YOU’RE "FHIRED"

I got my very first job in January 2009 at the age of 19. The financial regression was taking its toll on companies and if any one wasn’t productive, they got fired, Right? As a store keeper (I preferred to be called store manager) of one of the growing garments companies in the country, one of my duties was to ensure that there were no shortages whatsoever. Up until May, there was minimum shortage whenever the stock taking report was presented by the accountant. Well, not for the month of May. I have no idea what happened. The accountants report indicated an abnormal rise in shortages. To be specific, the figure rose from a previous maximum of about 200,000 Uganda shillings (80 USD) to about 2 million Uganda shillings (800 USD).

Monday morning, at exactly 8:30 am, my boss calls me to his office, reads out the summary to me and says “Explain”. I had no idea where to start from, I was dumbfounded for a moment and all I could do was look at him in shock. “Sir…., I have no idea why the figure is that high”, I said. “I have been doing my best to record and account for every piece of merchandize that comes in to and leaves the store every day”, I continued. The sight of him sent shock waves into my veins. He talked about how irresponsible of me it was to allow such a shortage to occur. He asked me if I knew the impact of such a loss to the company. He even asked me whether I was conniving with some of his employees to sell his products to make an extra buck behind his back. I was having a bad morning. He kept grilling me and making it seem like it was entirely my fault. My mind went racing straight to Donald Trump’s famous words “You’re Fired”.

On the contrary, after about 45mins of being grilled, he calmed down and explained to me how he wants me to be a person of great responsibility, that guy who will stand for what he believes in. He continued by telling me how much he believes in me and thanked me for the good job I was doing. Finally, he gave me a firm hand shake and with a smile, he told me to get back to work. You can only imagine how much relief I felt after his fatherly talk.

How many employers today take off time to mentor their young employees? How many care to appreciate the work these guys do? How many even pick the interest to have a chat with their employees?