The Aerie

The Unemployment Hat

As far as I can tell, my hat cost me my job.

Now, to be fair, my now-former manager has been making very positive noises about how she's going to see that I'm picked up by another department at the-place-where-I-worked. So I don't want to risk alienating her...if that's actually what she's doing, which, if it is, would be good.

On the other hand, like I've said, I've worked with her before. Making someone feel good about her knife in their back is her speciality.

But the end began when we all met at a downtown building for a meeting. Normally my desk was at a building in an outlying area, but this meeting was in the downtown headquarters, so I had parked at a meter and planned to drive back to the regular building afterwards.

It was raining sleet when I arrived, so as I prepared to leave I donned my jacket and put on my hat. While everyone else at the meeting was standing and getting ready to go, my then-manager started waving her hand in a dismissive manner and saying "Bob, Bob..." while shaking her head.

"What?"

"The hat, Bob." she said, waving her hand and shaking her head.

"My hat?"

"There's a dress code. No hats are allowed."

"But I'm..."

"No hats."

So, bemusedly, I took my hat off, carried it to the door, and then put it back on. Along the way I had to put up with ribbing from my coworkers.

I didn't think anything of it until a couple of days ago, when I talked to my manager's boss prior to leaving. I wanted to tell him that my manager had delivered the news of my contract's termination in public, in front of my colleagues. That had struck me as inappropriate - personnel matters are private.

He shook his head. "You know, I heard about the other time."

"What other time?"

"With the hat."

It turns out that someone at that meeting, the meeting where I was publicly scolded for donning a hat indoors, was offended enough on my behalf to contact my manager's boss and complain.

He apparently dressed her down for this. "Did she apologize to you?" he asked. I shook my head. "She was supposed to apologize," he said disgustedly.

Suddenly things started to make sense. First, she finds herself managing someone who knows her and her methods. That made me a threat in the first place. So she vents that hostility by dressing me down in public. That gets her in trouble, which REALLY gets her ticked off at me. So the first opportunity she gets, she cans me.

Maybe.

Or maybe she thinks that she's doing me a big favor, helping me transfer to a different department. By cancelling my contract. And wishing me luck. Maybe.

I don't know, it's hard to tell. Were she acting out of kind but hopelessly inept motives that would be one thing. But I know this lady, I've seen her operate. It's easier to believe that she knows exactly what she's doing by getting rid of me, than that she thinks she's doing me a favor by unemploying me and promising to get me picked up by a different department.

I don't want to be a scoundrel, thinking ill of good intentions, and I don't want to be a fool shaking someone's hand for backstabbing me. So I've decided to blame my hat, instead. Damned hat!

Anyway it's done, and I'm out of a job. Maybe the other department will call me, but I can't count on that, so starting Monday I hit the ground with both feet running, looking for another lucrative contract, somewhere.

Meanwhile, I've got a wedding to attend up in Hinkley, so I'm off to warm up the van...

Posted by Albatross at January 13, 2007 10:46 AM | TrackBack