"Daddy ruined xmas!"

Today one man lost his job so mine could be spared; Pink slip friday strikes again. The ruthlessness of the business world is a commonly known tail, especially so to the white collar folk working in the city of detroit, but today i saw it first hand. One man had to go and there were three contract workers in the group. As the youngest, newest and least experienced member of the group, i dodged a bullet i never knew was coming. Joe-worker on the other hand gets to go home and tell his wife and kids that he's been granted an extended vacation. "No Billy, Daddy doesn't go to work anymore. The new guy at the office took my job and we can't afford your prosthetic leg."

The only reason i knew the whole thing was about to go down, was so i would attempt to pick up his notes in preparation of taking over his work load. somebody actually wanted me to wonder over and nonchalantly scam him for data before he was told today was his last day. As it turns out, it didn't matter; from the looks of things, his desk remains as it was moments before the bad news came, sans the photos of his over weight kids. (all limbs intact, if i remember correctly.)

You see, no-one knew exactly when he would get the news, since as a contract worker, it is the responsibility of the contracting organization, or "house" to tell the poor employee that his contract was expired. "Open ended," don't you know. And sometimes, such as in this case, the supervisor chooses not to forewarn the employee or even take part in the conversation at all. In fact, Joe-worker was gone forever before the supervisor returned to the office. Maybe they think it's safer that way.

There's a lot to be learned from all this. I'm too tired to expand on it all.