Final Fantasy VII Remake is a game about normalization.
The first time I got let go from a gig was from jail at sixteen years old. I worked for a local organization whose main verticals were independent pharmaceuticals, debt consolidation, and private security. I was brought onto the marketing department and tasked with increasing visibility, outreach, and growth.
I couldn't stand the job. Most of my coworkers were super rude, the benefits sucked, and dare I say the industry was systemically toxic, territorial, and non-communicative. It's like none of them realized that we are all in this together.
But I digress.
My manager was cool. He was a twenty-something hispanic gentleman covered in tattoos. He spoke very little but was gifted in people management, especially conflict resolution. He had a way about him to where two people who hated each other's guts became perfect angels when he entered the room. He always treated me like I imagine a jaguar would treat a baby bear with Asperger's syndrome if they found themselves working toward a common goal.
Anyway, he was the one who fired me. We both got knocked on the southside for something or other and thrown into french camp over the weekend. He shuffled over to me while I was trying to nonchalantly rub acrylic paint from my hands, sat down on the bench, put his hand on my shoulder, and said, "Look bro, this ain't working out." I asked what he meant, he said, "You on the set bro, this just ain't you."
I was crestfallen. I felt like I did everything right. I did what was asked of me, I never told a story, I hit my KPI's. I told him it's ok, and that I don't understand why it's happening, but I understand that it's happening whether I get it or not. But could I just get some background on the decision so I could address those issues wherever I land?
He took a deep sigh and broke it down for me. He said it wasn't a performance issue, it was that I just wasn't a good "culture fit," and that I was meant for other things. I still looked confused, like I am want to do. He brought up examples. Like the time I got a buddy with a t-shirt screener to print up org shirts in the wrong color, or the time I asked his boss how he felt about interviews; or the time I took everyone's temperature about therapy. I said it sounded like a performance issue to me. He was like, "Yeah."
I asked him if he was gonna kill me. He said nah, everyone loves me, but as a friend. Somehow, that hurt worse than getting shot. And that was that. I would have just taken off but we were both in jail so we ended up making small talk. He talked about his dogs and his truck and I talked about video games because those were our respective emotional boundaries. Final Fantasy VII had just released and I just went on and on about it, and to his credit, he listened to me patiently for hours, even though I was sure he was just being nice.
I ran into him a year later at a house party near Tokay. He walked up to me, looked at me in ice-cold silence for a minute and change, then said, "Bro, why he do Aerith like that?" Great guy, runs a concrete business last I heard.
Anyway, rip TB Rip TC rip Tall-T. Love is washing hands and drinking water, Hate is literally everything else 2020 has to offer. Get out there and do great things, we believe in you, also Jobs.
The Protoculture Mixtape: Issue : People : Distribute
