This has been a week of "Oh, My God's."
First I find out that my one brother-in-law lost his job just short of being there twenty years! Now doesn't that just reek of age discrimation? Of course, the company (which is a well known brokerage house) claimed that he could not do his job properly....huh??? He had more than twenty-six years experience, including working on "the street" not in funnyville wantabe Florida. I hope that he sues their butts off.
In these "right to work" states you really don't have many "rights"...it's all geared towards the employer, except if you can prove age discrimation. In the last two years or so this company has laid off/fired/made it so difficult that people resigned...over 25 other "older" employees.
My brother-in-law knew his turn was coming when they started to "document" what they felt was his shortcomings. Oh, you say "What shortcomings?" Well, they arranged that too, by removing him from his original job and placing him in an area that he had never worked before. It also required that he do a lot of typing...well, he never learned to type it wasn't necessary for all those years. Other than a little hunt and peck he could do.
So they set a path where failure was the only option. Only a few short years ago they had given him an award for excellence on his performance at work on behalf of the company. What they did to him is disgraceful, hurtful and downright wrong.
Then on Saturday morning, Joe got a call from his sister Jeannie that their brother Jimmy had died. He was only a few years older than Joe, with three teenagers still in the house...really rough.
I can remember when I first met Jimmy, he was a huge drink of a man....like 6'4"...his presence filled a room. He had a boyish charm to him, sort of old world Irish with that know-it-all gleam in his eyes. He was built sort of like a lumberjack and you could easily picture him swinging an axe or a hammer.
My husband likes to tease me and tell that his Mother has seen me outside in my backyard and thought to herself "Hmmm, she looks about the right age for my Jimmy!" Well, that was not to be...he had a girlfriend and I fell for the other brother.
Jimmy was sort of a wild child when he was younger living life in the fast lane. Unfortunately, some early life experiences come back later in life to smack you right in the face. This is such a case.
I feel bad for my husband. It's horrible to lose a parent let alone a sibling. I know the clock is moving forward and as much as I rage against time we all must walk that path one day...the only recourse is to hold faith in your heart that one day, in a better place, we will all meet again.
Rest In Peace Jim......
