Another Day in Paradise
Did you see the article about Wells Fargo bank booking 12 nights in Vegas for its employees to frolic after taxpayers gave them $25 billion dollars in bail-out money? Have you noticed how many politicians don't seem to pay their taxes? Have you also noticed that our politicians seem to make millions of dollars when they leave office? Why is it that average citizens don't get big hand-outs, still have to pay our taxes and don't make millions of dollars after our jobs play out? We're just stupid I guess.
Anyway, today I thought about an incident that happened to me several years ago at my old place of employment. I was sitting in my office one morning when the boss called me on the phone and asked me to send Gerald, one of the other employees, down to his office. I thought it was a little peculiar that he didn't call Gerald directly or at least page him, but I didn't question it. I just went over to Gerald's desk and told him that the boss wanted to see him.
About five minutes later, Gerald was back with a bewildered look on his face and a pink slip in his hand. He showed it to me and in the next instance, my phone rang again. It was the boss and he asked me to send another guy down to see him. Man, this was getting ugly and I was being put right smack in the middle of it. I told the guy to go down to see the boss, me knowing what was going to happen and the guy not having a clue.
Sure enough, the guy comes back with his termination notice and starts cleaning out his desk. Once again, my phone rings and it's the boss wanting me to send Vlad down to see him. Vlad had little understanding of how most things worked in America, so I was sure he wasn't going to get the whole layoff process. I sent him down and a few minutes later he was back at my desk asking what the slip of paper he had just received meant.
As I stood in my office with Vlad, my phone rang once again. When I answered, it was the boss again, but this time he said, "Hey...got a minute?" I started to just tell him that I was busy, slam the phone down, and take off running, but I figured you can't outrun a pink slip. So I gathered up my courage and went to the corner office. He took me into a conference room and started talking about one of our projects. He didn't even mention what had taken place that morning! You know, I just sat there feeling lucky and guilty.
Anyway, today I thought about an incident that happened to me several years ago at my old place of employment. I was sitting in my office one morning when the boss called me on the phone and asked me to send Gerald, one of the other employees, down to his office. I thought it was a little peculiar that he didn't call Gerald directly or at least page him, but I didn't question it. I just went over to Gerald's desk and told him that the boss wanted to see him.
About five minutes later, Gerald was back with a bewildered look on his face and a pink slip in his hand. He showed it to me and in the next instance, my phone rang again. It was the boss and he asked me to send another guy down to see him. Man, this was getting ugly and I was being put right smack in the middle of it. I told the guy to go down to see the boss, me knowing what was going to happen and the guy not having a clue.
Sure enough, the guy comes back with his termination notice and starts cleaning out his desk. Once again, my phone rings and it's the boss wanting me to send Vlad down to see him. Vlad had little understanding of how most things worked in America, so I was sure he wasn't going to get the whole layoff process. I sent him down and a few minutes later he was back at my desk asking what the slip of paper he had just received meant.
As I stood in my office with Vlad, my phone rang once again. When I answered, it was the boss again, but this time he said, "Hey...got a minute?" I started to just tell him that I was busy, slam the phone down, and take off running, but I figured you can't outrun a pink slip. So I gathered up my courage and went to the corner office. He took me into a conference room and started talking about one of our projects. He didn't even mention what had taken place that morning! You know, I just sat there feeling lucky and guilty.
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