This is off topic, but I just need to write it out. I lost my job yesterday.
For the last 5 years I have worked for a plumbing wholesaler in Missouri. I joined them after our family construction business closed. We ran that business for 16 years and finally shut the doors when our income, my age, and health were no longer viable for that business model. I joined the plumbing wholesaler as the Showroom Manager and worked that until they bought out another company in town and merged. After that. I was transitioned to be a Buyer. The products I was buying were industrial plumbing parts and items, many of which I did not know by name or item number. It was not an easy transition.
A Buyer is in a terrible situation. You are in trouble with your Boss if you buy too much of an item and you are in trouble with salesmen if you don’t have exactly what they need on the self, when they need it.
Yesterday, my Bosses Boss called me in and told me that they were going in different direction and that I was being let go. I was not being fired for cause but I know I was the highest paid of the three Buyers we had. They also were making a big investment in a new computer program that did most of the functions of my job.
Bottom line, I am 56 years old with significant arthritis, a wife of 27 years, and two wonderful high school kids – one of whom is training to be a classical Ballet Danseur in Connecticut. I am scared, and hardly slept last night. I have never felt as lost, not even after our family business closed.
This is off topic, but I just need to write it out. I lost my job yesterday.
For the last 5 years I have worked for a plumbing wholesaler in Missouri. I joined them after our family construction business closed. We ran that business for 16 years and finally shut the doors when our income, my age, and health were no longer viable for that business model. I joined the plumbing wholesaler as the Showroom Manager and worked that until they bought out another company in town and merged. After that. I was transitioned to be a Buyer. The products I was buying were industrial plumbing parts and items, many of which I did not know by name or item number. It was not an easy transition.
A Buyer is in a terrible situation. You are in trouble with your Boss if you buy too much of an item and you are in trouble with salesmen if you don’t have exactly what they need on the self, when they need it.
Yesterday, my Bosses Boss called me in and told me that they were going in different direction and that I was being let go. I was not being fired for cause but I know I was the highest paid of the three Buyers we had. They also were making a big investment in a new computer program that did most of the functions of my job.
Bottom line, I am 56 years old with significant arthritis, a wife of 27 years, and two wonderful high school kids – one of whom is training to be a classical Ballet Danseur in Connecticut. I am scared, and hardly slept last night. I have never felt as lost, not even after our family business closed.