Happy Trails

This week I joined the millions of other Americans who have lost their jobs thanks to the folly and greed that led to the recession. Far brighter people and better writers have addressed that elsewhere, so I will not do so here. Bitching gets tiresome after a while, regardless of its merits.

Here I will speak of the man who terminated me -- a sort-of Everyman in the Corner Office.

He is a good man and it pained him to pull the trigger on employees he had known for years and liked. Most of his day was spent in such closed-door, one-on-one meetings, all unhappy and woeful. He is paid well for the position he holds, but on this day it didn't feel worth the anguish he inflicted on talented, skilled and valued employees.

He said all the right things befitting his position: he professed his care and vowed to do anything he could. He listened attentively to every plea, curse word and rage, as if he were a preacher consoling a confessor.

Virtually no one else knew in advance of the coming tragedy. His second- and third-in-commands had not been briefed, the decision was so quick. It was evident to those he terminated that the order had come from On High: "Cut, cut deep and cut now." It's brutal out there, said the sacker to the sackees. And on this day, Brutality slung its scythe with deadly aim.

Card keys and other such company property were collected then and there and forms were signed and witnessed by the only other being in the death-house meetings: the HR person, charged with detailing how the condemned would be executed and how long it would take to exhaust the last, pathetic breath of life in the now-former employees.

The slain carried themselves from the gallows to their lockers and desks to perform the sad ritual of removing all possible evidence of their existence. Some of them appeared to colleagues to be visibly wounded; others were just unusually quiet. All left the premises quietly as their co-workers watched, speechless, at dead men walking.

The executioner went home at the end of the day with a knot in his stomach and a foul taste in his mouth. The business that he once loved so passionately had become -- much more so in recent years -- a spiteful and foul thing, virtually unrecognizable now.

What lies before him in the days ahead is a company of edgy and frightened employees. Today was a repeat of previous restructurings. His employees, already spread thin, must take on even more. Hell, he's laden with additional responsibilities and no additional compensation.

But he must carry on, leading and encouraging, remolding and pushing. He is the face of the company. To all his shaken flock who so earnestly seek reassurance and hope, he must appear steadfast and confident in the future. He must make omelets. And chicken salad. And lipsticked pigs.

At least he has a job. I don't.

Happy trails.

Old Friends

When he was in his prime, he was one of the most gifted there was: imaginative, daring and admired by his co-workers. He was one of those guys who thought "outside the box" before the term became fashionable. He and I worked in the same place, although our hours weren't quite the same. We were both young then; bullet-proof. We had a great time and became lifelong friends, as did our wives. After that gig, our jobs took us to other markets. We kept in touch but seldom visited each other. Bob, I'll call him, was more successful than I, but that never mattered.

Tonight, we talked on the phone for nearly an hour, the four of us. My wife and I had recently vacationed in the Northern Rockies and the Mrs. and I loved it. We took pictures and shared details of our trip with friends and colleagues. Bob and his wife decided to vacation there too, at the end of the month.

The more we talked, the more we realized that we had never fulfilled a decades-old promise: to vacation together at a favorite spot. Tonight, we swore that we will do it, by God, next year.

I'm sure this is not a unique tale. Long-separated friends promising to get together some day, and never doing so. It's one of those things that many live to regret. Eventually, either they can no longer travel, or no longer care to travel, or -- worse -- one of them dies.

That happened to me. My high school hero -- a genius, actually, who went on to found and lead a successful software firm -- died unexpectedly before he and I could reconnect in person. It has pained me ever since.

So, here I go a-blogging. It's a new world, they tell me, and one should not miss out on such as this. Nevertheless, the notion of putting one's thoughts to paper -- er, the Web -- is both exciting and scary. Some things I will share with you, but not all. For now, though, it is enough just to start.