I Met My Boss to Resign and the Unthinkable Occurred!

When integrity collides with professional expectations, the fallout can be a true test of character. 

Pastor Willie Collins, Chief Petty Officer (retired) United States Navy, a man whose life has been defined by service to his country and his faith, walks us through the respectful and principled steps he took to exit gracefully, only to be met with an employer's scrutiny that put his religious integrity under the microscope. 

His story is not merely about the act of leaving, but the journey through a tumultuous sea of questioning that challenges the essence of his commitments and beliefs.

This episode is a poignant exploration of navigating endings with honor and the courage it takes to stand firm in one's faith when faced with adversity.

Transcript

Mario P. Fields: 0:00

Welcome back to unarmor talk podcast. Thank you so much for listening and watching each episode and continue pleased to share with your friends and family members and colleagues, and don't forget to leave a rating or review if you feel this is a awesome show. And you can connect to all of my social media on the parade deck Just look in a show notes or you can put in the search engine Mario P Fields parade deck and get all access To my social media. Well, let's get ready to interview another guest who is willing to remove their armor to help other people. Welcome back to unarmor talk podcast. I'm your host, mario P Fields. For all you first-time listeners and viewers, and then for all of our loyal fans, thank you, guys. So much for supporting us since 2020. Believe it or not, it used to be a show. By the way, believe it, ripley's, believe it or not, for some of those who can remember, remember that. Yes, sir, we have, you know, another guest on the show.

Mario P. Fields: 1:07

Pastor Collins and I talked so much since you know well, we've been on each other once since 19168. Yeah, right, you know, but no, but you guys know I have some humor here. But you know, pastor Willie Collins. He did 24 years in United States Navy, go Navy. What's up for the sailors out there? All you Navy folks, including my wife, who is also a veteran, and a lot of Fields family, are our Navy veterans. He's also, you know, he's done multiple Ventures in the labor market there and in the employment sector. But the one thing I want to highlight before you know, before I let him bless us with a little bit about himself, is he's not just a a you know pastor right, he's not a spiritual care coordinator for any entity. He specializes in bringing spiritual, mental and More care to folks in hospice. Now, we're gonna do another episode later in the year to talk about that, but that is not today's topic. Everyone Round of applause. Pastor Willie Collins, what's going on, man?

Pastor Willie Collins: 2:28

How you doing. Mario man, thanks for having me on bro.

Mario P. Fields: 2:32

Yeah, again, by the way, again, and can you tell the listeners and viewers just a little bit about who you are?

Pastor Willie Collins: 2:41

Yes, I always start out by saying I'm a happily married. I've been happily married for 25 years now and I'm excited about that and, as you know, being married, I'm a husband, I'm a father, I have four beautiful children, two boys, two girls, and, as you mentioned, being a pastor, I've been in ministry for over 20 years now and now, having made that transition from San Antonio to Florida man, I'm excited and now, as you mentioned, the spiritual care coordinator for hospice.

Mario P. Fields: 3:12

Wow, I mean, and everyone we serve together in Iraq, by the way, and so you know the, the, his love For God, his love for Christ, his love for just human beings Doing good for other humans. I've seen it since 2000, literally since 2008 and nine. So I want to thank you for your lifelong commitment, pastor, for just for just being a Human right who cares about other humans around the world. Thank you so much, man. I'm honored man.

Pastor Willie Collins: 3:48

You know, the Bible says in Matthew 2311, the greatest of mine, this is a servant, and I thank you too. Thank you for what you've done and how you serve our country as well. Thank you.

Mario P. Fields: 3:57

Yeah, Well, now let's get into the topic. You know you gave us an amazing quote from the Bible. You're a pastor, but at one point you from my basic understanding, you submitted a letter of resignation from one of your employers, and they kind of use your religious belief to try to question your actions. What's going on? Let's talk about that resignation and what happened.

Pastor Willie Collins: 4:29

Absolutely, absolutely. And, as you you know, I love it because the fact that we understand order I says military men, he has a pastor. You know you as a mighty man of God as well I love the fact that we understand how to do things decent and in order. So, as you mentioned I'm not going to say the name of the company or anything like that but I did, I understood, it was time. It was time even at my age, at 51 years young, I understood that it was a little more intense than I signed up to be, if I could say it like that. So I decided one day I talked to my wife and I and I asked her from after seeking some wise counsel and praying, I asked her hey, how would you feel if I decided to quit this job? And I love my wife, she always gives the best answers, man, that's my road.

Mario P. Fields: 5:21

And she said maybe even if she didn't, you probably would want to show and say she does Absolutely.

Pastor Willie Collins: 5:30

That's why I'm happily married for 25 years. Right, but no, I asked her. I said hey, how would you feel if I told you I wanted to quit this job? And her response was hey, I just want to know what's your plan. So after that, I drafted up a nice little letter and I explained it, because the people who employed me, they knew I'm a pastor, they knew when they hired me, they even told me multiple times hey, I know that you're a pastor, so don't stop that. But I see that things just didn't fit out too well for me and them, so I gave them the letter.

Mario P. Fields: 6:03

So here it is. You spoke with the commanding general. For all of you who are not in the military, that's kind of the CEO of a huge company with the Abrol. There you go. The Abrol for the Navy folks right Signed off and said yeah you walk in, you walk into the office with your letter of resignation and then, of course, will you give it to whomever. What happened then?

Pastor Willie Collins: 6:35

So what actually happened? We met at a coffee bar outside because when I came up and I'm so used to, as you mentioned, about us serving together I'm so used to after action reports, right. So I asked them hey, how are things going, how do you feel about how things have progressed at this point? And I didn't turn the letter of resignation in right away. I took the time out to find out, get some feedback first, because I didn't have a clue how it was going to go down. But I wasn't expecting the way that it turned out. So we talked, they gave me some feedback and then all of a sudden he says Hold on, Is this a resignation? And that's Mario.

Mario P. Fields: 7:17

when I pulled out the letter of resignation and I say yes, Okay, so you just y'all, just you just having a conversation, you're asking some questions to gain a better understanding of the unknown for you and then, so this belief develops with, with your, we'll just say your, your supervisor. Yes, the owner of the company. Okay, okay, yeah, the owner, and he goes Hold on now. Essentially, is you trying to resign? Is this a letter of resignation? How did you? What happened next man? So it's just, it's just a letter of resignation.

Pastor Willie Collins: 7:57

Yes, that's kind of how it went down, mario. It was like is this a letter of resignation? And the first thing the Bible says the abundance of the heart. The mouth speaks right. So the first thing he says was after all, the money that I've spent on you to see me, to train me, and I was like wow.

Mario P. Fields: 8:17

On you.

Pastor Willie Collins: 8:19

Right, not the fact that I spent the money, me and my wife, to transition from Texas to Florida with our own expense, not to mention that I had been, you know, the leader. You hired me to be the leader of your company, to hire people, to fire people, to set things in order, and I did just that. I did what was required. I think somewhere down the line, mario, they forgot who they hired.

Mario P. Fields: 8:48

Wow. And so now he's emotional. Yes, you know he's reacting, yes, and now he's reacting to something that's standard. I mean you could have, you could have just quit. I mean Just quit, right, are you okay? So he's reacting to a standard business. When I say standard, what I mean is that's, you know, a letter of resignation, absolutely. And he reacts. I've spent money on you, I've given you a Snickers bar, I gave you a desk. So after he, after you're the owner, reacted to your letter of resignation. How did? Did you react or did you respond?

Pastor Willie Collins: 9:35

No, I responded. I waited, I heard him out and I was like are you not going to at least read the letter? No, there's no need to read the letter, there's no need to read it. I'm like wait, oh, he didn't even read it. He didn't even read it. Oh, my, it was. It was blowing me away because I'm still calm, still mindful, but in my mind I'm thinking it was a buildup to this point.

Pastor Willie Collins: 10:02

And throughout the process, I think that a lot of people because we're military Mario, I think that they tend to, if I can say it, like this man please, they were cracking the whip, because there was times throughout the process, I was like hey, they asked me hey, willie, how you doing? And one of the times in particular, I was like hey, I'm tired. And normally I would feel as if anyone, if you are working for me to help me build my company, and the person that you put in charts lets you know hey, I'm tired. There ought to be some level of compassion. No, the response was like, oh, like. In other words, you're supposed to be tired.

Mario P. Fields: 10:43

Oh, wow, so, wow, like yeah, like, like you know, I'm bleeding out. That's good, that builds character, like what, so so. And so he, your boss, looks at you. He says I'm not reading this thing, I'm not reading this. How dare you, how dare you do this to me, absolutely when he was reacting to you? Did you? What emotions pack? You're human, but what emotions went through your mind when this unexpected reaction occurred? Were you angry? What?

Pastor Willie Collins: 11:21

went through there, man. No, I still was holding it together because I wasn't sure if I was going to go to work tomorrow, because I was supposed to be going to work the next day and supposed to open up the place at 6.30 am.

Pastor Willie Collins: 11:33

So now it's more of I'm trying to verify hey, according to my contract, if I decided to quit or resign prior to the one year of being with the company, it comes, the payback for any training or anything that you sent me to. It comes out of my salary. And I understood that, mario, because, again, I'm a man of integrity, I'm a pastor at all times, I'm a man of God at all times, not just from nine to five, so to speak. That's another story. We'll talk about that on another one of your honor talks. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to make sure, because I gave not only just a two-week notice, I gave almost a month notice. And what my response was hey, I'm willing to work for the next few weeks for no money, and you can take the money that I've already worked for the term prior to this. Because I wanted to do right by then. Because, again, at the end of the day, I'm not burning any bridges and God is looking at me. That's how I'm looking at it, mario.

Mario P. Fields: 12:40

So now it refuses to look at your letter, you respond what happened next?

Pastor Willie Collins: 12:47

Okay, so we're in the conversation and I'm trying to again kind of get him to understand what's going on.

Pastor Willie Collins: 12:55

So I quoted the letter in the letter, the contract verbatim, as I just mentioned. So now that I'm seeing that they're not trying to hear it or anything like that, so I said, okay, I just need to understand that you're done with me. Because they were like, hey, do I all the missing that conversation? I was like, oh no, there's no need for a two week notice or month notice or whatever, we don't care, you already checked out. You checked out when you wrote the letter.

Mario P. Fields: 13:25

So it's like we're not going to talk about all the fact that you've gotten our company up and running.

Pastor Willie Collins: 13:32

We're not going to talk about any of that. We're not going to talk about the fact that you've done a great job and this is something we know highly that you didn't do before, but your leadership has clearly been impeccable. And I'm not patting myself on the back but at the end of the day, we learn and we learn, mario, in the military. A good leader sets things up for their absence, prepares their people for their absence. So when I was doing the hiding process, I made sure that I was able to get the right people in place and none of that was brought up. Only thing was brought up was I was attacked. He was the attack.

Pastor Willie Collins: 14:09

I thought you said this was a God thing. And that's when things kind of, I was like like I say, mario, I kept my cool until then because I didn't get out of character, but the pastor, as you see, my voice, inflicted just a little bit. I was like hold on. So now, mario, his daughter is the one that was to the side. And now I'm talking directly to him, because now you're attacking the fact almost like I didn't believe God, so like you're putting God on trial, like, oh, maybe you lied and just to get this.

Mario P. Fields: 14:53

Because how dare you pastor, how dare you submit a letter of resignation? I never, ever knew that existed in any labor market and then thought you said you believe in God.

Pastor Willie Collins: 15:13

Right, I thought this was a God thing, and now I'm like it's definitely because, again, I was like oh, it's definitely was a God thing. I say I told your daughter if you had me or not. I was coming to Florida, see, because the thing about it is Mario. A lot of times military folks are being taken advantage of because of our loyalty, so I felt that there was something missed along the way.

Mario P. Fields: 15:41

Yeah, so so now you have this, you know kind of this belief from your owner, that you know that, that, that you're going against your spiritual calling. And after you respond in again in a very, very accurate way yes, what happened after that? After he, after he notices you're not reacting, you, you want to discuss, learn, they're done, you know you're done. A letter of resignation means you're done with. That's confusing. What happened next?

Pastor Willie Collins: 16:19

So now I'm like okay if you guys are done. I said I just want to make sure that this is clear. I'm not going to work tomorrow. And they were like, no, we, we can't handle that, we don't want to take any choices. I mean to keep you on board now. You've already checked out. So that's when I got if I can do this I had the key. I had the key on my ring for the particular business After they affirmed that I was no longer going to be working with them. I couldn't get the key off fast enough.

Mario P. Fields: 16:56

And I gave it to them.

Pastor Willie Collins: 16:58

And I wasn't being rude, wasn't being disrespectful because they did. You know, they did do some good things because they could have easily, when the company didn't go according to how things were originally planned, they could have say hey, willie, thank you. But then we didn't open up as soon as we did and they could have let us go. So I don't want to say it was all bad, but man, that was, I didn't expect that.

Mario P. Fields: 17:23

Right, and that's why I'm so happy you came on the show. You know unarmed talk, you know a lot of folks. Again, as a reminder, the discussion framework is that we're all emotional. Right, when we're born as humans, we're all emotional. But the podcast is to bring on guests to help them understand how thinking is a choice and it improves the outcome of situations while living you can. The probability of it improving, you know, situations while living increases, and you guys are hearing it. I mean hypothetically. Let's say, pastor Collins reacted, who knows, and just so you all know, on the screen it looks like him and I are the same height. We are not. You're, pastor Collins, like six, we're six, seven.

Pastor Willie Collins: 18:11

Oh man, you know I'm only six too, but yeah so you can't hold foot on me.

Mario P. Fields: 18:16

I'm five too, so I look like you're adopted son. You know what I mean, but I love it. I love it Powerful. But looking back, yes, for people right now, in all industries, yes, that may be considering resigning from their current job, what piece of advice can you give them?

Pastor Willie Collins: 18:43

The first thing I would say is trust, brother, if you're a believer or not, trust that gut. Trust that gut feeling, because I started out and I mentioned by the fact that I asked my wife, I said how would you feel if I considered quitting this job? And, as I shared with you, her response was all I want to know is what's the plan? So, in other words, that's all she said. But, in other words, because we've been married so long, I know what she was saying. Hey, we've been married for 25 years, 25 years at that time, and we, you've never put us in a position to fail and God has never let us down.

Pastor Willie Collins: 19:18

So here's the caveat, though Mario Less than 30 minutes, less than 30 minutes, unsolicited, by the way, I received a text message from a former coworker and they let me know They's like hey, william in the area currently in charge of a hospice and we're in need of a chapel. So I would just say make sure you trust, understand who you are, and I won't say it was all for nothing. It was a great experience, I met some great people along the way and I learned a lot. So, at the end of the day, just consider, count up the cost. Before you resign, make sure you have, as I told them, I had a, a, b, c, d and E plan.

Mario P. Fields: 20:08

You guys heard it from Pastor Collins again. Thank you so much. Use that network. It could be your wife, it could be a you know mother, father, a neighbor. But use that network, have a plan, do your research. Okay, and it's okay to resign. It's okay.

Mario P. Fields: 20:28

Last time I did some research. I think it's okay to resign. But if you do, like Pastor Collins mentioned, if you have a faith, whatever your faith is for this podcast, it's in Christ, it's in Jesus as a Christian faith yes, you know, in your faith as well use those combination of things and definitely, if the unexpected happens, when you submit that letter, even if they don't read it don't give, even if they don't.

Pastor Willie Collins: 20:58

Yeah, man, I love you man. Hey man, mari, I love you too, and if I could say anything else before you, we let us go. Yeah, thank you, man. Thank you for always being there for me. You know I've said it before we, you know, we have those conversations. At one time we was talking every Monday and it was awesome. But, as I mentioned before, I'm not going to take it off of my reminder. So right, if I call on those Mondays or not, I appreciate you just being my brother. You know you are my covenant brother and I appreciate that. I love you and your family too.

Mario P. Fields: 21:31

Thank you, same here, love you, your wonderful family and what you're doing for those families and those patients in hospice care. But everyone you guys know I got a role, got to let Pastor continue to inspire folks around the world. But until next time you hear me or see me, god bless you, god bless your family members and God bless your friends. We'll see you later, pastor. Thank you for listening to this most recent episode and remember you can listen and watch all of the previous episodes on my YouTube channel. The best way to connect to me and all of my social media is follow me on the Parade Deck, that is wwwparadedeckcom, or you can click on the link in the show notes. I'll see you guys soon.