YOU’RE FIRED!

During my last semester in college, my first nephew was born. My sister and her husband lived next door and across the street from my dorm so I saw him everyday. I was in love with him!! I could not imagine loving any child as much as I loved him!

It was just a few months after he was born that my sister and family moved to Fort Worth Texas for her hubs to attend seminary. I was devastated!! I missed that little guy so much that when I graduated from college, I went to a job temp service and applied for jobs in Fort Worth. I didn’t have a plan other than being near my nephew.

Within the first week after I applied for temporary jobs the HR person called me for a permanent job opening. OMG!! I was in Louisiana and they wanted me to come in for an interview for this medical manufacturing company. I had a degree in office administration and “experience” in a computer program called Lotus 123. (I say “experience” because even though I took the Lotus 123 class, one of my friends did all of my work. I passed with an A 🤓.)

I packed a bag and went to Fort Worth TX for my interview. When I get there the first bit of information I find out is that I am interviewing for a job assisting the production manager using the computer program…Lotus 123! No joke!! The first thing that went through my mind was “SERIOUSLY LORD? Man You have a wicked sense of humor!!”

Apparently I faked it well enough that I got the job!! So now I had to find an apartment, pack my stuff, and move. It all happened so fast I felt like I was in a whirlwind!! Of course I wasn’t and the reason it happened so fast was because God knew my heart and knew I wanted to be closer to my nephew.

When I started the job, I had to find my college Lotus 123 book and learn how to do it, and do it in a hurry! I learned pretty quickly how to put together the formulas that would tell my boss how much of certain materials he would need to process an order of an exact number of finished products for the customer. I really enjoyed my job and I loved living in my own apartment in Fort Worth but my favorite thing was that I lived within 10 minutes of my nephew (and directly across the street from the best mall in Fort Worth).

About 8 months after I started my job, the company I worked for was sold to a larger company. Most of the time when an established company buys out another company, they go in and get rid of 90% of the employees and put their own employees in those positions. My boss got laid off, I lost my office and they moved me to the production floor in a cubicle (which didn’t really bother me because most of my friends from work were on the production line). My new boss was not very friendly. He seemed to think he was better than everyone else, including me. Anyone that knows me knows it is hard to intimidate me, and if you are able to intimidate me, it really chaps my hide. Lol.

Apparently my new boss had the task of getting rid of the production line and anyone else that made it through the transition. One day he came to my cubicle with a handful of papers. He hands them to me and as I look at them I notice they each have a different worker’s name on the page and that each page is a letter of reprimand. I also notice that every one of them are post dated for different dates, but all from before the takeover. My boss told me to type the letters of reprimand and file them in they employee’s file. I was shocked. I suppose I was raised very sheltered but I had never been confronted with such a dilemma.

I could not bring myself to type the letters. When I refused to type the letters, my boss had someone mess around with my formulas on my production spread sheet and I could not find the error. I looked and looked but it was well hidden.

I was scheduled to go before the big boss with my production spreadsheet to show him our production planning and finished product information the next day. I printed the spreadsheet formulas and took it home and went over it with a “fine tooth comb” and still could not find the problem. Needless to say my meeting went horribly and I got fired.

Obviously, I was very upset. I knew I had been set up to fail. I realized my time in Fort Worth was over. I would greatly miss my friends and most especially my nephew. I didn’t have the best attitude about having to move back home.

After moving home, I started a new job and moved up pretty quickly, I was in no way a high position, but I was moving up. Little by little, I saw Gods plan for my life and I settled in and am so happy the end resulted in a wonderful life. I have kept in touch with some of my friends in Fort Worth and I will always have those friendships.

Years later as I reflect on the way my time in Fort Worth ended I realize several things. First, when in college, if you have a class, do the work yourself. You never know what you will need to be able to do in a job. Second, I do not ever want to work for a corrupt company, which I consider the company I was working for. Third, if things had not worked out the way they did, I would not have met my husband and would not have the blessed life I have now.

God’s path for us is the best path. To follow His path is like walking across a solid concrete bridge. Where following our own path is like trying to walk across an old rickety swing bridge.

JEREMIAH 29:11< strong>For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.