Hello Everyone,
Two weeks ago I started this topic as it became more than evident that we were going to lose three members of my staff, it immediately struck me that I was between a rock and a hard place as my world turned upside down and was shaken severely. To some it might seem that this trial was relatively minor compared to suffering, sickness and death that more than a few are presently experiencing and of which I am also very familiar with in my own life, starting at a very young age.
I have been in a somewhat paralyzed state, lethargic and desiring to be in a quiet place where I could only seek answers from our Lord, pray for the guys who were to be affected by this layoff and beg for understanding and the lesson to be learned from this. I believe there are no wasted motions, actions or situations in this life and that God is in control of all things, I was hoping for a positive acknowledgement from our Lord in regard to this but what I received was not exactly what I myself wanted, what I got was a view of my own wretched imperfections under His magnifying glass.
As I sought solitude more situations would appear on the horizon, my wife hurt her back and it was quite severe, she is in Real Estate which means that at this time her business and income has been affected adversely so her stress level was already elevated and most married men can relate to “when Mama is happy, everyone is happy.” The reverse is also true and Mama was not happy.
We then received word that our daughter might have a medical problem that will only be determined by some further testing, I won’t go into any details at this time but it is a concern.
Believe me when I say that being isolated in a cave or deep in the woods actually looked good, no more phone calls or meetings or dinner topics focused on more problems, I wanted to be left alone and all I desired was to seek Him out and tenaciously pray for His Wisdom and Comfort without interruption. This was not granted to me and I felt as if I was spiralling downhill without energy or any good things to say or do, the minutes dragged on like hours.
Last Wednesday morning at our staff meeting I explained to the men that the warning of impending layoffs had finally become reality, that there would be three of them that would be affected and I gave them the reasoning behind why the decision was made in the manner it was, I had really struggled with how I was going to do this and I finally just determined that being totally upfront was my only option.
One of the guys at this very same meeting about 3 months ago suffered a heart attack, he had triple bypass surgery and recovered quite well, ahead of schedule actually. The courage and positive attitude displayed by this man was/is incredible, he has no family here, lives in a very humble environment as he recovers from having lost all his material possessions after a bitter divorce a few years back. He instinctively knew he was going to be layed off and was only positive and encouraging to me and the rest of the guys.
The other two took it about the way I thought although one of them surprised us with some rather bitter comments especially because out of the three of them he was actually getting the best deal, he had started as an Independent Contractor for me here and came onboard after working for us independantly for a year and a half. We had been friends for years before he began working for the company and I believe he felt he was untouchable here. Before we even started the meeting I pulled him aside and told him we were going to have to go back to our original relationship, he would continue to work for us but as a Contractor and not an employee.
We have enough going on in Warranty to continue to need tradesmen but the Quality Control and Safety Inspections had been slowed to a stall because of the lack of Sales and the resulting lack of Construction. I assured him the amount of work he would get would bring him the dollars he was receiving as an employee and still allow him even more hours to be available for the side jobs he always had in the evenings and weekends. He seemed to have no problem with returning to this arrangement at first but after sitting through the meeting he got more and more anxious and visibly more upset.
We ended up on a positive note, at least he and I did but the others had some problem with the things that were said and the self righteous tone they were spoken in. I am afraid he might have burned some bridges with a few of his former coworkers.
These past few weeks I am sure are full of lessons that I need to appreciate and learn from, only in retrospect will these scales fall completely off and the insights will become clear. In His time.
His Peace and Wisdom to you,
Joe
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Topic: A Most Difficult Week (Read 8126 times)