From Fired to Hired.

Today’s Marketing Cookie is about finding unexpected opportunities in moments of crisis.

I was fired.

My role had been eliminated and I was “no longer needed.” Those words echoed in my head repeatedly as I emptied my desk and packed up a few family photos and awards that were proudly hanging on the walls of my office. "How did this happen?" I asked myself, the disbelief palpable as I erased all traces of my residence in the corner office. I was then coldly escorted to the parking lot as I made the “box walk of shame” to my car, each step heavy with confusion and a growing sense of loss.

I threw down the lid of the trunk and settled in the driver’s seat of my car. Whew! The sound of the motor was the first sense of familiar comfort I had that morning. Driving away from the company I had helped to build, I wondered what the future held for me. 

On the journey home, I was dreading that I would have to admit to my wife that I was unemployed for the first time in my career. To prolong the inevitable, I decided to stop at the grocery store and pick up some comfort food. I knew just the thing that would make me feel better: a bag of chips, a can of Dr. Pepper, a loaf of Wonder bread, a jar of Skippy super-chunk peanut butter, and a big tub of marshmallow Fluff. This situation called for a childhood favorite. I was going to make myself the best Fluffah-Nuttah sandwich ever. 

While I was standing in the checkout line, my phone rang.

I answered to the voice of an old friend who said, “I’m in a real bind and I desperately need your help!” Before I could speak, he continued, “Is there any way you could take a few days off, come to our midtown office in New York, and help us develop a social media strategy for a Muppets television special we’re working on with Lady Gaga?”

I said, “Yes. My schedule is pretty open right now.”

He quickly responded, “Oh, thank God! I’m on a tight timeline. How soon can you come?”

I replied, “I’ll leave right now and could be there this afternoon.”

He exclaimed with relief, "Wow, you're a lifesaver! Seriously, thank you so much. I'll see you this afternoon then—safe travels!"

I paid for my groceries, jumped back into my car and rushed home to pack my bags for a trip to the Big Apple. 

On the way to New York, I ate my Fluffah-Nuttah sandwich, recalling the whirlwind of everything that had happened that day and wondering—who rescued whom? He needed me in the same moment that I needed him and I guess it truly is as today’s fortune says, “A friend will come through for you at just the right time.”