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Could you quit - one minute into the job?
posted by: rich trombetta on 03/07/10
Could tell your boss to ‘shove it’ the first minute on the job?
By Rich Trombetta
TweetMyJOBS.com
@tweetmyjobs
My dad shared a story with me one time that I found difficult to believe and left me wondering, ‘could I have done what he did?’
My parents were children of the Depression so a job and money were things that were not easy to come by and were VERY valued and respected. My dad enlisted in the Navy at 18 and when he got his honorable discharge four years later he put himself through college, working nights and weekends. Shortly after he finished school he was offered a job as a calculus teacher and was promised certain things related to the class of students he would have and what his responsibilities would be.
On the very first day of work – one day before school was to start – he showed up ready to go. He had prepared his lesson plans over the summer, and like most first time teachers, was eager to get started. About one minute into the job the Principal (the person who had hired him) asked to talk with my dad. The two of them went into the Principal’s office and there was another teacher present. “A change has been made,” my dad was told and he would no longer be teaching the calculus class he was promised, but instead he would be teaching a different class that had in the past been taught by the other teacher who had joined them. Sounds OK, right? Wrong.
Turns out the other class was one no one wanted. Disruptive students. Terrible curriculum. An awful situation. My dad realized he had been set up. What the school had done was hire him knowing full well what they were going to do. The other teacher was friends with the Principal and a ‘side deal’ had been cut. Hire a quality person for one position and then pull the rug out from under him at the eleventh hour by telling him ‘a change had been made’ when it would be impossible for the new employee to get another job since school was starting the next day.
“No,” my dad said, “you promised me the calculus job.” The Principal went on to explain how he and the other teacher had talked about things…” Bam. My dad cut him off. “So I am not getting the calculus job?” he asked. “Well, it’s not that you will never be in that position, it’s just that…” the Principal started to say while smiling and trying to smooth things over. “Forget it,” my dad said. “I don’t want to work here.” Stunned silence. “Now you go and try and find a teacher at the last minute to handle his (pointing to the other teacher) class. You had all summer to address this and now you spring this on me. No way. You can keep you job. Or better yet, how about he (again pointing to the other teacher) can do both. I’m done.” My dad told me that the Principal and the other teacher turned white as a ghost. “We can work something out,” they said. “No, this is the way it will go,” said my dad. “You do as you promised and I will start today. If not, you can shove you job (you can fill in the blank.)”
He was given the calculus class and started working that day.
The story always makes me wonder, ‘could I have done that?’ Could I have stood up for myself and said ‘no’ when the safe thing to do would have been to just take the class no one wanted? My dad and my mom had very little money and were living almost week to week – and he said, no, I am not going to be bullied or put up with this. I would like to think I would have done the same but inside I think I would have done what most of us would do – put our head down and take the awful job. What makes this situation particularly unique is that my dad was a school teacher and the alternatives for him would probably mean not being able to teach for a year except maybe doing some substitution work, but that would be all that would be available.
Imagine if he had done that. Imagine the anger, the resentment, the disappointment, the embarrassment, and ‘pit in the stomach feeling’ each morning he would have had for an entire year. A year. Not a day, a week, or a month. A YEAR. An entire year of the other teacher and the Principal laughing at him and getting away with something so unethical. Where would it have stopped? If he caved on this, what would be next? Would a year turn into two, three, maybe more? Would word get out around town and in the community that this was his brand – you can push him around and treat him poorly? What about facing his fellow teachers?
This is the lesson - you are a person. A human being. An individual. Possibly a mother or a father. Have confidence in yourself. Don’t let others push you around. You deserve to be treated with respect. Once you let the pushing start, it gets harder and harder to push back.
Could you tell your boss to ‘shove it’ one minute into a new job, especially in this economy? Did my dad do the right thing?
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Comments
posted by: Bobby Clark on 03/08/10
Wow, powerful question. I'd like to think I'd have the courage to do what your father did but after being unemployed for over a year, I probably would take the job. The problem with this scenario is the principal doesn't realize the impact of what he's done. The principal has destroyed any possibility of building a working relationship built on trust. Additionally, people who are forced to take the position under this scenario will resent the job and be inclined to do the bare minimum. Bobby Clark http://managerbytes.com