I don’t think many people like getting someone fired. But business is business. I’m not just a freelance writer now; I’m on staff, a part of something.

Kevin’s telling me to take Sandy’s job was clear enough, as was Lori’s handing me off to Kevin. I’d served in the military, so I knew about chain of command.

Chain of command works up and it works down. Orders from the top brass pass down to administrators

and supervisors until they reach the staffers they are intended for. This guarantees everyone is on the same page.

Queries are passed from the person with the query up to their supervisor, then to administrators until they reach the person with operational responsibility. This ensures no one is doing an end run and that everyone is aware of what’s going on.

I’d followed the chain of command, first going to Lori, then to Kevin. W

ith Kevin’s clear suggestion, my next step was Andy. Andy was in charge of business; Jean was in charge of creative. Andy would surely mention the issue to Je

an, but Andy was the person to go to.

I walked into his office knowing Lori and Kevin were behind me on this, and I presented the situation to him. He nodded, said it would be taken care of, and, just like that, the meeting was over. As I walked from Andy’s office, I realized the decision to terminate Sandy had already been made. For reasons of their own, Andy, Lori and Kevin wanted me to have some ownership of it.

Now it was over.

Welcome to show business.