Forty Fired
“…..let you go.”
That person’s mouth was moving and you were certain they said you were being let go but all you can see is the blank indifference in their, never been on this side of the table, have no idea that you’re already a month behind on your car payment, eyes. Then the stinging revelation that you trained Mrs. Now Firing Me seven years ago when she was hired!
The shock you are experiencing will never leave you. You got outsourced, you got robo-replaced. More than likely your neighbor’s kid graduated and sparkled their way right into your position for $30k less a year.
You thought entering the dating pool after your first divorce was bad, now you have to throw your dusty resume into the rodeo round up with your kids and be evaluated by the babysitters you used to hire to watch them. Remembering all times you popped tops, carefree and thirty with a banging body, a brand new house and not clue that life would soon have you starting over at the entry level.
So here you are, upside down on the house, left by a lying cheating spouse, kids that are graduating college on loans you took out. Your credit wrecked from over extension. That 401K was a master plan, until you borrowed it all out in two loans for your epic big 4–0 birthday trip to the Virgin Islands and then dropped ridiculous money on that car you always had to have and totally deserved.
But you were holding it all together. Check to check, month to month, card to card like a mob accountant. Then those dead eyes across the desk let you go, wishing you the best of luck on your future endeavors.
It gets worse, all your raging fires. Humiliation only begins when the family finds out.
Welcome to Forty Fired.
Nobody knows what a loser you are, except your significant other, if you have one, but let’s face it… you are now unemployed. How long can it last? You should a put a ring on it! No worries. You might get lucky and true love survives, survives the fact that you haven’t showered for three days, or brushed your teeth. How many Chinese take-out boxes are now in the fridge? The perfect amount, I assure you.
This first week has been yours. Your low down, dirty, I’m going to grovel in it until there is nothing left on Netflix but foreign language,anime movies and you’ve even watched half of those.
But by week two you have to elevate your game. You are now a raging fire in the anger stage of grief. No more Netflix. You can graduate to politics and solving the world’s problems. Let them have it on Twitter! But Facebook, save Facebook for lighthearted, life changing new start memes. You have to prepare your family for when you tell them. When you tell them that you are over forty and were fired so they can begin to re-plan your entire life for you as though it was the second coming of your high school graduation.
It’s on the way my friend. Recycled speeches about all of your potential and how you just have to grab that brass ring. It’s coming. In daily calls from your mother, your siblings and if you get a pastor… I pray for you.
Potential, they say. You have it. Experience, they remind you. Who wouldn’t hire you?
Remember that while you wait quietly for unemployment checks to kick in. Did you know you paid into that you’re whole adult working life? Eureka! 5 months at 60% pay. Yes, I am not looking for a job.
A week of sesame chicken, repetitive advice and you finally realize that you deserve this break. You paid for it over the last 25 years and you will take it. Every late night, rum soaked, no alarm morning, anxiety relieving day of it!
Forty Fired is feeling less life-ending and more like the universe telling you that you deserve a little time off. You deserve a break. And from shock to despair, from grief to rage, you arrive.
You arrive at the realization that you can rest for a moment in life and everything will be just fine.
