Fired, no longer there...

I was working on this post and just saw Peter Strzok was “fired” on Friday. When you hear those words what are your initial thoughts?

Mine used to be that the person probably did something wrong. No more. Being an investigator for more than 20 years I have seen a lot of people who have a “black mark” on their record. Growing up I thought only people who messed up were terminated. How innocent was I? Even the first part of my career I still primarily thought along those lines.

When did it change for the everyday worker? When did it change for me? Why did it change for me? Long story short-retaliation. I had always thought when you did the right thing you came out ahead or the very least you weren’t retaliated against. That’s what I told the people I was investigating. Tell me what you did and we’ll do the best we can. I truly believed it.

Whether it’s retaliation, ageism, gender discrimination, when someone tells me they are no longer at X I don’t even think they did something wrong. I think the fit wasn’t right and the business did what it did because it can. The world has changed and this is just a sad part of it. If you have seen Jim Holzrichter’s story on CBS True Crimes you will understand even more. #whistleblowersareheroes

What's your story?