She Was Fired Because She Got Married

“Susan you have too much debt. You should find someone to marry.

You can’t do this alone”.

Susan, a close friend of mine and expert researcher in viticulture, were told those words by her boss many times over the span of their 10 years knowing each other.

When Susan, got her new car, her boss said “You can’t afford that. You don’t make enough money” to which Susan replied “Well, pay me more then”. Her response?

 

You know I can’t.

True enough, these were tough economic times. The recession was fully underway and funding in the once secure graduate and post-graduate world was drying up.

I knew this from first hand experience. For the first time in 8 years I had to pay my tertiary education tuition out of pocket. At this point, you’re probably like “umm…suck it up already”. Then, chances are your major in college was anything except science or engineering at the graduate or undergraduate level and you also have mountains of debt from student loans that started before the recession.

Things, however, are a little different for the nerds out there.

In short, it happens less often in the coveted STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).

Why?

See, since the United States doesn’t have enough skilled labor in the STEM fields, they pour millions of dollars to support grants, scholarships and assistantships that favor anyone with some skill that wants to pursue that path.

To pour BP’s oil spill on the fire, they normally allow international students 12 months to work in a field related to their major to gain practical field experience. If my major was accounting, that means I’ve got one year to work for Lehman Brothers, JPMorgan or Deloitte. However, if you’re in a STEM field, you can apply for an additional 17 months for a total of 2 years and 5 months instead of just 1 year.

Yeah. The government thinks STEM is important.

Given how important STEM is and Susan’s expertise in a STEM field (viticulture) and a 10 year relationship with her employer, she’s had her J-O-B in the bag.

That is, until she fell in love.

Susan, being smart, beautiful, great with kids, an excellent cook and volunteer at her local homeless shelter each and every Saturday, is was in my humble opinion, on the short list of eligible bachelorettes. 

 

Was you say?”

You didn’t think such a catch would stay available would you? Susan, met her husband to be, while volunteering at the homeless shelter one of those fateful Saturdays. How’s that for the beginning of a happily ever after?

Sadly, that’s where the happiness, at least in her professional life, falls blindfolded off a cliff into the rocks below only to sink into Davy Jones’ Locker.

Susan’s boss fired her.

There was no professional reason. As she told Susan, she “didn’t have the money to pay her anymore. Now that you have a husband, he can take care of you”.

WTF?

Pump the brakes, get out the car, this must be an accident.

How can you presume my husband is willing to do that?”

“Susan, now that you’re married, you own half of everything he has. He has to”.

Someone call 911. She’s gonna need an ambulance.

That’s right, her boss, who could not find a legitimate reason to fire her talented employee, justified it with a change of marital status.

I’m not sure how many laws let alone ethical and moral standards she just River Danced on.

Lucky for her, Susan kept her composure.

Sure enough, she came to the cold hard realization that her boss was not her friend. Not only did her employer have a strange gold digger, ‘women are 2nd class dependent citizens’, decades old psychosis operating under the mental hood, the 10 years they knew each other and worked together meant nothing in the face of the almighty dollar.

The institution didn’t care about her and it doesn’t care about you.

The sad part is, most people realize this too late. And when they do, they follow the advice they receive from themselves, their boss former boss and friends to go back to school and get more education. The only problem with that is, that education is what put them $30,000+ in debt only to qualify for a job that would take them 20, 30, 40 years to pay off the loans if and that’s a big IF they even get a job within their field of study that turns into a career.

Indentured servitude.

No, that’s too sweet of a title.

Modern day slavery is more accurate.

I loathe the inhumanity of it and make it my personal mission to create an alternative to this. Since I know online business isn’t everybody’s thing, I try to help whenever and however I can especially when it’s a close friend.

That being said, if you happen to be within the field of Agriculture, Environmental Sciences, or Earth Sciences, drop me a line if you know of any opportunities. Susan (by now you’ve probably gathered that it’s not her real name) is quite simply: awesome.

She has a work ethic out of this world and is highly skilled in what she does. Part of me wishes she was in a field more closely related to my online businesses so that I could hire her myself. That’s the kind of driver you want on your team.

If you know of excellent opportunities or know someone who does, please contact me here with the subject line “Susan”.

If you fear the same may be happening to you or may happen to you, get off your ass and do something about it.

As for myself, I’ve got to give Susan a call back to finish up our conversation. I just had to get this out before I did anything else.