Let It Go

When I had been on my last job for over eleven years, the lady who was the office manager decided to take another position within the company. While she was in her job she had given birth to a baby boy. She figured out how to take three and a half months of maternity leave. Later she got very sick and was on sick leave for a month. Then when she got back she had four weeks of vacation coming to her. Every time she was off, I did her entire job for her. Consequently, I knew her job very well.

When the position came open everyone said that I was a shoe in for it. I already knew the job and had done it for almost six months.

The branch manager, Rick, told me that the job should automatically be mine, but they had to post it anyway, in case anyone else wanted to apply. As it turned out, besides me there were two other people within the company, and six people from outside the company who applied

One of the ladies within the company who applied, (I will call her Susie) was very young and very pretty. She told me that she had no experience supervising people, she didn’t know anything about the job, and she didn’t even want it. She was only applying for it so she could get some experience interviewing.

Two ladies from the human resources department plus Rick interviewed all of us on a Thursday. When I came to work at 10:00am on Friday, Rick told me how well I had done and that he was pulling for me.

Over the next few weeks Rick kept telling me that I was in the top three and he was pulling for me.

Finally, several people in the office told me they thought I had a right to know that on the Friday after the interviews, before I came in at 10:00am, Rick had called Susie into his office and offered her the job. She had refused it. They also told me that he had been pulling for someone else the entire time. I felt so deceived.

After about another week the present office manager told me that she knew she shouldn’t tell me, but she was too excited. She said that Rick had told her that I had gotten the job and he was getting ready to tell me.

About an hour later Rick called me into his office. I had butterflies in my stomach knowing that he was offering me the job. To my shock, he very coldly told me that a lady from outside the company, named Ginger had been given the job. She would be in on Monday to pick up her paperwork and he didn’t want it to catch me off guard, and did I have any questions. I was too stunned to say anything, so I just said “No”. He asked if I was okay. I told him “Yes”. He said, “Okay”, and went back to work. I walked out of his office. That was the cold, uncaring way that I found out that I had been overlooked for an outsider who didn’t even know anything about the company, much less about the job.

Everyone was very angry about how everything had happened. The drivers told me that they were going to be mean to Ginger because she took my job. I told them not to do that because she hadn’t done anything wrong. All she did was apply for the job. Secretly, inside, I was happy that they felt that way.

We all knew that the person who was going to train Ginger was a very bad trainer, and Ginger wouldn’t learn much at all from her. I told everyone that they better not expect me to train her because it wasn’t going to happen. They gave her the job, and they could train her. They all said they agreed with me.

One week later I started my vacation on the same day that Ginger started her job. Of course, I was angry during my whole vacation.

When I came back to work, there sat Ginger in the office that should have been mine. She was very friendly but the best I could do was to be cordial. Warm and friendly was more than I could manage to do.

That day at noon, I stopped at Ginger’s door to tell her that I was going to take my lunch. She looked up and smiled and said, “That will be fine”. I turned and walked down the hall to the break room, mumbling under my breath about how I didn’t need her permission to take my lunch. Poor Ginger couldn’t do anything right in my eyes.

On Thursday, the person training Ginger said that she had done all of the training she was going to do, and Ginger was now on her own. I knew that she had actually taught her almost nothing, but that was Ginger’s problem, not mine.

On Friday I stepped into Ginger’s office to tell her something. She was sitting at her computer with tears in her eyes, trying to do a job that I knew backwards and forwards. She looked up at me and said, “How can they expect me to do the job when they won’t even teach me?”

My heart broke and I felt so ashamed. I was treating Ginger badly because I was angry at Rick. As a Christian, this was not acceptable behavior.

I asked her if she would like me to show her how to do it. She said, “Oh, would you please?” I said, “Sure”, sat down next to her and started teaching her the job. By the end of the day we had become friends.

Over the next three and a half years Ginger and I worked so closely together and became such close friends that we could almost read each other’s mind. She had turned out to be one of the best friends, and best bosses I ever had.

Even though Ginger knew that I was going to retire at the end of 2012, the day I put my letter of resignation on her desk, she cried her eyes out. I cried too.

In the fifteen years that I worked for the company I saw lots of people retire. The company would provide a lunch for the people who were in the office, but not for everyone, or do a small dinner for a few employees. Nothing big.

When I retired, Ginger started asking, and wouldn’t give up until the company okay her to do a huge retirement party for me. She invited all sixty employees at our branch, plus a guest. Not everyone came, of course, but we ended up with about fifty people there. She even had a few employees from a branch 135 miles away, and some from a branch 210 miles away.

The party was held at one of the nicer restaurants in town. There was an abundance of delicious food, a dozen long stemmed roses, and a beautiful card signed by all. Then I found out that she had collected donations from my co-workers and presented me with a beautiful diamond tennis bracelet.

I instantly burst into tears, as did my husband Ray, Ginger, and most of the other employees.

When the party was over, we all went outside and let balloons loose into the night sky. It was by far the best retirement party I have ever seen.

Was this incredible tribute to my retirement a result of me being such a wonderful person? No. It was the result of the love in the heart of this wonderful person I call my friend.

I think often of all that I would have missed out on if I had not let go of all the anger and let Ginger into my heart.

If you are holding onto some anger, even if you feel it is justified, I suggest that you let it go. You might find that you are amazed at what will come from the change. I guaranty you will find peace.