There is a guy who I work with; I'll call him Marty. Marty has a very important role with my company. Without Marty, an entire aspect of our business would collapse like a house of cards. He was the linchpin to this product line. Everything having to do with this particular part of the business went through him. He is the alpha and the omega. Or, as he refers to himself, The Man. (I never said he was a cool guy.)
Everyone in the company, from the CEO on down, acknowledges his importance. It's something of a running joke that if he ever left, the company would be fucked. I assume that despite all the joking, there was a backup plan in place. After all, the people running my company seem (reasonably) intelligent. Turns out, my assumption was incorrect. On Friday, he abruptly quit, and all hell broke loose. Not only that, but I may have had a small part in that happening.
A couple of months ago, Marty and I got to talking. He seemed pretty dissatisfied with his job. I found this to be kind of curious, given my perceptions as to how important he was to the company. Management 101 teaches that the more indispensable someone is, the happier you should try to make them. Given how much he did for the company, I assumed he was paid pretty well. That assumption was also incorrect.
Turns out, he made less than I do, even though he was a lot more important to the company than I am. He'd been there a lot longer, too. According to him, when he went in to request a modest pay raise, not only was he denied, but he was asked to take a pay cut, "for the good of the company."
"That's bullshit," I told him. "You have so much leverage over this place. If you leave, they're fucked. Everyone knows this. You should put together a formal presentation, laying out your true value to the company. Then ask for a raise. If they don't give it to you, quit."
He thought about it for a second. "I dunno, I can't afford to quit. I don't even know what kind of job I'd get if I did."
"Are you kidding? I know exactly what you should do." I then proceeded to lay out exactly what kind of job he could get, and how he should proceed in getting that job. He seemed intrigued, but given his defeatist attitude, I doubted he'd ever actually do it...Until Friday.
When I arrived at work, I could tell something was amiss. Managers were buzzing around, annoyed. People were gathered in small groups, gossiping. I walked by a VP, and overheard him saying "That SOB didn't even give two weeks. Today is his last day." I asked one of my coworkers what was going on. "Didn't you hear? Marty quit. We are fucked."
"Wow," I said, happy to hear that he finally stood up for himself. "What is he going to do instead?" The coworker described Marty's new job, which was pretty much exactly what I told him he should do. As pleased as I am that I encouraged this guy to make some (hopefully) positive changes in his life, I just hope it doesn't lead to the collapse of my entire company.
And if it does? Oh well, it's fun being an instigator.
