Bidding Your Employer Farewell By Flipping The Bird To Them #149.

Over The Weekend Long Time Seahawk Great Earl Thomas Broke His Leg. And His Parting Gesture Was Flipping The Bird To The Team He Spent His Career With.

The sentiment is one I completely understand. Who hasn’t flipped the bird in utter frustration. Earl wanted the team to either extend his contract, release him from his old contract or trade him to a team that was willing to invest in him for the long term.

All of that came crumbling down over the weekend. When he was carted off the field. And in the heat of the moment when his dire situation was revealed. He chose to lash out.

In the fleeting moments of his career with the Seahawks the much beloved player let them know how much he hated them by flipping off his own sideline off. Possibly somewhat tarnishing his image in Seattle. But his frustration is understandable.

Who hasn’t been disgruntled at times with there employer? Which reached the point where you just want to tell them F you? But we refrain because we know better and it’s one of the best ways to burn bridges.

Everyone lost in this situation. Seahawks lost a valuable asset, Earl lost his contract potential, and other teams lost that wanted to trade for him.

Let This Be A Lesson That We Are Our Choices.

Don’t play the victim of your own decisions or cast them upon others. Earl chose to sign that contract. Earl chose to play in order to get paid. He chose to fulfill his obligation of a contract he was once grateful to be signing. In his choice to play Earls body was exposed to rigors of a violent sport and it was unable to hold up.

Smart Business Decisions.

The business knew he was susceptible to injury. Maybe even Earl knew too. And wanted that big pay out before getting injured. Which begs the question what if the shoe was on the other foot. Who would be taking from who in that situation? Could the Seahawk’s executives flip Earl off when he cost them millions?

The business made a great business decision to refrain from losing a lot of money. The Seahawks are a business, Earl is a business, and the NFL is a business. If they all work in tandem they all make money.

When one fails they all lose. For some that loss has a bigger magnitude then for others. Never the less we should be grateful when we get to do what we love to do. And we get paid copious amounts of money to do it.

Salary Breakdown Perspective.

Over his career Earl has made 55 million from the Seahawks. Let’s put that in perspective. The average worker makes around 60k a year. For them to save what Earl has made by his 29th year of life. It would take the average worker 916 years of saving every single penny. And never spending a dime of it. To get to that achievement.

On top of that he stands to make 8.5 million from his couch this season. The average worker that pays his salary through ticket sales and advertisement dollars would never get such luxuries. They might get disability pay while they can’t work. Which may be about two thirds there actual pay. Barely enough to ends meet.

Yet they are grateful for any sort of pay when they are unable to work. Most get nothing and have to find a way to make ends meet while injured.

Sure its a dangerous job the sport of football but so is the masonry work that built the stadiums players get to play in every week. And most of those employees are thankful to have that job. Not sure what Earl needs for financial security but I’m pretty sure he’s achieved it already.

Gratitude For The Opportunities.

Let’s just be grateful for what we have, it may all be lost tomorrow. And if we lose it, rather than acting like a petulant child that didn’t get our way. Let’s say thank you for the opportunity and use that failure to be better the next time around. Or learn to grow in new directions.



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