Worst Day At Work: My Boss Forced Me To Fire An Employee Wearing a 357 Magnum Gun

Thanks for Voting on My "Copywriting Battle Book Part #1"

Howdy,

The Reasons Why This Day is Worse Than The Day I Got Fired.

REASON #1 -- Out of the Blue I Suddenly realized my Boss Hated Me.

REASON #2 -- My Boss was Trying to get me Killed.

REASON #3 -- Obviously I was Going to Be Fired. And soon.

REASON #4 -- My Worst Day at Work EVER. I Got Locked in a room with a Man 100 Pounds Heavier. All Muscle. Taller. Who had a 357 Magnum Handgun Tucked in his Belt. And The Boss told me to "FIRE HIM."

What I Think Might Have Happened...To Create This Massive Level of Craziness.

The Previous Saturday I Got a Call From Campus Security.

SECURITY -"We need you to Go Fix The Heat at The Presidents House."

ME- "It's 12 Midnite. And that's not my job. I Work At Student Housing."

SECURITY -- "You're The Only One Who Answered Your Phone."

ME -- "You Paged The Maintenance Supervisor for the Main Campus?"

SECURITY -- "Yes. 5 Times. No Answer."

ME -- "How about The Assistant Director of Physical Services?"

SECURITY -- "He's on Vacation. No Answer."

ME -- "What about the Director? Jerome?"

SECURITY -- "He does not answer his Pager or his Phone -- either."

ME -- "So I'm Next on the list?

SECURITY -- "Yessir. Assistant Director of Housing is Next. Thank God You Picked up the phone."

ME -- "Sigh. Ok. Let me Call one of my Guys. Can You Have Security Meet Me at the Presidents House in 20 Minutes? To Unlock The Door?"

SECURITY -- "No need. The President will Meet You Himself."

ME -- Quietly to myself, "OH BOY."

Soooo.

Long Story-Short.

Housing Maintenance Man, Roger, met me at the Presidents House. Used his Multi-Tester to Find the Furnace Thermo-Couple was Bad. (A Thermo-Couple is a Safety Device. A cheap electro-magnet. It shuts off the flow of gas to the Furnace when The Flame goes out. So it doesn't go BOOM.)

So I sent Roger to the Warehouse to Get a New Thermo-Couple. Contacted SECURITY to Let him in and out.

And Chatted with -- The Pajama/Purple Robe Wearing -- President of The University for an Hour. In The Cold Kitchen -- While we waited.

The University President Quizzed Me for an Hour.

George Asked, "What is the Status of the Fire at ABC Apartments?"

ME -- "It Started in The oven. A Student was cooking a steak in the oven. But a room-mate had stored a pizza and box in the Broiler. Set the Kitchen on Fire. Then burnt thru the roof. Insurance will Pay. We have Preventive Maintenance Work Orders that Prove the Fire Extinguishers Ok."

George Asked, "What Do The New Hi-Rise Apartments we bought Look Like? Will we be ready for students to move in?"

ME -- "Yes Sir. We Are On Schedule. The Painters are almost done. And The Maintenance and Janitorial are finishing up too.

George Said, "What's up with the GHOST that was scaring the Coeds in XYZ apartments?"

ME -- "You Heard about that? It turned out to be Two Pigeons. They fell down behind the sheet-rock wall. I knocked on the Wall in The Kitchen. Moved The Refrigerator. Put my ear to the wall. Then Had my guys knock a hole. We Reached in and Grabbed Two Pigeons. And Covered The Hole under The Eaves."

On and On. George Quizzed me for an Hour.

...

George Must Have Given Jerome HELL.

And My boss Blamed Me for making him Look Bad.

What I THINK Happened is George Gave My Boss, Jerome, HELL. And Then Said something like, "Good Thing Glenn Was There to Save Your ASS."

So When My Truck Driver Showed Up to Work With a Gun In His Belt, THE BOSS Got His Revenge.

What Saved me was a Story I Heard at a Marketing Seminar.

(EDITORS NOTE -- This 24/7 Emergency call stuff was getting to me. I was Getting calls for Housing And The Main Campus. So I started Hunting for Other Ways to Make Money.)

A Psychologist Speaker At a Seminar Told A Story About How to Create Trust.

He Said, "Scientists Did a Study.

GROUP A -- Random College Students Were Invited into an office. Handed a Can of Soda. Then Asked to Donate to a Charity.

GROUP B -- Random College Students Were Invited into a Study area. The Scientist Took Money out of his own Pocket. Bought a Soda from the Machine. Handed it to the Student. Then Asked Them to Donate to a Charity.

RESULTS?

Group B were 70% More Likely to Donate to the Charity.

CONCLUSION?

The Scientists Guessed that Personally Paying Created More TRUST.

So.

Back to My Worst Day At Work Experience.

Please Forgive Me if I Don't Get This Story Perfect. I was In Shock. Scared Out of my Wits much of the time. This is what I Remember.

I was Paged By The BIG BOSS around 10Am. No clue why. Which is pretty Scary all by itself. Never happened to me before.

I Remember sitting down in front of Jerome's Big Wood Desk. First Thing he said was, "Sam Brought a gun to Work today. It's Your Fault for Hiring this Maniac. So It's Your Job to Fire Him. Nobody is allowed to Wear a Gun at Work."

I Remember THE BIG BOSS Marching Me through the Entire office. His Secretary STARED at me. The Receptionist looked Scared.

Jerome said, "Fire him. Right Now."

He walked me down the hallway. Past the water Fountain. And Said, "Wait In Here."

I walked "In Here" -- into the lunch room in Shock. To Find My Gun Toting Truck Driver sitting at a table.

Then I Heard the Door Shut Behind me.

And The Door Lock Click seemed Really Loud.

My Boss Locked me In The Room With A Guy Wearing a Gun.

I needed time to Think.

Remembering what the Psychologist said. (MORE TRUST Would Be Good.) I asked Sam-The-Truck-Driver, "What would you like to Drink? I'm buying."

I took Money out of My Pocket. Bought Sam a Coke. And sat down NEXT to Sam at the Lunch Table. Not across from him.

Then said, "Sam. I've been meaning to talk to you. You are way over-Qualified for your job."

(Sam drove a pick-up truck. Moved Machinery from Building to Building. Floor Buffers, Carpet Shampoo machines, Mop Bucket and Wringer, Wet-Vac for Floods.)

I Asked, "Is There Anything Else You'd Like to do?"

Sam said, "Well, My Grandmother and mom are after me to take a Truck Driving Course. They have the money saved and everything."

"THAT'S WONDERFUL," I said. (Sweating lightly in my suit.)

"Let's Call Them up.

So I got the Phone # from Sam and Called up his Mom.

We Three Ganged up on Sam. His Mother and Grandmother were in tears. And Kept Thanking me. Which was Embarrassing. But Better a Little Embarrassment than Tell a Man with a Gun, "You're Fired!"

His Mom and Grandmom had Already Signed him up for the Semi-Truck Driver course. But had not Paid. Cuz Sam had not said, "YES,"

But We-Three Got a "YES."

Everything went fast after that. I called Security and They Unlocked the door.

Sam Handed in his keys.

***Still -- With the 357 Magnum in his Belt.

Filled out the paperwork to say he was Quitting. Standing At the Front Counter with me.

***Gun Stuck In Belt.

Scared people gawking at us. (Sam oblivious.)

Sam THANKED ME.

***Still Wearing His Gun.

And walked out of the Building.

Drove away.

A Month Later.

This Huge Black Stretch Limo Pulls up. Sam comes into my office Wearing A Gun In a Belt Holster.

Proudly Escorts me down to see his new Limo.

He was Hired at a Much Higher Salary -- as a Limo Driver.

Part of the Job?

Legally wearing a Gun. Gun Permit and everything.

Sam Thanked me again. And forwarded Messages from his Mom and Grandmother. Both who credit "Moi" for helping Sam Decide to Quit his Job. So Sam Could Move on to a better life.

And, Of course, I Was FIRED Shortly afterwards.

But I Saw It Coming. And was Prepared.

A Relief, really. Cuz who wants to work for a Boss Who is looking for ways to get you Killed?

Thanks,

Glenn Osborn