Carol H Tucker Passionate about knowledge management and organizational development, expert in loan servicing, virtual world denizen and community facilitator, and a DISNEY fan
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beladona Memorial Be warned:in this very rich environment where you can immerse yourself so completely, your emotions will become engaged -- and not everyone is cognizant of that. Among the many excellent features of SL, there is no auto-return on hearts, so be wary of where your's wanders...
Facebook has a relatively new feature called “On This Day”. The purpose of this little app is to go back and show you any posts that you made on this particular day through the years. For someone like me who has been on Facebook since 2007, and who posts lots of links of things that I find interesting amongst the occasional status update and picture, sometimes there is a lot to go through! Now and then there are posts that really catch my attention. Today was one of those posts.
Posted at 10:04AM on Friday, May 8th, 2009, it simply said: “is unemployed”. MainStreet Lender had let me go, citing an error I made with 1502 reporting that cost the company $5K back in March and a general dissatisfaction with my performance. The last thing that was said to me was I obviously was not suited for working in a smaller organization and should think about going to an organization that could provide more support. MSL gave me one month’s severance pay because I agreed to resign rather than be fired. I was blindsided and totally crushed, and terrified to be out of work at a time when the recession was deepening.
IMNSHO? The $5K error notwithstanding, they really didn’t have any idea of what it was that I was actually doing all day. Insufficient resources were allocated to the Loan Servicing function and their expectations of what could be accomplished were unreasonable. However, I also think it was my failure – I did not impart to those in charge just how much was needed, and give a clearer picture of the way that I was prioritizing the work load and why. And a couple weeks later, I learned that they actually had eliminated my position, convinced that the other woman who was working insurance coverage could easily handle all of loan servicing. It became quickly apparent she could not, but since the company was actually purchased a few months later, it made little difference. Some other folks were let go, and I have no idea what happened after that.
This marked a low point in my life. I hadn’t been fired from a job since 1972 and obsessed over my failure. I gamely started the job search, but couldn’t even get past a phone interview at first. And two weeks later, I got a letter from the Enclave telling me that my lease was up. Last, unbeknownst to me at the time, the lingering malaise that I had been dealing with health wise was a rampaging MRSA infection that was steadily getting worse despite going back and forth to the doctor. Sick, unemployed and about to lose my apartment…. I remember very clearly giving way to complete despair, literally collapsing on the floor and sobbing that I just couldn’t handle it. And then things turned around.
I was hired into my current position at Potomac Business Services, which ironically is a much smaller organization than MSL. It was a drastic cut in pay and position, but it was also an easier commute and much more reasonable working hours. I had a job – and it has turned into a very good position with people I like to work with and who at least appear to appreciate my KSA. I was able to sign a new lease, moved out of the three bedroom apartment that I had lived in with my mother, and into my current apartment. For the first time in my life, I was living in a place that was just for me! Thanks to my daughter’s intervention, with a change of doctor, the infection was finally identified and eradicated.
And here I am, six years later, looking back and feeling very very grateful to be where I am
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