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Anatomy of a Layoff
by
Dick Acorn
Editor's
note: the following is an email stream from Dick Acorn as the layoff went
down.
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Eggshells |
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Wednesday, 6/23, 11:25
am
Like Grand Central over here - managers running around, people getting whacked,
clients wandering through the plant, attractive designers conferring with my
boss's sister Angela about holograms. Angela looks quite elegant and
sophisticated in an all white pants suit - quite stylish. When she wears her
expensive sunglasses and emerges from her Mercedes, she is the picture of a
movie star. The day the music died is like a circus - or a bloodless Kosovo. My
boss has a glazed look in his eyes. Biggest management challenge he's faced yet.
He'll come through with flying colors. Maybe by Friday - pancreas or no
pancreas, I'm getting yammering and stammering hammered on Friday. Rocked like
an adulterer in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
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Crazy
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Wednesday, 6/23, 11:35
am
There is so much beaver crawling around over here, the place is
going to turn into a pond. Just saw my boss's cousin
Frankie escorting a breathtakingly beautiful woman into
his office. He likes doing that because he has a tastefully
decorated office that shows off quite nicely his well-clothed self. The water is
already up around my ankles and heading for my
varicose-veined calves. We're going under here. What a trip and a half. I need
to guzzle beers like it's coming out of a race car fuel-dispenser. 22 gallons in
like 4 seconds or something ridiculous like that. But just right for the Acorn.
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Good
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12:31pm
Good! One of the guys who was whacked yesterday got a job TODAY, making $2,500
more a year. What a grand world. Poor bastard, yesterday he was nearly
in tears, today when he stopped over, I was nearly in tears. Nico arranged
it for him. Sorry to bedevil you with this stuff; I need
an outlet for this insanity. |
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Pathetic |
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3:13 pm
One guy who had to sign his Severance Agreement (I get them all to send to
HR): You could see where he began signing his name with the blue
ink, the pen ran out on the first letter, and he had to
finish it in black ink. That's like the blade cutting
half-way through your neck. I gagged when I saw that,
knowing the guy. I must keep my job. I must keep my job. I must keep
my job. I must keep my job. I must keep my job.
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Hurting
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3:30 pm
There's some hurting people over here, lot of see-through
brave fronts. You really
make an effort for them. A mandatory effort - even if it's 3 months pay. I keep thinking how this guy goes home and tells his wife. With his 4 and 7 year old son and daughter. Few things are harder I would imagine.
How he
wakes up tomorrow and has no where to go. I hate
that happening, even to someone I don't like. |
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Funny
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3:43 pm
Turns out one of the guys who I thought was let go, was
actually preempting people -
himself - didn't want to make the move to the big building. I'm thinking, I WANT to go to the big building.
Means I still have a job. Lot of people have some experience with the
big company and are DREADING our move. I'm looking forward to it. Maybe I'm an idiot, but at least in the mistake I made above, I'm a happy
idiot. Told the guy, "don't do that to me, you fuck, tell me
you quit and here I am feeling bad cause I thought you got
whacked." |
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