Spence speaks to Beemer Guy
[Dependencies: Jan 31st -> current entry]
To lay off twenty four people was tougher than Spence had anticipated. Worse yet, the hatch still lingered. CEO Mike Devala (also known as “beemer guy” as only he owned a BMW in the SMR parking lot) was coming down to talk to him. Spence only had a minute to grab a cup of coffee.
He poured two spoons of sugar in his green marble mug. The kitchen today sparkled brighter in florescent lights, more sterile. It dawned on him then: the coffee carafe had gone virgin all day. Nobody ventured into the kitchen, everybody kept under the radar.
Cindy was expecting, in two months. Twins. He’d be a father! Even with a severance package, getting laid off would complicate their lives considerably. And there was no severance package.
Walking to his office dragged longer than usual; he tried hard (and succeeded) at avoiding other survivors. All those spared would meet in 15 minutes anyway.
But Devala wanted to see him now.
The bastard would fire him, too. Spence knew it!
There were only seven engineers left, six developers and one tester. How was he going to build and test a product with only seven employees? Nobody could be “VP” with just seven people.
Back at his desk, he took a sip. Today’s coffee was uninspiring. It was thinner than next year’s budget projection. Perhaps he had forgotten to add sugar, that would not surprise him. Whatever. He took another sip.
At almost 2pm he had not yet felt hungry for lunch. The thought of Thai or Chinese or Teriyaki churned his stomach.
Took another sip, looked at the photo on his desk. Cindy looked gorgeous in that shot at the skating ring at UTC Mall less than a year back. She was laughing hysterically while he was clenching onto the rail frightened but pretending to enjoy it. It was his first attempt at skating on ice. Today he felt the floor underneath him just as slippery.
Devala showed up at the far end of the hall across from his office door. Spence convinced himself he needed to remain calm but didn’t know what to do with his hands. He tried to pick a pencil on his desk with a feather touch but with his sweaty fingers the pencil slipped off easily.
Spence sunk in his seat despite his conscious attempt to keep his head high.
Closing the door behind him, Devala got to the point.
“Didn’t tell you the whole story,” he said. “The Board had determined that management had to be trimmed down as well.”
Damn. That asshole lied to him: used him to lay off all those people, then it was bye-bye. One look around and he knew it would be two hours packing all those belongings, then hauling that into the Nissan.
The two talked for five more minutes, then both joined the remaining engineers for the news.
From the CEO’s office, Spence looked outside into the parking lot as Devala placed the cardboard box containing his minimal belongings into the trunk of his beemer.
To lay off twenty four people was tougher than Spence had anticipated. Worse yet, the hatch still lingered. CEO Mike Devala (also known as “beemer guy” as only he owned a BMW in the SMR parking lot) was coming down to talk to him. Spence only had a minute to grab a cup of coffee.
He poured two spoons of sugar in his green marble mug. The kitchen today sparkled brighter in florescent lights, more sterile. It dawned on him then: the coffee carafe had gone virgin all day. Nobody ventured into the kitchen, everybody kept under the radar.
Cindy was expecting, in two months. Twins. He’d be a father! Even with a severance package, getting laid off would complicate their lives considerably. And there was no severance package.
Walking to his office dragged longer than usual; he tried hard (and succeeded) at avoiding other survivors. All those spared would meet in 15 minutes anyway.
But Devala wanted to see him now.
The bastard would fire him, too. Spence knew it!
There were only seven engineers left, six developers and one tester. How was he going to build and test a product with only seven employees? Nobody could be “VP” with just seven people.
Back at his desk, he took a sip. Today’s coffee was uninspiring. It was thinner than next year’s budget projection. Perhaps he had forgotten to add sugar, that would not surprise him. Whatever. He took another sip.
At almost 2pm he had not yet felt hungry for lunch. The thought of Thai or Chinese or Teriyaki churned his stomach.
Took another sip, looked at the photo on his desk. Cindy looked gorgeous in that shot at the skating ring at UTC Mall less than a year back. She was laughing hysterically while he was clenching onto the rail frightened but pretending to enjoy it. It was his first attempt at skating on ice. Today he felt the floor underneath him just as slippery.
Devala showed up at the far end of the hall across from his office door. Spence convinced himself he needed to remain calm but didn’t know what to do with his hands. He tried to pick a pencil on his desk with a feather touch but with his sweaty fingers the pencil slipped off easily.
Spence sunk in his seat despite his conscious attempt to keep his head high.
Closing the door behind him, Devala got to the point.
“Didn’t tell you the whole story,” he said. “The Board had determined that management had to be trimmed down as well.”
Damn. That asshole lied to him: used him to lay off all those people, then it was bye-bye. One look around and he knew it would be two hours packing all those belongings, then hauling that into the Nissan.
The two talked for five more minutes, then both joined the remaining engineers for the news.
From the CEO’s office, Spence looked outside into the parking lot as Devala placed the cardboard box containing his minimal belongings into the trunk of his beemer.
posted by Astrapo | 10:00 AM
2 Comments:
"Back at his desk, he took a sip. Today’s coffee was uninspiring. It was thinner than next year’s budget projection. Perhaps he had forgotten to add sugar, that would not surprise him. Whatever. He took another sip." The bite of the analogy takes away from the overall drabness of this section, imho.
Great mood and pace. A few too many sentence long paragraphs. Correct "Spence sunk in..." to "Spence sank in...". Ending not unexpected...feels more as a part of a longer story.
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