Your past sometimes catches up with you

I have some bad news

I received an interesting phone call today at my sign store. A prospective customer called inquiring about some signs (duh...we're a sign shop.) He told me his name (we'll call him Joe) and said that we worked together at the company I was previously with. He went on to say that he was one of the ones caught up in the "big layoff of 2001." Partially recalling the name, I sheepishly asked him if I was the one that laid him off. He said yes. I asked him a couple more verifying questions, all of which he answered in the affirmative. Uh oh...my past was coming back to haunt me.

Here was someone from whom I sat across a desk in the Human Resources Department to inform that his job with the company was over. He had to go home that day and try to explain to his family how and why he no longer had a job. Unfortunately, he wasn't the only person I laid off that day...I think he was the 6th (and final) one to whom I had to deliver this devastating news. One of the worst parts of it was that I couldn't really articulate a sensible reason as to why he had to lose his job. Oh, I had the company line that we delivered but, in my heart of hearts, it didn't really make good sense to me.

He took the news very well. He didn't get angry or start to cry or (heaven forbid) attack me with a folding chair or the letter opener on the desk. He was calm...almost peaceful about it. I told him that the Human Resources person would go over the various financial, insurance, severance details with him. In the meantime I waited for him to finish his paperwork so I could walk with him back to the building at the rear of our sprawling campus. I'll admit that I was regretting having to make that 10 minute walk with him but I wasn't about to make him make that walk alone.

Just about a year earlier our company was merged with another, greatly increasing the size of the company but causing much redundancy, including in my area- Customer Service. I went from having 100 or so employees to more than double that...now including people in Wisconsin, Ohio, North Carolina, and Nebraska. It was later decided to close one of the locations in Wisconsin. That meant that, except for the few that were offered and accepted transfers to the Charlotte location, the remainder of the 18 employees I had there would be laid off. When I flew up to Wisconsin I was going to be meeting most of my "new" employees for the first time. And I was going to tell them that they no longer had a job. The day began early as they came in one by one to hear first hand from me that they were being let go. The first one to cry was a man in his late 50's who had been with the company probably since I was in college. A couple of the ladies also cried. This was awful for them. Oh, it was no fun for me but c'mon...I was a VP and wasn't losing my job...my career...my paycheck.

I chose to retire early (well I was there for almost 33 years) in part because of that day in Wisconsin. I just didn't want to do that anymore. I know that layoffs, restructuring, RIF's...whatever you want to call it are a part of the business world...and even necessary in many cases. But I just couldn't stomach being a part of that kind of activity anymore. That doesn't mean that I will never have to let an employee go again but, at least I will be the one making that decision...not just picking which one it has to be.

So, let's get back to my long walk with "Joe." I asked him as we walked back if he was going to be alright because I was just about to break down myself and lose my composure. Sensing this, he put his arm around my shoulder as guys tend to do and gave it a squeeze and said, "Hey, it is going to be fine...I don't want you to be upset about it...you were just doing what you had to do." He went on to tell me that he was a part-time minister and had been praying for God to give him some guidance about what to do about his ministry. He said that the layoff may have been just what he needed to happen so he could make some decisions about that. My intent in walking back with him was to offer some consolation and here he was lifting me up and telling me that  maybe his job loss was an answer to prayer. Now I was really in tears feeling guilty about what had happened to him but at the same time overwhelmed with the grace and compassion he was extending to me. I have never forgotten that day and that 10 minute walk with him.

You see, in a real way, he was an answer to my prayers too. I had been feeling the tug to move on to whatever God had next in store for me. Not too long after this, I had made up my mind to step away from a career that had been so good to me and my family to see what I was supposed to do next.

Turns out it was to buy a sign company. "Joe" called me today to ask me if I would look at some signage at an historic church downtown that needs to be changed because his church has taken over the building.

So as to provide all the facts, "Joe" called me because his "day job" is working for a company that includes another former employee (no, I didn't lay him off) that recommended me when he heard that "Joe" was looking for some signs. That little clarification does not in the slightest way change the amazing turn of events of our re-connection. It has been almost 10 years since "Joe" and I took our seemingly insignificant walk and had that very God-filled conversation.

Sometimes our pasts do catch up with us. And thank the Lord they do.