Back in 2003 I worked for one of the country's leading Advertising Agencies (Leo Burnett.) Due to an accident, I required major lower-back surgery to repair my spine, and an intense 8 months of physical therapy to be able to walk again.
The day I returned to work I was told my position had been eliminated. I was at the Director level in Information Technology. I cannot tell you how much that devastated me after giving ten years to the legendary advertising agency during which time I'd been promoted five times.
Six months after being let go, I learned that the CIO who'd come into the agency while I was out on disability and "cleaned house" of all IT Leadership was himself let go by the CEO of the agency and escorted out from the building.
Shortly after his departure I received a phone call asking if I'd consider doing some consulting for the agency. I was asked if I'd be willing to consult on the very systems I'd built while I was there since pretty much every person I worked with --- including my own team --- left the agency and no one knew anything about the systems I'd built.
I asked what they'd offer me in terms of an hourly consulting rate and the response was for me to go back to them with the rate I wanted. So I thought about it overnight and had a chat with my wife about doing it. We didn't need the money, and getting that phone call just brought back a bunch of bad memories about being let go that I was still struggling to put behind me.
The next day the lady who called me from the ad agency asked if I'd thought about an hourly rate. I responded that I did, and my hourly rate would be $450 an hour with a maximum of ten hours a week that I'd consult.
She said "ok, when can you start?"
I won't repeat exactly what I said in response but it was along the lines of "If I were drunk and looking for a bathroom to relieve myself, and the agency was on fire, I wouldn't piss on the fire to put it out."
That was the day I was finally able to put my career at the ad agency behind me and get back on with my life.
Isn't it great being able to tell a former employer who screwed you over to go f*** themselves?! :-)