The quote in that meme is a direct quote. I know because I’m the one that said it. The thought came to me at the exact point in which I realized that my business career had been attacked to such a venomous degree that it’s unlikely I’ll ever work in any office anywhere around this city, or anyplace nearby ever again. My thirty plus years in management and business, including twenty years as the Manager of Labor Relations vs the UAW, now have no apparent bearing on my status before an interviewer. I am met with a preconceived – and entirely fictitious and erroneous assessment…and not of my doing.
I have been unemployed since my voluntary resignation on March 2, 2020.
Unemployment is not of my want and it is not for a lack of effort on my part.
Coming up on three years of unemployment is the first card in the hand held against me.
I’m also fifty-four years old and I’ll turn fifty-five in four months.
My age is the second card in that hand.
My legs have become a permanent disability. I fought it as long as I could, but I finally gave in and returned to the ‘doctor’s circle’ for some relief. They told me when the pain became unbearable, that I would be back. It took almost twenty years of running and physical stress for me to reach that point, but they were right and here I am.
Unfortunately for me, no one wants to hire a ‘gimp’ for any position, let alone one at my age. It’s illegal, it’s discriminatory and it is more than deplorable to disregard any applicant for a physical condition in this manner, but I can assure you, it happens, and it happens a lot.
My physical condition is the third card in that hand.
All of these cards have a powerful bearing, but the trump card dealt against me is that of venom. No other card is needed after drawing this one. It turns any hand of any size into “four-of-a-kind-aces”.
Lips are looser now that so much time has passed without any visible event or repercussion, yet still no one will testify to what they heard, what was said to them or what they witnessed.
I know what was said and who said it. I was tried without a jury, only vindictive judges. Tragically, it’s no longer contained to one particular person or company.
It’s become more like a web over time.
I certainly have the option of subpoena but I am not predisposed to the destruction of another’s livelihood, career and life for my own gain simply because they want to stay safe. That is a weakness and that is the venom that has been leveled against me – a true and pure weakness of character and form by those that believe they hold that untouchable power over others.
That is not strength or power in any of its forms.
The agents of these people are just as guilty, in particular those that have their hands on the pulse of the company and its networks; those that have opportunity to float on the sly, every piece of garbage they can spout. And it doesn’t have to true. If it’s scandalous and “juicy”, people tend to eat it up and consider it gospel without ever confirming or even asking a single question.
All drawn from that single drop of venom that preaches, “Who’s going to stop me?”
No, none of those people possess strength or power in any of its forms.
They are weak. They possess only inherent weakness. And they proudly display it for the world.
I’ve been disbelievingly asked, “How can you say that anyone in power is weak? They must be there for a reason. Doesn’t that make them strong?”
I say, without hesitation, “No!” Strength is not acquired or owned through a title, and especially not through the willful and intentional harm of those who rely on an employer’s ethics and business acumen to be proper and sound.
It simply is not.
Strength is gained, over time, through actual experiences found only in the treatment of others in all you do, in particular those that are reliant on your character.
You can stand around the ‘club’ all day and night pontificating on your personal management styles and self-proclaimed successes, but they mean nothing to the employees who are forced to witness and accept your actions and the imminent disregard for them as people. That kind of approach to business succeeds only in cracking and crumbling the foundation, and it is the direct result of hubris.
I’ve said many times, in many different ways in essays, articles and books, “It’s all about how you treat PEOPLE. No employee will ever care about your view of yourself.”
If you treat people like so much discarded garbage – employee or former employee or guy on the street – the workforce understands EXACTLY what it is that you are doing. The cracks and crumbling bring on a slow decay, and without the strength and support of that exact workforce, the company will flounder and eventually sink to the depths below.
Of course, hubris in management will never allow such a wild-and-unhinged thought from ever being registered. Never.
“It can’t be true. I’m the boss. You are not. How can YOU do anything?”
“What goes around, comes around.” “Karma is a bitch.” “Hubris is fatal.”
Eventually, the same venom struck into another person, will strike backwards and will infect and hurt those that wield it. They’ll do it all to themselves. No one else has to lift a finger. I would much rather see it happen with my own eyes, but I have to be content in the knowledge that it will snap back on them, and most likely will happen when they believe they’ve reached the pinnacle of success. I’ve seen it happen too often to believe it’s a fluke.
And that is a most devastating moment of realization, that moment when the full dose of venom has filled the veins. That moment when boss or manager or agent are all struck with their own venom. It’s so devastating because it never occurred to any one of them that it could ever happen to them.
The longer you hold its tail and use its venom, the longer the snake becomes and the more difficult it becomes to control it. You will reach a point where the snake has become too big and too unwieldy to control and then it can strike back in anger at the one that’s been swinging it around.
Good riddance to the ignorant. Hubris is fatal.
“Blacklisting and defaming a discontented employee is an impossible venom to control. Sooner or later, it will sink its fangs into the one holding its tail.”
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