You are reading my writings on this blog because of something that happened to me in 2008.
I was the editor of a small weekly newspaper in my hometown back then and one day in November, to my surprise, I was called into the manager’s office where several serious-looking people, including people from head office as well as the manager, were seated. I was informed I was being let go then and there and was given a sheet of paper to read which explained how this was going to go. I was the only employee left in the building in this after-hours ambush and I was told that I needed to get up from my chair and walk directly out to the parking lot without returning to the newsroom, my desk or computer. I asked about what would become of my “stuff” and was told that the manager would have it all packaged up in a day or two and delivered to my home.
So, I left. Drove around a bit and then went home to tell my family. My daughter ran into her bedroom crying as her Dad was a minor big deal in the community, not only bringing the news of the day to readers but speaking to classes now and then about my profession. That reaction was the one that finally fuelled in me some anger, though accompanying that was a bit of relief as well, as working under a new and cranky manager for almost a year had been a real trial. Nevertheless, I had been working on a feature story about a Second World War veteran and didn’t know how I would get it published. I phoned him to break the news to him and he was not happy. So I tried to log into my company email to send the story to the paper but I was already blocked. I had set up that email along with those of all the other employees at the paper years before. I emailed a reporter and asked her if she would handle the story for me and publish it without my name. She got permission from the manager and later that night, I sent off my last story for the paper.
I am pretty philosophical about things these days and even back then I could see that this was not an end but a beginning, part of a larger plan that I was not party to. It wasn’t long before I was grateful for all that had happened. Nevertheless, at the age of 57, I made a decision that I would never again be employed. I would never again give an employer a chance to do to me what had been done to me that day. Five people in our company of newspapers were let go in similar fashion that day, including two other editors. One woman said she wanted to say goodbye to her fellow workers. She was not allowed.
I don’t regret my decision. I got into other endeavours including online investing which is another term for skydiving without a parachute. I also started this blog at the urging of my daughter. She registered it as The Hagarty Times and presented it to me as a Christmas present in 2015. A few months later, I took it up and changed the name to Lifetime Sentences.
My bank account would be bigger had I rushed out and gotten another job but the men in my family have a bad habit of taking heart attacks and under the pressure of working every day for a money-losing venture, I could see that such an event might also be in my future. So, in a way, I started to see my sudden dismissal as perhaps a life-saving event.
A few years ago, the newspaper folded and is no more. No last laughs from me. Except for that day, I have a lot of wonderful memories of my time there and the people I worked with. And as I wrote a weekly humour column called Wandering Mind for the paper, you are actually being subjected to a lot of my pieces from that era.
When I read of news people being walked out by security these days, like Shep Smith at Fox News this week, my heart goes out to them a bit. But only a bit. Shep had just signed a contract for $15 million.
My buyout was a little less than that.
©2019 Jim Hagarty
