As the holidays approach us, I’m constantly reminded of a lesson I learned years ago about how you treat people. I’ve seen firsthand how the things we work so very hard for can be taken away at a blink of an eye. It’s normally during the holidays that I remember the Mr. Scrooge experience in my life because it took place right after the Thanksgiving holiday about 15 or so years ago.
Photo Credit: angiesdiary.com
Since I’ve become known by some of my friends as the story teller (meaning, I generally tell a story before I get to the point), I’m going to try to get to my point in less than 400 words. I like to type just as much as I love to talk! Anyway, one of the lessons I learned from this story was to be careful how you treat people.
Many moons ago, I worked for a company here in the Windy City. The owner was hard to deal with, and for lack of a better term, he was mean as hell and thought his ish didn’t stink. During Thanksgiving most organizations close for Thanksgiving and the Friday after; he decided to hold paychecks until the following week despite Friday being our pay date. This resulted in most of the company having some type of disdain for him. We were asked to write and voice our concerns in which I did, In fact, I called him Mr. Scrooge which resulted in me getting wrote up for calling the owner a “bad name” as HR called it. This was just one of the many things that made people think he was a mean as hell. His assistant use to cry all the time from dealing with him.
One day Mr. Scrooge decided to piss off a confidant who knew all of the company’s financial business. From my understanding he refused to give him a raise. A few days later as I set at my desk working hard; or least pretending to work hard. The FBI along with the SEC came through every entry that the office had and yelled take your purse and leave everything else. I lost my job a week after Thanksgiving right along with everyone else. All of the organizations assets were frozen and some of the people who got “live” checks that week bounced! Mr. Scrooge served time for insider trading and the last I heard about him was that he was out searching for employment. It’s funny how one week you think you’re on top of the world and next week the world crashes down on you.
I learned three important rules of life during this time;
Be careful how you treat people, especially people who know things about you that could land you in jail.
When you think you’re untouchable; life, God, the Universe, or whatever higher power you believe in will make an example out of you and prove you wrong.
And last but certainly not least,
Don’t fu*k with the government, they will throw a 90 year old in jail!
Enjoy your Thanksgiving Holiday!
