Morning all. I feel like this is going to be a good morning. There was enough sleep, but not too much and I woke up feeling reasonably awake. There were no nightmares and only minor allergy sniffles. So before this feeling fades, let’s dive into the morning prompt. Ready? Good, let’s go.
I kind of want to go back into this and expand it a little bit before I move into the inevitable SOS call to the recently fired band of employees. And take out the hint that they will be called, letting that be a surprise later as the story develops. But I like the basic idea.
Wednesday, May 18th: She never stopped smiling the entire time.
She never stopped smiling the entire time. It was vaguely disturbing. I couldn’t tell if she was pleased by this turn of events or merely determined to do her duty. She went around the table and placed the packets in front of each of us. Each packet contained information about our severance pay and the date where our insurance and other services would expire. For those of us who worked for the company long enough, there were files regarding the transfer of our retirement packages.
I flipped through the pages, knowing more or less what information they contained. All of the terms were plain and easy to read. A few months prior our company had been bought by another company. Their goal was to pillage our departments and attach the ones they wanted to keep to other companies, creating franken companies that would theoretically have the best of both companies but none of their weaknesses.
My division was not one the new company had a use for. The writing had been on the wall and most of my department had found other employment and left prior to this meeting. There were only a few of us left. We were the ones the company asked to stay on so that everything could remain on course and out remaining projects could be completed. We were amply compensated but we all knew that once that final project was turned in, we would be let go.
I expected it would take a few weeks, instead less than twenty four hours after our last project rolled out the door we were called into the conference room. Heather Garraway smiled the entire time she was presenting our packages to us. She had no time to answer questions so she provided an e-mail where they could be submitted in writing. In the short time I had known her, I knew she hated what she thought of as corporate waste.
Our department was one she considered obsolete. I shook my head as she strolled out of the door, her information given and perma-smile still in place. I wondered if it mattered that our division was the most profitable in the company, or that few others in the country were capable of doing what we did. I looked around the table. All of those sitting with me, those who agreed to stay so that things would be completed without anything going missing were at the top of their field. In fact, one of the companies that we worked with so often saw the closing of our department as an opportunity to build their own. Today we would go down to our offices and pack up the last of the personal items in our desks. Monday morning we would all be at the same new office unpacking and settling into our new desks.
“I wonder what will happen when they need us,” Kevin asked. I, along with the others nodded slowly. While our department was viewed as superfluous there were several legal requirements we fulfilled for the company at large. Without our division, they would need to contract out.
“Maybe Rhymer Inc will be hired,” I said. There were smirks and snorts of amusement as we all started to gather out paperwork and rise, heading back down to our office spaces to begin the clear out. The thought of the new corporation offloading us having to hire us as consultants after declaring us of no use was an amusing thought.
In a group we all headed down to out floor. As most of the department was gone, the five of us rattled around as we placed the few items we kept in our personal spaces into boxes. Truthfully, most things had already been taken home in anticipation of this day.
Ten til Midnight 