“Fired? You’re firing me?”

“Well, fired is a harsh word, but . . . well, GearUp has no further need for your services.”

“But, Kelly, I don’t get it. I really don’t. I worked hard, and I did everything you told me to do.”

“Jennifer, that’s just it. You did everything I told you to do.”

“I put in so many hours. How could you fire me?”

“Your job was to find ways we can reduce operational expenses without curtailing our effectiveness.”

“Right! And I did that.”

“No, you didn’t. You followed up on ideas that I gave you. But we don’t need someone who can follow up on my plans. We need someone who can figure out what we need to do, create her own plans, and bring them back to me. . . . And others.”

“How could you expect me to do that? I’ve only been here six months!”

“It’s called teamwork. Sure, you’re just learning our business, but I made sure all of our senior staff would be available to you . . .”

“I didn’t want to bother them.”

“Well, you succeeded. I asked Drew what he thought of the plans you’re working on. ‘Who’s Jennifer?’ he asked.”

“But, doesn’t he work down at the warehouse?”

“Right. He’s the operations manager. . . and it would seem to be worth talking to him.”

“I’ll go do that!”

“Jennifer, do you see what just happened? I gave you an idea and you said you’d do it. That’s not what I need. I need you to find solutions on your own.”

“I worked really hard. I put in a lot of hours. I’ve got all these reports written.”

“Has anyone seen them?”

“I talked to you about some of them. But, I was waiting until I was satisfied with them.”
“Right. That’s not how we do things here. We develop ideas and then kick them around with each other. Nobody has all the smarts. Our plans get better when we comment and rework them... I think I told you that.”

“Maybe you did. But I’m just not comfortable with that.”

“Well, it’s a key skill here.”

“I know I can do this job.”

“Jennifer, you’ve been here almost 6 months; you have a degree in business. Several weeks ago, I asked you for your first idea about how to identify problematic vendors. Do you remember what you said?”

“Yes, I wasn’t sure how to proceed. I didn’t want to just throw something out that might not work.”

“But how would you find out if it would work?”

“I don’t want to waste money...”

“No, you don’t. So, when you didn’t get very far with that task, I backed up and asked you to send me a diagram of the life cycle for one of our events . . . how we select the vendors, how we negotiate with them, how we create the Web pages, run the events, ship the goods. Not details, just the overview.”

“Yes, I sent you that diagram.”

“Jennifer, it made no sense. Your diagram had vendors sending us sales materials before we finished negotiating with them.”

“I know that process, I just couldn’t put it down on paper. But, I’ll try again!”

“Well, I appreciate that attitude, but times are tight. We don’t have room for trainees. When the economy was strong, I’d have been able to look for a spot for you, see if we could bring you along. But, to get our margins up, we can’t afford to do that now.”

“What about my references?”

“I’ll be happy to tell anyone that you’re reliable, that you work 40 to 45 hours a week, and that you’re honest and have integrity.”

“Those are important!”

“Yes, they are. But today, they’re not enough.”