Out of the Closet, Part 2

Fired Up! : How the Best of the Best Survived and Thrived After Getting the Boot
by Harvey Mackay

(Page 2 of 2)

I really got blindsided because most of my colleagues in the store played golf. I figured they'd be happy and proud to see my name in the paper and where I finished in the tournament the previous day.

Wrong! Just the opposite!

How could I be so dumb?

How could I be so naïve?

The rest is history. The management, of course, never called me in. They went directly to my dad and said, "Too many distractions . . . too many favors . . . too many special requests . . . we can't rely on your son. He is a nice kid, but . . . !"

To say I was devastated was an understatement. There were very few times my father ever raised his voice at me while growing up. But his words ring out loud and clear to me this very day.

"Disappointed . . . let me down . . . let yourself down . . . look what will happen to your name and reputation around town when the word finally gets out . . . You will never work at Howard's Men's Store again."

My dad made me — no forced me — to write a letter of apology in my own words . . . not his.

They say you are supposed to learn from your mistakes, and wow did I ever. Being fired and unwanted, especially when you know it's 100 percent your own fault, is not easy to take. . . . I shamed my family and myself.

What exactly did I learn from my train wreck at Howard's? Eight indelible rules that can help you not get fired from a cushy part-time job . . . and more importantly, can help you succeed in a job you care about.

1. When a relative or well-connected friend lands you a job, remember that you did not get that spot on your merits. No matter what anyone tells you in a moment of kindness, don't forget you are there because someone else has pulled strings.

2. Insist that you hump racks on the sales floor and clean out the back storage room. Dig into the dirty work and be part of the gang — or you are begging your co-workers to gang up on you.

3. Look for a chance to stay a few minutes late or come early, especially when you can help a co-worker out. Particularly when that co-worker has a family and you are young and single.

4. Realize that getting the job is not the done deal. Keeping the job every day is doing the deal.

5. Always find a friend early on . . . one you can trust. Somebody you can ask for frank input: What do people here really think about me?

6. Even if it's a temporary or part-time job, never let the people around you feel that your work is an extracurricular activity. When you make colleagues feel that your extracurricular activities are more important than their work, you insult them.

7. Never, never, never ask for days off in a temporary job. If you are invited to work holidays or summers, chances are it's so regular employees can enjoy some time off.

8. Realize that the person you are likeliest to hurt by slacking off is not your employer . . . not yourself . . . but the person who stuck his or her neck out and packaged the cushy deal for you in the first place. Not only can this be painfully embarrassing, it can substantially short-circuit any chance for you getting any future cushions.

Luckily I got these messages loud and clear. I vowed never, ever to let this happen again. Believe me, at every single subsequent job I got through the rest of high school and four years of college, I minded my p's and q's and worked my guts out to do the best I could.

Being fired was invaluable "tuition" in the school of hard knocks. I will be eternally glad it happened.

It was an expensive lesson.

It was a hurtful lesson.

It was an embarrassing lesson.

I want every reader of this book to get the message . . . especially the younger set. Don't ever let this happen to you. Why? Because life has many hard lessons. Do yourself a favor and try to learn as many of them as you can with the least possible pain. Of course, I was only a raw high school kid with no one counting on my monetary support. I'm not trying to compare my experience to an adult breadwinner whose spouse or children are dependent upon him or her. Looking back, I was lucky to have learned my career lessons, not in kindergarten like the title of the famous book by Robert Fulghum, but while I was still a callow youth in high school.

But the sun did come out again, and guess what?

Two years later, I got virtually the identical job six blocks down the street at Howard's competitor, and this time I graduated to the Suit, Jacket, and Overcoat Department. I made a bundle in commissions. I fitted corporate purchasing managers into plaid jackets. I sold suits to Minnesota state legislators to whom I would later successfully sell domed stadiums when I became very active in the community. I made friends, some of whom I am lucky enough to have to this very day. Fifteen years later, after I had started my envelope-manufacturing business, my firm was stocking their warehouses ceiling-high with envelopes. None of this would have happened had I not learned my lesson at Howard's and taken my medicine.

In this book, you will learn about the mean streets of the employment jungle. People who didn't have a clue and were fired out of the blue. People who saw it coming but couldn't turn the tidal wave headed at them. People whose companies thought they were engaging in treason. People who were let go and not even given a reason. Some victims were young. Others were nearing their golden years. Still others were at the midlife peak of their careers. The common thread: None of them saw themselves as victims for very long. And that takes spunk.

Copyright © 2004 by Harvey Mackay. Excerpted by permission of Ballantine Books, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

About the Author

Harvey Mackay is author of four New York Times bestsellers. His first two books Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt were #1 New York Times bestsellers and are listed by the New York Times among the top fifteen inspirational business books of all time.