Fire

I've had too many coals in my fire for many months. I still have a few more than I would like to be keeping there. My t0-do list keeps growing. And it all came to a boiling over on Thursday. Sis came over to sit on the kids so Devildog could work and I could continue working these resets that I was beginning to loathe. I was handed 3 extra to do because someone else decided to shirk that responsibility. And 2 hours later, Devildog was back home.
He got fired for something someone else up the chain of command failed to follow up on, and when it came to the hot seat, that person threw my husband under the bus to save their hide.
I hope they remember the faces they stepped on to get where they are. I hope they are haunted by them. I have my suspicions of what may have happened in the situation. As angry and hurt as we are by this, Devildog is also relieved of the stress of that job. I do find it a tad funny that the manager tried to frustrate Devildog into quitting and still couldn't get him to quit after 10 months of the foolishness. Silly manager - Marines are tough, disciplined, and will work hard. Never underestimate the determination of a Marine. Never underestimate the strength of that Marine, his wife or their kids. What this individual fails to realize is that he did not win. What he did was set in motion a chain of events that any "numbers guy" worth his salt would know is bad. Turnover. It costs more to search for hire and train replacements. In the long run, remember the phrase "it's cheaper to keep her".
I wish this individual luck finding a replacement who can fill some big shoes. My husband's departure stung all the other employees. These are people that asked to transfer to whatever department he was in, because he took care of his people.
He was taught that you take care of your customer, you take care of your people, and in turn they'll take care of you and the job in general. If your customers and employees are not satisfied or happy, they'll both go elsewhere, and badmouth you on the way out the door. I strongly believe that everyone should read It's Your Ship by Michael Abrashoff, and Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails by Barbara Corcoran. These are not just lessons for managers, but for the underlings too because eventually some of them are going to be put in charge of something, and they ought to do it well when they get there. So when you have a Devildog in charge of something, things get done, and done well. Nothing is going to be "unsat".

And in this instance, taking care of his people, has come back around to several others keeping eyes open and ears to the ground to help us find a better opportunity for him. An example from Barbara Corcoran's book cites a situation where a bid was out for something, and the person in charge of securing the bid hired Barbara's company because in a previous job, Barbara was nice to that person. It was a very lucrative contract - all because she was nice to someone several years prior. Michael Abrashoff inherited the worst ship in the Navy, in every possible way. Literally zero retention/reenlistment, failed every inspection and mission. Simple things like waiting his turn for meals instead of taking advantage of "Head of Line" privilege as an officer, garnered respect from his crew, and they became willing to work for him.

So here we sit facing uncertainty, and trying very hard to quiet our inner control-freaks. (at least mine anyway, don't know about his). Apparently, I still needed to learn that whole trust thing, and "Let go and Let God". I have to keep telling myself to get in the wheelbarrow.