Firing in the News

A young gentleman in Ohio has been fired. I know this happens more often than I'd like it to, but I feel for every American that loses his/her job during this tough economic crisis. And especially for sub-par reasoning, as was the case here. The gentleman, an employee of a retirement community, was released after he left an 81 year old man in the back of his van while he ran errands for two hours in 80-degree heat.

Okay, so maybe there was reasoning for his expulsion, considering the 81 year old man was wheelchair bound, and I doubt the van had a DVD player to watch 'Murder She Wrote' reruns. Well it turns out that the man was fine when they returned to the community, but they fired the young van driver anyway. No harm no foul? Ever heard of it? Guess not.

Not only that, but the employee is getting taken to court for what he's done. First of all, his employer has no idea why he was running errands for two hours. Maybe he was at a science lab trying to find a cure for baldness, or perhaps the van was being robbed by land pirates and he was in the street, fighting for the old man's life. No one really knows.

Here's a great quote from the old man's wife..."My husband is fine," the man's wife said Tuesday. "My feelings are for the driver. It was a very bad mistake, but his life is ruined. My heart goes out to him. He's such a good man. He bent over backward helping other people."

See, retirement home! He's a good man, he liked helping people. He obviously cracked a window when he left the van. He might have even left the engine running so he could have AC, despite the ridiculous price of gas these days. I also like how the mans' wife says that the drivers life is ruined. Here's a list of things that would have ruined his life more than getting fired from being the driver of a van in an old folks home...

-Finding out his online girlfriend is actually a 45 year old German man with a fondness for whips. -Not having enough milk for his Honey Combs cereal, thus causing him to run to the store for reinforcements before the cereal he's already poured gets soggy.
-Having his mom kick him out of her house.
-Not getting past level twelve in Halo 3.
-Losing his other job at Wendy's.
-Getting called into military service from the new draft after McCain is elected (kidding!)
-He could be this kid...


-I take that back, I actually like the Star Wars Kid. Youtube him if you haven't seen it, he's a Jedi master.
-He could have bet on the Celtics last night to cover in L.A. only to have them lay down in the second half, which cost him half a month's rent just because the NBA is rigged and Garnett can't hit a 15-footer.

Obviously I'm playing devil's advocate here and the community was right in letting him go. I can't sit still at my desk for twenty minutes, there's no telling how nuts I would go in a van for two hours. I'm simply using this as another example of ways to help you in avoiding a termination, which is possible no matter what the situation. For instance, if you just so happen to be driving around an elderly person for a retirement home and have a two hour lunch date, make sure you drug the guy so he falls asleep and can't rat you out when you return to work. It's that easy...