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On being fired

C

CTHank

There's lots of posts about folks being laid off and how some of us were notified (or not) that we were fired. And if you've worked in radio for more than a couple of months the odds are at some point you've been let go...what's the weirdest way or worst way you've been notified?

As for me, the worst (or most unusual) was the time I left one station to join another one in a different state, drove to the new station, got out of my car and was met by the program director who had hired me in the parking lot telling me not to bother, the station had been sold, the format was being flipped and all the old staff (including me, and I hadn't even had time to unpack...) had been let go.....
 
I'll spare all of the gory details, but the morning it happened the locksmith showed up before the new owners.

The entire staff (air, sales, mgt, and engineering) was let go and the station shut down. The station signed on from a new location a few days later.

The week before, the new owners were carrying on like nothing was wrong. The only good thing was that they lost their a$$ a few years later when they sold the station.
 
Got let go once in a sale and the old owners gave everybody 2 weeks notice so they wouldn't have to pay severance. t
 
I guess I've been lucky. In nearly FIFTY (50) years on the air at a DOZEN (12) stations, I was only fired ONE (1) time back in the '70's. No great story behind it, other than to say you know your day has come when you walk in and say "hi" to a half-dozen or so fellow staffers, and they barely utter a "hi" in return and look away as quickly as possible. It was at that moment, I knew my day had arrived. Much later that afternoon, I got the pink slip. What bothered me most was that they all knew it before I did. But, that's radio.
 
I had a security guard watch me clean out my desk once. But the best one was an owner of a station in Georgia told me he was firing me to hire his girl friend.
 
I've had a couple of poor experiences.

Back in the mid 90's in East Texas the new owners of our station had been hanging out with us for weeks and reassured everyone that nothing would change (they ALWAYS do that don't they?). The morning they took over they summoned the entire airstaff (this was back in the days when even a small market station would have one!) and informed us we were now telemarketers at a (very) reduced pay rate. I found out later that this was just a ploy to get out of paying unemployment benefits. Technically we weren't being "fired" and they pretty much knew none of us would take the deal and would quit instead. Fortunately our PD had several friends among big local advertisers and some subtle pressure was exerted and they backed down.

Years before that I was let go from a station in Hawaii. It was admittedly my own fault. I was young and stupid and got into a pissing contest with the morning guy on air. They refused to let me clean out my desk or give me back ANY of my personal stuff claiming it was all company property. This included all of my aircheck and demo tapes. I learned a three hard lessons there. NEVER bring your personal feelings about anyone on-air. NEVER keep anything personal at a station that you don't want to lose. ALWAYS keep copies of your airchecks and demos AT HOME!
 
I guess it wasn't technically being fired since I was just demoted, but I remember when I was getting off-the-air at an AC outlet when the phone rang. It was my PD. He told me not to bother showing up tomorrow because I was being transferred to an off-air position so our OM could take over my shift, and, oh, by the way, my new position was part-time.

At my last radio job, I was let go when I asked my PD why I hadn't received a schedule yet. He told me all weekenders were being terminated in budget cuts and emailed me a schedule with "Otto Mation" filled out on every weekend shift. I cut him a little slack on that one since my day job was almost an hour-and-a-half from the station, and I wouldn't have taken off work to come to the all staff meeting. The "Otto Mation" listed on the schedule, by the way, was actually a protest of his own to show how unhappy he was with his boss's decision!
 
For all you out there who are afraid of losing your personal stuff, always remember you have a legal right to gather all of your belongings before you leave. This last time I was "laid off" I was pretty sure it was coming so before my "meeting" on Monday, I went in on Sunday and cleaned most of the stuff out of my office, but left just enough in case I had read the signs wrong (ha ha). When the time came Monday morning and I was in the GM's office with my (I hesitate to call her) boss, the GM herself and the HR girl (who coincedentally I had had a past physical relationship with), I was getting my severance papers and turning in my keys and cards when they informed me that somebody would be packing up my office and I could come back later and pick the stuff up. Obviously this policy was to avoid having somebody freak out in the middle of the office or depress everybody who would be seeing somebody clean out their office. I immediately informed them that I would not be leaving the building without all of my stuff. They got a little panic look on their faces and again told me that I would have to come back later and pick up my stuff. I again informed them of my legal right to gather my stuff before I left and that I was not leaving until I did. The GM then threatened to call the police and I really freaked them out by calling her bluff and saying please do call them because if they didn't I was going to. At that point they begrudgingly let me go into my office and get my stuff. They of course stayed about 2 feet from me at all times and practically fell over them selves pushing the cart out the back of the building to my car. Of course being the dimwits they are, they had no clue how to get back in the building and had to walk all the way around to the front door to get back in.

About a week later, the production director was laid off as well and from what I heard he actually did call the police and had a police escort as he got his 10 plus years of stuff out of the building.
 
MisterRadio said:
For all you out there who are afraid of losing your personal stuff, always remember you have a legal right to gather all of your belongings before you leave. This last time I was "laid off" I was pretty sure it was coming so before my "meeting" on Monday, I went in on Sunday and cleaned most of the stuff out of my office, but left just enough in case I had read the signs wrong (ha ha). When the time came Monday morning and I was in the GM's office with my (I hesitate to call her) boss, the GM herself and the HR girl (who coincedentally I had had a past physical relationship with), I was getting my severance papers and turning in my keys and cards when they informed me that somebody would be packing up my office and I could come back later and pick the stuff up. Obviously this policy was to avoid having somebody freak out in the middle of the office or depress everybody who would be seeing somebody clean out their office. I immediately informed them that I would not be leaving the building without all of my stuff. They got a little panic look on their faces and again told me that I would have to come back later and pick up my stuff. I again informed them of my legal right to gather my stuff before I left and that I was not leaving until I did. The GM then threatened to call the police and I really freaked them out by calling her bluff and saying please do call them because if they didn't I was going to. At that point they begrudgingly let me go into my office and get my stuff. They of course stayed about 2 feet from me at all times and practically fell over them selves pushing the cart out the back of the building to my car. Of course being the dimwits they are, they had no clue how to get back in the building and had to walk all the way around to the front door to get back in.

About a week later, the production director was laid off as well and from what I heard he actually did call the police and had a police escort as he got his 10 plus years of stuff out of the building.
Click to expand...

Great story, Mister Rodeo! It's a screwy business, isn't it?
 
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