FIRING & HIRING (revised)

I've been hired. I've been fired. Along the way I learned how to manage people.

About 25 years ago I was promoted to take over an insurance claims office in rural Central Pennsylvania,. My predecessor was an experienced insurance superintendent who was highly respected for his technical knowedge. He had supervised the same employees for several years.

His critics felt he had dragged his feet in not attempting to bring the office and it's 14 office staff members into the "20th" century, allowed the claims/agency relationship to dwindle, failed to delegate as much as was desired.

Most of the people from my predecessors office had kind words for him as they attempted to discern my relationship with the man. He had his share of dissenters like all management people.

Now, it was my job to make the necessary changes assigned to me. My forte was said to be my ability to improve customer service.

Not long after arriving, I reviewed vacation schedules and discovered the ex-boss had authorized vacation time for all of the male employees during Pennsylvania's two week doe hunting season.

I was livid and quickly summoned the entire staff to meet me outside of my office. I related what I had discovered and stated simply, "This is not going to happen."

I recognized from their instant reaction that they disagreed. The good employees exchanged glances with the usual dissenters and I could see the beginning of a coalition that would't bode well for any of us. My first crisis.

I was taken back."They loved me in Western Pennsylvania", I thought to myself , conveniently erasing the defined line between fact and fiction.

With mixed feelings of wonderment and fear, I initiated my Sergeant Schultz (serial #23781) retreat, clicked my heels, did an abrupt about face and headed into my more secure office.

After closing the door, leaving the office folks to strategize, I sat down facing the tacky knotty pine panelling. I began to recreate in my mind Gretta Garbo's performance of the death scene from Camille.

Someone had the audacity to interrupt my revival efforts by foolishly knocking on my door. A combination claim rep./estimator entered my office before my angry response had time to reach him.

Did he not know he had interrupted my decision making here on my personal Isle of Elba?

"What do you want?

He calmly took a chair without replying. After a long pause, he asked, "Why are you so upset?"

"Upset? Upset? I countered. (I was always the master of small repartee) "Without estimators to look at the damaged cars and trucks and claim rep's to write claim drafts to pay the claims, how the Hell do you think we can claim to be providing service to our customers?"

He smiled and tilted his head before responding, "Barry, I gather you're not a hunter". In exasperation, I shouted, "That has nothing to do with it. They didn't send me up here to hunt."

He smiled again at his new and clearly exasperated boss, admittedly more of a city mouse than a country one, and then responded, "Maybe"

I immediately thought of the touching scene between Dorothy & Toto upon arriving in Oz and realizing they were no longer safe in Kansas. The reality was starting to settle in.

He continued: "Deer season in north central Pennsylvania is a sanctioned holiday for almost all the men and more than a few women who live and work there.

Banks reduce their hours, shine the brass, and dust the money. Auto damage repair shops close. Drug stores turn out the lights and provide emergency numbers for prescriptions . Bars shutter to take inventory, wash the floor for the first time since last deer season and clean the taps.

Most folks here - including vehicle owners, laborers, management, insureds, judges, teachers, lawyers, pharmacists, and claimants head off to secluded hunting camps in beer laden pickups to search for Bambi.

The last thing on their mind is whether or not we're being Good Neighbors. Given this information, how in the name of God do you think we're going to be able to find anybody to talk to - let alone service their claim?"

Before I could reply he smiled that crooked smile again, shook his head and wiped back the few remaining wisps of hair on his forehead. Then he closed the door to little Elba, leaving the silence behind him.

As The Music Man's Robert Preston, portraying "Professor "Harold Hill, once proclaimed: "You have to know the territory."

I'm not sure that this is something the current Pittsburgh Pirates management and owner have learned yet. Hopefully, the new manager they hire will have that requisite savvy - and most importantly - be allowed to utilize it.

I discovered that "Firing" is not an easy process for either participant. "Hiring" the right replacement can also be pretty difficult, if "they don't know the territory". The last Pirate manager obviously did not.

Sitting in the dugout while your players are out on the field arguing a call with the umpire is never going to go over well in this great town founded on hard negotiations and a fighting spirit.