VINDICATION – vin·di·ca·tion. Noun. Def.: justification against denial or censure
Last year, I left a pretty great job to go to a new company with the promise of adventure, creativity, fun, collaboration, profit sharing, open communication and unlimited growth. After 6 months, my boss told me she loved having me around, and I was promoted and given a raise. A month later, they hired a new CEO and about 15 seconds after that, I was let go. On a Thursday afternoon, three of us were told to pack up our stuff and get out. Because of the financial situation, “anyone not contributing to the bottom line has to go.” So what the hell had I been doing there the whole time? Gardening?
As you can tell, I was angry about it. I’m not entirely sure why – they explained that they couldn’t pay us, not that we weren’t doing a good job. Yes, they had a good reason, but my guts still told me it was shady. They kissed our asses daily about what a great team we all were, and never gave us any hint that our jobs might be on the line. I ultimately felt like they let me down. I trusted them, and they didn’t protect me. Being thrown under the bus sucks donkey balls, no matter whose fault it was.
A couple of days ago, I got an email from one of my two former bosses announcing her departure from the the company. A-HA! Things finally went down the shitter! Hooray! I waltzed around the living room with my lap top singing nany nany boo boo. The miserable little troll of a CEO ruined everything, just like I suspected he would! Vindication is SA-WEET!
Hmm. What’s this yucky after taste?
Here’s the thing about vindication. For the victim to be vindicated, the people who did the wrong-ing in the first place subsequently have to get screwed. Yes, my old bosses totally mismanaged their business, and those of us unfortunate enough to be working under them paid for it. That being said, they are still intelligent, ambitious women with good ideas who I used to respect. Their dreams and goals eventually got pissed on as well as my own. And that sucks too. Suckage + suckage = double suck.
You know what? Never mind. Let’s be honest. They’re big girls; they’ll survive. They had the cahones to screw us over, so they’ll have the stones to carry on and try something new. And if they hadn’t laid me off (in a very uncool way), I probably wouldn’t have come to the realization about what I want to do next. I’ll be fine and they’ll be fine. I’ll be more than fine. I’ll be AWESOME.
