgiveness. I do better when I just don't think about it.

Date: 2009-12-17 12:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secoh.livejournal.com
Easy to forgive. Much harder to forget.

Date: 2009-12-17 12:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] r-caton.livejournal.com
Mofo like that not easy to forgive at all. Crap managers - even when life catches them up - usually walk straight into a similar or better job with someone else.
Like doctors....and police....and government.... they protect "their own" unless their own backsides are at stake and they must have an alternative head to roll.

Date: 2009-12-17 01:31 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] secoh.livejournal.com
Personally, I forgive easily. But I never forget.
Much better to plan my own success than waste time and energy plotting someone elses downfall.
But if I find I am in the same situation again then I will be prepared.
When we are treated badly it is a reflection of those that do it. How we react is a reflection of ourselves.

Date: 2009-12-17 04:49 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ccdesan.livejournal.com
Truly said. And that is why we have rear-view mirrors in the car. If we focus only on where we've been we'll crash and burn. But it helps us keep on the straight and narrow if we just glance at where we've been on occasion.

Date: 2009-12-17 02:51 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deckardcanine.livejournal.com
Much better to plan my own success than waste time and energy plotting someone elses downfall.

What if their downfall is for the greater good, as by stopping them from wronging other employees like you?

Date: 2009-12-17 04:55 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ccdesan.livejournal.com
I take comfort in the fact that at some point there will be divine retribution (Secoh you can plug your ears now). And I'm OK with the fact that it may not even look the way I'd like it to. Since I can't look on the heart, people that I cheerfully consign to Bolgia 10 might find themselves better off than I in the eternal scheme of things... but I know whatever happens, it will be fair. Which is a lot more than we can expect in this life.

Date: 2009-12-17 02:12 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deckardcanine.livejournal.com
I think I'd open the car door as soon as he got out the cigar. Even if the car were moving.

Date: 2009-12-17 04:48 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ccdesan.livejournal.com
Not a bad solution, except I was driving...

Date: 2009-12-17 02:57 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deckardcanine.livejournal.com
Better still: stop the car and get out.

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