John Got Fired

John came into work that Monday morning not having a clue that he was about to get fired. He exited the silver elevator onto his floor, floor eleven, as he had for the last eighteen years. He said hello to everyone as he walked to his office. When he opened his office door he noticed a man sitting in a chair with his back to him. He looked for a moment longer before entering and notice it was his boss. His boss turned when he saw him and stood, he had a somber look on his face, he walked over to John, shook his hand, and told him to have a sit in the chair next to where he was sitting a moment before. His boss said they needed to talk.

John’s heart sank into his stomach. He was in charge of this floor, major accounts, a team of others, and all of a sudden he knew. He sank into the chair with a loud plop. He asked his boss what was up although at this point he knew. His boss explained about layoffs. He talked about drops in sales, drops in clients, and dropping some people off the payroll to keep the business afloat. John was the VP of sales and knew they needed his salary to stay afloat, but he had brought in so much money over the years he could hardly believe they would let him go.

They sat in the two chairs for hours discussing the linguistics of the business and how many people would be let go. His boss was careful to not say fired. John asked who all was being let go, but his boss said nothing. John knew he was not being let go, he was being fired. His boss explained about the miserable sales quarter and John knew he solely was being blamed. He felt deflated. He just bought a new house, he was installing new cabinets in the kitchen, and he promised to take his grown kids to Paris next spring. Now, John realized, he was unemployed.

His boss asked him to stay for the day. He said wait till everyone leaves before you pack up. John looked at his boss perplexed. Then John thought, ahhhh he knows my team will walk with me. They would follow me out the door and he would have no sales team at all. John and his boss talked as John started packing up his personal belongings from his office. He had glass doors and his team was watching the scene unfold from their cubicles. John looked at them and made the cut movement across his throat. Everyone on his team pulled out boxes from under their desk, they knew he was going to be fired and they were ready. All twenty people of his team packed up their areas up. Within fifteen minutes his entire team was ready to go with him.

When John’s boss turned around and saw what John was smiling at he panicked. He told John that surely they could work out a severance package that would be sufficient for John to live off for a long time. John, being bolstered by his team waiting for him to walk out, smiled, nodded, picked up his boxes, put them on the cart and walked out his office door for the last time. All of his team lined up behind him to go down that silver elevator. They would leave with him. He was their leader and they wanted to keep him.

Once everyone was outside the building they began to talk about what the plan would be. Everyone talked about their roles in the new company. They talked about locations for it, rents in different areas, the size of the location they would need, and what supplies they would need. They talked about it being a lean operation with little overhead. They could do shifts and share desks. John stood by and wondered what was happening. He was the leader of this team, but it was his team that exhibited leadership skills. He began to cry. He was so proud of the team he assembled over the years. They were the best at what they did.

Once everyone stopped talking, John asked what was going on, they told him they knew it was coming. That he would be fired one day because his boss doesn’t like anyone more successful than himself. They wanted to start a new agency with him. They knew others who wanted to be clients, but with John being under his boss, whom they did not like, they stopped their people from being clients. Within thirty minutes everyone was on their phones and they had their first clients. John was stunned. He was also confused about how they would pay for all of this. John forgot the company had a severance packet for everyone who left and it was not contingent on how they left. Everyone would take their money and add it to one pot. They would give it all to John to rent a warehouse space they found. A much younger vibe than the stuffy office.

John was silent. He was stunned. He looked at his team and gave them a heartfelt thank you. They all hopped the subway and made their way down to a warehouse about forty minutes away. They all began talking at once. The energy they had was palpable. John was swept away with their exuberance. Once inside they all knew how they would set the office up. It would have bright colors, a pool table, gaming systems, lots of tables, not desks, and a coffee station. John knew many business deals could be closed around a pool table or with a cup of coffee in hand. He was on board with all of his team’s decisions.

Once everything was decided everyone went out to eat to celebrate. John was amazed at all his employee’s loyalty, he started the day out fired, and now he was opening his own business with this amazing team he had forged. He was grateful for their commitment and he knew whatever they did together would be a great success. After dinner, they all went their separate ways. They would take the week to all compile lists of what was needed. What items they needed to get their jobs done. John had his severance and some money saved but with clients already lining up for his team’s services he knew that this had turned into the best day of his life. He could not believe being fired was this great.