There’s a chance that Geoff might get fired today. I really wish that I were joking, but I’m not. If you know me, know him, then you probably want to laugh anyway. You’d know how crazy it sounds. Geoff gets promoted, not fired. In fact, he has been promoted twice in three years. You’d know – without me having to tell you – how hard he works and how much he accomplishes. He’s a doer. It’s a challenge to find him not doing something even in his free time. Imagine how much he can accomplish when you throw money into the mix.
If you know Geoff, then you know what a nice guy he is, how agreeable he is. He rarely ever gets angry. It’s one of the things that I love most about him. You’d know that he’s really smart and that he has an uncanny ability to teach himself anything that he wants to know. You’d know that he is an innovator, always thinking of ways to make things work faster, more efficiently, no matter how small.
So, if you knew all of these things about him, would you believe that it would ever be possible for someone to turn all of Geoff’s skills, all of his gifts, against him? Could you believe someone who cast a light in such a way as to make his attributes look like flaws? Would you buy it that he is a liability, not an asset to his company?
Well, it happened.
How, you ask? Well I’m not positive, but I have a suspicion that emotions are to blame. I could go into the gritty details, but I don’t think it really matters. Suffice it to say that emotions are like a magician’s bag of tricks. In one set of hands, a dove flies out of a top hat. In another set, the top hat holds a cloud of gloomy black smoke. It’s a simple illusion, nothing more than a manipulation.
Just remember, not everything is as it seems. I’m half hoping that he does get fired today. Maybe it’s just the kind of motivation that I need to find my way back to the workforce. Maybe we can use the time off and severance money to take a trip. I hear Hawaii is nice this time of year.
Postscript: Geoff just texted me — he’s still employed. Whew. I think.
Sorry to hear about Geoff’s work problems and I hope things work out for the best. Just remember if he does lose his job, his ego will be bruised even if he pretends it is not.
It is also uncanny sometimes how much we seem to have in common. The qualities you describe in Geoff sound very much like my husband, and well….I had that same 83 Tercel :)……
Ooh, I’m so curious about you now! That’s so funny about the Tercel. I hope yours lived a better life than mine. Sometime I will have to post the feather story…
I misread the postscript as “Jeff is still self-employed.” That gave your post a whole new meaning until my mind fixed my error.
Yeah, that would be a lot different!
Goodness. Maybe he should start looking for another job? Don’t listen to me.
Oh my…sending good throughts your way….so that he keeps keeping his job!
Oh I’m sorry! I hope things turn out ok!
Ack…hope he gets on more solid ground there.