Monday, July 20, 2015

No Unfinished Business

I'm being laid off from my full-time job in about a month.

And I couldn't be happier or more grateful.

First of all, I was informed of this in a respectful way. "We love your work.  You've done nothing wrong. We'd love you to stay on part-time and when we have more opportunities in the future we'd love you to consider coming back on with us,"

In the past my firings were unnecessarily horrid.  This was not.  There was no "putting me on probation" to rationalize the decision, no ambush-meeting with 10 people staring at me to see how I would take the news, no "Say your goodbyes and be out of the building in half an hour.  I will need your security pass," as if I was a corporate criminal.  There was no prolonged period of gas-lighting air checks, no mind games, no predatory management practices, no obscenities shrieked at me in the hall, no thinly-veiled demeaning speeches.  This was done with class. 

Second, this is a layoff.  I'm among many others getting laid off.  I'm not singled out.  I'm applying for jobs and able to say, "Still employed and yes, it's OK to call my employer,".  I'll get a good recommendation or two and I can tell a future employer that my present employers have a high regard for my work.

Third: mornings is the best gig I will ever get.  I'm going out on top.  Any other gig will be a lateral move.  I'm not interested in that.  I am interested in keeping a weekend show, where I can enjoy getting radio out of my system on a regular basis.

When I got this gig it was a reparation for all the firings I'd had.  MORNINGS.  On rock stations.  A CHICK doing a rock morning show!  And while this is a trend, I got to be ONE of those chicks!  The very fact that I was chosen for this gig said not only that I belonged in radio full time, I belonged on MORNINGS.  This was the ultimate middle finger to everyone who had ever fired me.

And now it is time to move on.

I'm ready for a full-time job that doesn't need so much of my creativity, because I want to be a writer.  I want to be published.  I want a stack of finished novels and stories at the bottom of my obituary.  This means I need to get moving.  If I do get another 20+ healthy years on this planet, my first priority (other than loving my people and animals well and STAYING on this planet for another 20+ in a healthy way) is to write stacks of work that I feel good about.

And-a job in an industry that's a bit less volatile.

No unfinished business.  No regrets.

I'm ready.

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