Thread: The Job I Just Lost

I had for the last year and a half been working for the National Trust For Historic Preservation:
PreservationNation - National Trust for Historic Preservation I worked specifically at Philip Johnson's Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut:
The Philip Johnson Glass House My title was Special Projects Engineer. I was basically a problem solver/fix it guy. I am very glad to have been a part of such an historic and beautiful place. My work is all over the estate and will be there long after I am gone. I was instrumental in getting the place ready to open as a museum last June.

We had a Grand Opening Gala that was a huge party with many famous attendees from the art and fashion world. Everyone who came received a picnic basket and a blanket so they could sit on the lawn and enjoy the fancy catered lunch that was in the basket. In the basket was also a couple bottles of fancy Voss water and a custom made cutting board on which the guests could cut and serve the fancy cheeses that were also in the basket. I was assigned to design and make the cutting boards:

I had my signature and web site address laser engraved on them:

I made 400 of them in two weeks! When the guests found out they could keep the baskets, blankets and boards they started stealing the cutting boards from one another and trying to scam us out of a second basket ("I haven't received a picnic basket"). I did see Jasper Johns and Frank Stella (two of my favorite living artists) each walking around holding one of my cutting boards.

But now, the party is over and the budget won't allow for a Special Projects Engineer. The Trust is being very nice about my termination. Sad as it may be, I am happy to have held such a wonderful position.

I have no idea what I will be doing next.

I like your attitude! No whining, just appreciation for what you were allowed to do, and the child like wonder of whats next! If more people could have such attitudes...

Originally Posted by JMS

I like your attitude! No whining, just appreciation for what you were allowed to do, and the child like wonder of whats next! If more people could have such attitudes...

Hey thanks! But I whined, I cried I fell into a dark place but it didn't last long.

So many times when we lose jobs we get bitter or wallow in self pity but I try not to. I figure that I'm already broke and in deep financial trouble so no harm done there. What I brought to that job I still have plus the gain of some primo experience. I saw this job as a "prestige position". It'll look good on the resume.

I'm one of those wallowers. I was laid off back in December when the company I worked for moved to Canada, and I've felt like crap ever since. It's definitely time to get back in the saddle.

Love the cutting boards... the sight of them all stacked up like that makes my OCD happy.

Brad,

I'm sorry to hear about that. Fingers crossed that you'll land something just as great, if not better, than your last job.

James.

Very cool! (the cutting boards/party, not the termination)

And good luck for the future.


(on a side note, I wonder how many members have their dogs for avatars?)

First , you have the right attitude. Second, talent always finds it's way, as it is always looked for. GOOD LUCK, but I bet you'll be fine and land on your feet.

Thanks all! Here's another one of the "special projects" I engineered:

Before I was hired by the National Trust I was asked to stop by the estate as a consultant to help solve a problem with the equipment space in the huge painting gallery on the estate. I had measured the opening over the door and made my drawings. Once my design was approved by the NTHP architect in Washington, DC, I was told to go ahead. So I went back to the painting gallery to verify my measurements (it was just about five feet high by six feet wide). I designed and fabricated the triple louvered door panel you see above the entryway. I had to build the doors from scratch. I don't remember how many of those slats I had to cut but it sure was a challenge. I had designed the whole panel as a unit with the three louvered doors held in the outer frame with special hidden hinges. Once it was assembled in the shop (in the next town) I brought it to a buddy's spray booth and gave it four coats of oil based primer. Once the paint dried, I brought the assembly to the estate. My friend Ray came with me to help with the installation. We put up two ladders and carried the big, heavy assembly up for it's first test fit. On the way up the ladders we were pretty certain it wouldn't fit and I'd have to plane down the sides a bit. We put it up to the opening and with a few whacks with a mallet, the frame with its three doors squeaked as it squeezed into place. It never came down and it probably never will. It instantly became a permanent modification to a national historic landmark, and my signature and website are branded into the wood on the inside of all three doors. This job was pretty much my "interview". I was hired full time a month later. If you look to the right of my panel:


In the top picture, that's me. In the bottom picture, that's an eight foot square Andy Warhol of Philip Johnson. So I leave behind a huge, signed work hanging right next to a huge Warhol.

Is that a false leg that I spy?

Originally Posted by JMS

Is that a false leg that I spy?

Wow no it's not but in that picture it sure does look decidedly prosthetical I just checked and I have both originals at the time of this writing.