Recession Victim

“I need to have a quick word with you.”

These words are seemingly harmless enough and should not have sliced into my heart and caused me to send off this text message to my friend Cate with trembling hands: “My boss wants to talk to me. I’m nervous about this.”

My fears were not unfounded, though.

A few weeks ago, there was a news article about my company cutting some 200+ jobs from Asia Pacific. I got bothered by that and got increasingly affected when the long lists of leavers started pouring in. It was my team’s job to cut off their access to the different systems.

One afternoon while we were in the pantry, my teammates told me that these poor people did not have a clue beforehand. They went to work, thinking all was well, then their line manager talked to them and told them that their position was deemed as no longer required by the company and they regret to let them go but they should pack up their stuff and leave.

Right then and there.

They were not even allowed to access their work computers anymore. This was done so as to prevent the terminated employee from wreaking havoc in the system to get back at the company for doing this to them.

“So if our boss asked to talk to you, you should worry,” my teammate said.

So the moment my boss told me those words before lunch time, I knew what that meant.

In our team, I was the newest hire, with everyone being in the job for more than a year when I came in. LIFO (last in, first out) is the rule when it comes to these things, so if somebody’s gotta go, it was obviously gonna have to be me.

After sending off the text message, I deleted all my personal files and emails from my computer, knowing that I would not get the opportunity later.

At around 12:30, my boss picked me up at my place and brought me to a call room where she called her boss in Australia. I rarely get to talk to him, so this only strengthened my belief that my hunch was right.

When he picked up, he greeted me and said that he’ll cut to the chase… but he didn’t.

First he gave a long preamble about the global economy and how the company has been faring recently in relation to that.. or maybe it was actually short but just seemed long-winded to me, who was waiting for the ax to fall.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he gave me the bad news: “we have decided that your position is not needed and we regret to inform you that it will have to be terminated effective today.”

So I was right.

I’m sure you’re wondering how I reacted, because that’s all I’ve been getting all day. Did I cry? Yell? Throw things?

Nope, I did a classic me, that is, I actually did the comforting. I thanked both of my bosses and told them not to worry about me, that I know it was nothing personal and that it was just a necessary evil and that there were no hard feelings.

I did feel a bit teary-eyed, but I managed to shake it off by laughing about something I said (also a classic me) to diffuse the tension, and when I saw my boss starting to cry, I held her hand and said, “Don’t cry, I know this wasn’t an easy decision. I will be okay.”

Yeah I know. Sounds lopsided, huh?

So we left the room and headed to my workstation where my boss was obliged to oversee me pack up all my personal possessions into three plastic bags. It’s a good thing I brought few stuff there, huh. Imagine if that had happened to me in P&G. My boss would have had wasted an entire day on supervising my termination.

When I pulled out the notebook that contains all my notes related to work, she said I could not take it with me. When I was through, she asked me to say goodbye to the people. It was Ei’s lunch break and Di was on sick leave, so I was only able to bid farewell to Pree and Rowie. Pree was shocked and said she didn’t even know.

After that, my boss escorted me downstairs and out the turnstiles since she had my access card which I surrendered with my persauth card.

But don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine.

The funny thing is that I’ve been spending the entire day comforting people instead of the other way around. My friends are the ones who have shed tears while my cheeks remain dry.

But like I told them, this is not necessarily a bad thing. My company is paying me for the 30 days notice they are supposed to give me for terminating my contract before the year is up. Due to the nature of my role, they can’t let me work it, so I’m gonna get paid for a month of not doing anything. That’s kinda cool, right?

Also, this is my chance to look for a better job without having to go on leaves for interviews or go through the entire guilt process when I eventually have to hand my resignation letter to the boss.

And come on, I’m a cat. I always land on my feet.

So don’t cry for me! I mean it!