American writer and journalist Sheryl Berk remembers the moment she received the news of her dismissal. “We won’t need you anymore,” her editor said in a phone call early on a Monday in 2005. Berk was under contract and was turning out several articles a month, depending on that income after leaving a full-time job to raise her three-year-old daughter. Expenses for private kindergarten, clothes and shoes made the situation even more urgent.
According to HuffPost Life, in the Parenting section, the publisher did not provide an explanation or offer an apology. Two of Berk’s articles were immediately redistributed and his dismissal was announced to his colleagues, who sent him messages of solidarity.
The initial shock
Berk tried to understand the decision, wondering how he would balance family and work responsibilities. The dismissal occurred without prior notice and without formal justification, immediately affecting the family’s financial planning.
Years away
In the following years, Berk did not look for references or maintain contact with the former publisher. For almost two decades, he maintained his distance, without resuming any professional or personal interaction.
Casual reunion
Nearly twenty years later, Berk ran into the former editor in Central Park while they were both walking their dogs. The former superior suggested meeting again for lunch. Berk hesitated and spent several days thinking about the matter, but ended up accepting the invitation. The meeting took place in a café on the Upper East Side, where the former editor arrived early and was waiting for her with a coffee on the table.
The initial conversation focused on Berk’s personal life and her daughter, now an adult and with a degree. According to the same report, they also spoke about the former publisher’s recent professional projects, a novel in preparation, a television series they wanted to propose, without going into intimate details of their private life.
Clarification about the decision
During the meal, the former editor ended up broaching the topic of dismissal. She apologized and explained that the decision to stop working with Berk had been made exclusively by her, and not by the magazine’s management or other managers. She said that, at the time, she felt resentful and envious of seeing Berk at home with her daughter, while she herself was unable to balance motherhood and her career. She recognized that she should have been more supportive of a woman trying to balance work and family.
Berk says that, despite the impact the decision had on her life, a year of stress and doubts before regaining stability, she ended up feeling some compassion for her former boss and, at that moment, decided to forgive her, as a way of closing a chapter that had been with her for almost two decades.
Contact after forgiveness
The meeting ended with the former editor writing her cell phone number on a napkin and saying that she hoped they could be friends. Berk does not speak of great friendship, but admits the possibility of maintaining a cordial relationship.
The episode, reported in first person on HuffPost, shows how decisions made in a professional context can leave deep and lasting marks on the lives of those who depend on them.
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