FIRED

Chapter 2

Fired

Chapter 1: http://scarletlibrarian.com/corey/chapter1.htm

“Hi Martin. Come in and sit down.” Susan wasn’t alone. Jim Briars, the Senior Vice President and Susan’s boss, was also there. “Can you close the door behind you?”

Martin closed the door and sat in the one available chair, next to Briars and against the wall. He was facing Susan, who sat directly behind her desk. She pushed herself away from her desk and leaned back a notch in her futuristic Aeron chair. A thin file folder sat on the desk blotter in front of her. Martin sat in the cahir with the benefits application cover letter in his lap. “I have the cover letter here for your approval and signature. Do you want to go over it together? Or, should I just leave it here and get it back from you later?”

“Um. We’ll have to take care of that later. We need to speak about something else this morning. That’s is why I’ve asked Jim to join us.” Susan’s eyes glanced to Jim for a moment, and then back to Martin. “Jim? Do you want to start?”

“Sure Susan. Hi Martin. I like to get right to the point, and I wish that I could say that we are here to have a good, positive, constructive conversation, but we’re not.” The pupils of Martin’s eyes dilated a bit. His hands held onto the cover letter a bit tighter. And he swallowed. His mouth went dry. “As you probably know, things have been a bit lean around here for the past 6 months or so. In your position, you are privy to a lot of information that other employees are not privy to. Sure, their managers encourage them to work harder, more efficiently, etc, but that is common for a firm such as ours. As I said, we have been having some economic and budgetary challenges, and the future is not looking so bright. To get the point, we are going to have to lay some people off.”

Briars paused and took a deep breath. Martin took this as his cue to be a team player. “I understand. This is going to be a tough process. If you need my help, and of course my confidentiality, in preparing exit packages and severance checks, I will do whatever is necessary. When will this begin?”

Briars didn’t expect an interruption. And stared for a moment as Martin finished. He was pleased that Martin left it wide open for him. “Um, well. We are going to get started today. And, I’m sorry to tell you this, but you will be one of the people being let go. We will be letting about 35% of the staff go today, and all of the materials are already.”

Martin stared straight ahead, right at Briars. Frozen, he had no response. How could he have anticipated anything like this? He SHOULD have expected this, and known about it, and been looking for another job all along. Or, he should have made himself more invaluable. How could he let this happen, he thought.

After a brief pause, Briars, continued, “Martin, you’ve done an excellent job here, and both Susan and I will be happy to give you a strong recommendation when that time comes. I’m sure you will have no problem finding another position. With your skills, you can find a good growth position in almost any human resources department, I would think. Now, we are telling you this first, ahead of other employees, because we knew that you would know something was up if you began to hear about others being laid off, y’know, without you knowing a thing about it.”

“Who prepared the exit materials for you?” Martin interrupted.

“What?” asked Briars

“If you had all this planned, who prepared the exit materials? The severance checks, the COBRA insurance forms, everything?”

Susan stepped in at this point, “Martin, as I am sure you understand, it was important to keep this as under wraps as possible so as not to cause concern amongst the staff. I prepared most of the materials, with the help of Tran in Accounting. I’m sorry about this. It has been a pleasure working with you, and I want to make sure that you leave here under the best of terms.” Susan placed her fingertips on the file folder in front of her and slid it toward Martin. “We will extend your insurance coverage for six months, we have fully vested your retirement benefit, and we are providing you with six weeks of severance pay, in addition to cashing out your unused vacation and sick pay. And, since you are so close to your annual review, we’ve added your bonus of $2,500. I think you will find this check to be quite generous. And, of course, I will do whatever I can to help you find another position, give you a good recommendation, make a few calls. Martin, I’m sorry it has to be this way.”

An awkward but expected silence hit the room. Martin licked his lips and considered what was happening to him. “So, is today my last day?”

“Yes, of course,” Susan responded.

“You don’t need my help with the rest of the employees later today? How will you be coordinating it?” Martin just wanted to be of help. It wasn’t just the paycheck he cared about. This job was important to him, and he wanted to see it through with a sense of duty. One part of him, way deep down, wanted to grab the letter opener on Susan’s desk and plunge it into her forehead and then use the stapler to close Jim Briars’s lips, nostrils and eyelids forever, but the sense of duty was strongest and won out.

“No Martin. This is it. It is best this way. You of all people know that. The others have been called into the conference room and we are going to meet with them in about 10 minutes. This folder has everything we discussed, and it would probably be best if you left while the meeting was going on. We have a busy day, as I am sure you appreciate, so can I call you tomorrow? Or maybe we can go to lunch next week? I’d really like to express how appreciative I’ve been of all of your hard work and dedication.”

“Sure. Um, so is this it?”

Jim Briars placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself up. He extended his right hand to Martin, and said, “Thanks again for all of your hard work and for working with us through this tough time. Good luck to you and call me if you need anything. A recommendation.” Susan was now up, moving from around her desk, but Martin still sat in his chair. “Martin,” she said. “We have to go know. Is there anything else we can answer for you. Or, do for you at this time?”

Still sitting, looking down, while they stood towering above him, he asked, “So, this is it? I’m fired?”

Susan corrected him, “Fired? You aren’t being fired Martin. This is a downsizing. We are letting go of a number of positions from across the company. I wish you weren’t a part of that, but it was out of my control.” She looked at Jim, as if to say “Go on ahead and I will take care of this.” Briars silently walked out without a handshake while Martin continued to look down trying to comprehend what was happening.

“Martin, look, why don’t you gather your stuff up, head home, just take a few days off. You work so hard, you really deserve some time for yourself. Go to a matinee, go to a spa. Do something just for yourself. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can talk more, okay?”

“I can’t.”

“What can’t you do? You can’t leave?”

“No. I uh…” He pulled his lips together, finding an small bit of resolve. “Nothing. I’ll get my stuff and go. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” And he stood up.

“Thank you for understanding. I knew that you would. We’ll talk tomorrow.” She grabbed his hand with both of hers and shook it tenderly with a reassuring grip. He walked out and she closed the door behind him.

He walked slowly with the file folder and cover letter to his side. He turned to ask her about the cover letter and other pending projects, but her door was closed. “She has to go slaughter the rest,” he thought. “Ruin some more lives.” Back at his office, he closed the door behind him and sat in his non-futuristic, non-Aeron chair, put the file folder on the desk in front of him and rested his forehead in the palms of his head.

“What I’m going to do,” he thought. Martin’s eyes began to tear up for the first time in his adult life. There was nothing for him to DO. He had always had a plan. He always knew what was next, what was happening this afternoon, this evening, tomorrow, this weekend, this Christmas, next year. Now, he didn’t know what was going to happen in the next few minutes. “What am I going to do for lunch?” he wondered.

That’s ridiculous, what am I going to do for a job? I’ve never not had a job before. How am I going to support myself, support mom. And, what am I going to DO? I’ll go crazy if there is nothing to do.

All of Martin’s life, he had had a mild case of overachieving. In Kindergarten, he knew the alphabet before the others, and he could even add two and two. Throughout elementary school, he was in honors classes and got good grades. In high school, he continued to have good grades, even if wasn’t the smartest guy in school. He was in clubs, and he had friends. After graduation, most of his friends went away to college or disappeared into blue collar jobs. He lived at home with his mom and went to San Francisco State University, which was barely a mile away. It was a good school and it had a good English program. He lost himself in novels and films while going to school and working as a clerk at UPS, and trying to be home with his mother every night for dinner or just watching television. His dad had passed away quite unexpectedly when he was 13 years old. It was a bone cancer, and a few weeks after the diagnosis, he was gone. His mom never really recovered, and he was there for her. At school, he never really connected with the other students since he was a commuter, and at work he was younger than every one else. Couldn’t even go out for a drink with them after work because he wasn’t 21 yet. College graduation came and went with a lot of knowledge of writing, literature and pop culture but no job skills. The job at UPS led to a better job in administration, which led to a specialty in human resources. A couple jobs later, he found himself at Rittenhouse. And, now nothing.

Martin rubbed his eyes, still a bit wet, and he was relieved his quiet sobbing never really hit full bore hysterics. He lifted his head up and took a deep breath. Looking down at the file folder, he reached for it, and opened it up. The check was for $5, 397.27, after taxes. The figure took his breath away for a moment, as he’d never had a check made out to him for such a large amount before. He moved it aside and looked at the rest of the packet. Everything looked like it was in order, just like he would have done it. He remembered Susan saying his retirement account was fully vested. Or was it Jim who said that? Looking at the account summary, he was surprised to see that he now had over $20,000 to retire on when that time came, and it would continue to accrue interest. Not bad, he thought.

“So, now what?” Martin wondered. I guess I better get things in order.

He pulled a white legal pad toward him and began to make a bullet-point list of open projects for Susan to pick up. The benefits cover letter and other open enrollment issues went at the top of the list. Tap tap tap, with the pen. He began to wonder if he should just go ahead and finish up the open enrollment packages, and then Susan can just slip in the cover letter. Make it easier for her.

But, why?

“Why should I make it easier for her?” The thought was so clear and sharp and surprising, it was as if a thin bolt of lightening struck him right between the eyes. Well, because, I want to help her out. This can’t be easier for her.

“And, this is your problem…how?” Again, with the lightning bolt between the eyes. He looked up and around his office, realizing this will be the last time he is in here. It is like his second home. Maybe even his real home, he wondered. I even picked out this desk!

“Just take the check and go. You’re free. You owe them nothing more. Your time here is done, and they have thanked you generously for your time and hard work. You want to do them a favor, follow their last order and leave now while that meeting was happening. Just go now and figure it out later.”

Martin got up and grabbed his backpack from the hook behind the door and unzipped it. First, he put in the file folder and the big check. Then, he scanned the office for what else he needed. Little plants? Nope. He took a couple of photos from his Hawaii vacation off of the bulletin board in front of him, as well as a couple of New Yorker cartoons and such. Stuffed them in the backpack. Anything else?

He grabbed a piece of paper out of the printer and wrote “Bye Susan. I hope everything goes well today. Call me if you have any questions. Martin” He left it front and center on his desk, walked out and closed the door behind him.

He walked down the hall to the front reception area. Sunny was there, on the phone. He gave a little smile and a quickly waved. Outside the office door, he got in the elevator and went down. On the ground floor, he turned left and walked right outside. It was sunny, a little hot, a beautiful day. Not a cloud in the sky.

“Now what?” he wondered. There was no plan. No schedule. Nowhere he had to be, and nothing he had to do. All of his obligations were gone and no one was expecting him to be anywhere. It was about 10:15am and he didn’t usually get home until around 7pm.

Next Chapter

Chapter 3: http://scarletlibrarian.com/corey/chapter3.htm