When Dad Fired That Guy

When Dad fired that guy
I was sitting outside his office
Listening to him go on and on
About that lack of this
And poor performance
And limited progress

And the guy was crying
The whole time
I mean, this guy was sobbing

When was the last time you heard anybody sob?
It's insane

I mean, to hear that

So it's all over
And the guy leaves
He even looks at me kinda
When he's leaving the office
And security escorts him out
And he's got this box
That he's going to fill up with stuff
I mean, stuff from his desk or whatever
And I'm just stunned
Like, I'm sitting there stunned
Because, I mean, I've never seen that
Heard--anything like that
Like someone being fired
Like their whole world just--whoosh, you know?

And it was my Dad
It was my Dad who did that
Who fired him
Who, like, destroyed
That whole guy's world, you know?

And I walk in there
Into his office
And he's all--

'Hey!'--like all smiles
And like 'Hey!  You wanna grab lunch?'
And I'm thinking--

You just fired someone

Like, you just--how can you smile?

Like how can this be okay for you?

And I said that to him
I was like, 'Dad, did you just fire that guy?'
And he said 'Yeah'
And I was like 'Um, you sounded like you were being a pretty big dick about it'
And he got all mad and was like--

'That's none of your business
And you don't know the story
And you shouldn't even have been listening
And firing is firing and it's not fun
And it's--'

And then it became this whole lecture
About, like, his job
And how I have nice things
Because he does his job
And his job is to keep an eye on things
And keep things running smoothly
And firing is a fact of life
And I didn't get it at first
But then I realized
That he was getting angrier and angrier
Because the whole time
I was giving him these judgmental eyes
Like major, hardcore judgmental eyes

And so he's like, 'Fine, be mad'
And I'm like, 'I'm not mad, I'm just a little...'

But I didn't really know what I was
Because, like, he's my dad
And at home, he's pretty amazing
But, I didn't realize that he had this whole--

--other side to him

Like, this crazy work side
That me and nobody at home sees

Just--like--what does he do?

Does he flip a switch
And then become this asshole
Who can do whatever he wants?

Who can fire people
And make them sob
And have security escort them out
And all of that is okay
Because he's 'at work?'

I mean, I know that's part of the world
That's, like, how the world works
But, it was the way he did it
Like, it was the tone
And how hard he sounded
Like, how it sounded
Like he didn't really care at all

And I said to him--

'You know, you can't just be one person at work
And another person at home

It bleeds

Like, it bleeds over

One thing into another'

And I could see that upset him
Like, it upset him that I said that
But it's true

You can't be an asshole for eight hours a day
And then come home
And be a saint

It doesn't work that way

So I left his office

And on the way out
I stopped by that guy's desk
And I saw him put a picture into his box

'Are those your kids,' I asked, 'In the picture?'

He said yeah

'They look like they really love you,' I said

'It looks like you're a really good dad'

And he smiled
Which was...

I'm glad

And hey, maybe he is a good dad
That's what I would guess
From looking at the picture

But you never know

It's hard to tell something like that
Just by looking at a picture