Early Retirement Extreme Forums

At every workplace, in every work group, there is one prototypical employee. The one person coworkers and management want to clone. Their efforts and tenure earn respect from all their peers; they become tough acts to follow.

The more I got to know Terry, the more I learned to admire him. He was not only the prototype technical employee, he was a great man. In the short five years that I worked with him, I learned so much. Not only the technical aspects, but many other intangibles like work ethic and honor.

Unfortunately, there was a couple of managers at that place that were disheveled by the inherent respect Terry had. Amongst working men, there is respect for title and there is a greater respect that is earned and proven. They wanted greater respect for title only (sorry, doesn't work that way). Terry always made them aware if there was folly in their directions. Terry was almost always correct, but they didn't like the "challenge" to their authority.

Despite the caustic environment that became, Terry always had his chin up and did his level best. He personified the indomitable spirit. Everything he did was done to the best of his ability. And his ability was substantial! Above all, he was always kind, and permanently on the high road.

He retired at age 62. A short time later, he slipped in the back of his pickup and died resulting from the head injury.

hm....where'd the head injury come from - previous managers, retiring?

This is very sad, sorry for your loss

Hi farm-or. Terry sounds like a great guy to have known. Breath of fresh air and obviously an great influence on most of those around. The shame is that having left the toxic environment he should have had a great retirement ahead. Sad loss.

The story (besides getting us motivated to not waste life in a toxic wasteland) also chimes with my experiences of working in environments where some managers believe in the automatic inviolable link between status and power (i.e. positional power or reward power trumps all). These can come unstuck when they try to push someone with 'expert power' or 'personal power' as _their_ basis for being listened to by workmates. While they should be trying to clone these colleagues some want to simply show them who is boss. Being acknowledged as 'right' even when they are wrong. It usually ends badly and all you can hope is that something rubs off on the managers who stake all on having status (so easy to take this away). The expert power and personal power bases are ones which are transferable and anti-fragile here. Sounds like Terry knew that.

@ Olaz, The caustic environment created by the management effected every body, but the way Terry handled it was admirable. Don't really know how it affected him inside though?

@taemoo. Thanks for the empathy. The news was a real shock to me. I had just talked to him about a major electrical project that I was working on. He was doing great after retiring and doubled his income in that short time working for himself.

@saving. Bad bosses are commonplace. It occurred to me that a particular strong personality type would always strive to be in charge. They usually got what they wanted, but oftentimes would not be prepared for the authority.