The key point being: "He never should have been allowed to take on so much. If it gives comfort to anyone else reading this, the manager went first because ult

The key point being: "He never should have been allowed to take on so much. If it gives comfort to anyone else reading this, the manager went first because ultimately management bears responsibility, always. I was brought onto the team after that, as a hail-mary pass." The original manager screwed up to let Rick get to that point, and once at that point it was impossible to manage him, hence him getting fired.