You are safe

In the morning I get up. I go down and out on the porch and get the paper. I look at the obituaries. And if I'm not there, I go in and have a cup of coffee.
-George Burns quoting Patrick Moore

N called last night.

This is news because - as a rule - N does not call my house.

N is a former co-worker who changed departments back when CorpWorld had strongly implied that people would be let go in the near future.

People were, and N was not. Very likely because they changed departments.

Now, N is being let go. They have called me to see if I'm on the list. I'm in my kitchen, getting the Boy his bedtime drink. I don't know of any list, or a new round of layoffs. I don't know anything.

N knows the following:

• N is being laid off.
• N was contacted by phone.
• N can stay on until the middle of next month
• A current co-worker of mine, Y, has also been laid off.

N is surprisingly calm about the whole thing. I'm positively useless to them at this point. What do you say to a person? I have little help to offer, but I'd do practically anything to help them.

I say that. I offer to be a reference for them, wish them good luck.

It's so inadequate for the situation, but at this point I have two freight trains running through my head at the same time.

• N and Y are out of work - what the hell are they going to do? N's spouse works, but Y's spouse can't because our immigration laws are so impossibly stupid. In this job market, what the hell are these people supposed to-
  
  
• Where the hell is my cell phone? Do I have a voice mail from my account rep? Email from my supervisor? More to the point, am I on the freaking list??

Land line in hand, I go to check my cell. N thanks me - I thank them and wish them luck. They vanish.

No messages. I go upstairs and relate the happy scenario to E before bolting back down to check email.

Nothing.

I email my account rep: WTF?? What have you heard?

It's after 8:30, so I'm unlikely to get anything at all-

My rep emails me back in twelve minutes: You are safe.

Just those three words. At this point, I'll take what I can get, but the obvious questions have no answer. For how long? How do they know?

Those questions bounce around in my head until I manage to pass out.

---------------

This morning, I get another sudden team meeting from the boss.

Everyone meet me in an hour.

That's never good. The boss shows up and makes small talk until the rest of the group shows up. This is the worst part by far.

There is an twenty-ton, radioactive elephant sitting in the room - and we're talking about hobbies.

The boss drops the bomb. Y is getting let go. Also SR and V. They mention N, since N used to be part of our group.

The boss says the party line: they hope this will be it for staff cuts. But they said that last time, too.

At this point the only things we know for certain are things we don't like. I opt for the first opportunity to get out of the meeting before people start asking questions the boss can't answer. I like the boss, but when it comes to questions about people's financial future - there are only two kinds of answers:

• Answers you are absolutely positive of, and
  
  
• "I cannot answer that for certain."

The boss is too nice to be that blunt - and it's clear they are miserable at having to do any of this - but more questions will prolong the agony without adding info.

Out the door, back to work.

I need a cup of coffee.