Hyperbole

Yesterday I performed what I consider the worst part of my job – I fired an employee. What's worse, he was a very well-liked, loyal, and longstanding employee. What's worse, I mismanaged the whole affair and ended up having to blindside him with it (I'd have preferred to have told him first that the cat was on the roof before telling him the cat had died.) Unfortunately the situation couldn't be rectified in any other way – he had to go and it couldn't wait any longer.

Still, as much as I know that it would be unfair to the rest of my team (and unprofitable for the company) to keep him on board, I can't help but feel an awfulness in the pit of my stomach for the way in which we handled it.