Nothing Personal is Personal

Written by Senthil Srinivasan

It was just another normal day at work on Friday, July 28. I was feeling positive while taking on a graphic design request assigned to me. I always showed the willingness to contribute in other areas with my broad experience and creative talent whenever I could. At noon, my manager sent me a chat message asking if I would be around at 1 p.m. He didn’t give an explanation, so out of curiosity I checked out his calendar—there was a meeting titled “Employee Action” at that time. I wondered what that meant as I walked over to my manager and asked if everything was okay. He briefly mentioned there was nothing to worry about, so that was a relief. I was thinking maybe it was a promotion or something good, since I had always been a hard worker. But instead, the unexpected happened like an asteroid falling on me out of nowhere. I was called in to see the HR manager whom I never met before. The HR manager told me I was being terminated. I wasn’t given any good reason for this. I asked, “Am I being fired?” The only answer I received was, “No, nothing personal.” I was told this was a marketing department decision and that my skills weren’t needed anymore. Well, that was a vague response. Everything was personal to me in this case and I did not see it coming at all. The digital team was expanding and more of my expertise was beneficial in the days to come as mentioned. I’ve always gotten positive feedback and recognition on my work. Nobody was being laid off in the marketing department and I kept asking the reason “why”? The HR manager and my manager were only interested to take away my ID badge and bring any personal belongings I had. I could not even return back to my desk. My manager walked me out of the building and treated me like a complete stranger. I have never been treated so badly by any company I worked with over the years. I felt deeply insulted and, even more, cheated like everything was an act. Just like that, one sunny afternoon, I lost my job that I worked so hard to get 17 months ago. Later, I learned I was possibly wrongfully terminated because they had hired another person to take over my role a week later. I had a taste of how Corporate America and management operate, particularly in big companies. It can happen to anyone and the world isn’t always a friendly place. It’s filled with politics. Unfortunately, it happened to me.

Even though this experience has really emotionally impacted me during the past couple of months, I have been trying to stay positive. Yes, thinking about beginning the job search process again is difficult. Yes, I have had dreams while sleeping of going back to work and being treated like an outsider by co-workers as I dealt all of my life growing up because of my hearing loss. But I’m also reminded of why I started all of this in the first place. This experience is why I continue to expand my hearing loss website, write a novel reaching out to the world, and share my personal experience in every part of my life. I will continue to advocate for others who are treated unfairly and isolated in the outside world. Someday I will reach the stars and all my dreams will come true, no matter what roadblocks I encounter. Sharing my stories, frustrations, and achievements is the best cure to move forward. That’s what I have been doing all along here in my blog.

Thank you all for reading and your support. New beginnings and good things are to come.