Rumor Mill : Pt 2

On my day off I was headed to work for a mandatory meeting.  It was raining.

I was the first manager to arrive at the meeting and, for the first time in my life, I sat down about ten minutes early.  By one o'clock our group of seven were all seated and the door was shut.  The HR manager and our manager walked into the room.  We had all anticipated this speech for several weeks and he had our undivided attention as we looked to him for answers.  A month's rumors were coming to an end.  One person sold off investments to pay down debt in anticipation of the worst.  Another actually begged to be let go the week previous.  He really seemed to want that severance money last week, but on this afternoon, nobody looked like they wanted out.

There was no speech by our manager.  Instead he briefly explained how this process would work.  One by one we would be called to his office and given the information.  The rest of us would sit in the meeting room waiting.  He asked that we not text or call other managers as the process moved along.  I never thought it would have been like this.  Could he not tell us as a group what the new structure would be?  I couldn't believe that the Human Resource department would create the most stressful method to deliver the message.

They called the first person to the office and the six of us remaining sat looking at each other awkwardly.  We quietly joked about who would be next and what that might mean.  Then we all pulled our cell phones out and disobeyed the only rule of the meeting.  We were searching for answers but were getting silence. Fifteen minutes passed before we heard that first person leave the office out of a back door.  We couldn't see him leave and he didn't re-enter the holding room.  Another five minutes passed, but it seemed like twenty, and the HR manager came in and summoned the second manager to the office.  We laughed as it was the person we had just privately voted to be second.

The five of us sat in the holding room for the next fifteen minutes now discussing who would have to be last.  Who would have to sit in this room alone?  Someone spotted a poster on the wall that read, "This is a great place for a career!" and he commented that it should have been removed prior to this meeting.  At this point we still didn't know how many of us would be leaving the company.

I was the third called into the office.  My manager sat behind his desk, the HR beside him, and me across.  He had papers on his desk in front of him.  He told me he had a prepared statement that he wanted to start with.  Instead of reading from the papers on his desk, he opened the top drawer and pulled out five more pages.

At the end of the statement he offered me a management position in this restructuring.  He didn't give much detail about the position, just that I was being offered one.  I didn't answer, and after seeing my hesitation, he offered to continue reading before requiring an answer. Looking back, it seems kind of funny to me.  After the fear of losing my long time job, you would think I would jump at any offer.   He read more details of the new position and explained that my pay would not be changed for the worse and then he again asked if I accept.  I glanced at the HR quickly and back at him.  The HR caught my glance and pointed out that if I refuse, I would be resigning and not eligible for a severance pay.  Realizing that I had only one option, I quickly, and happily, accepted the offer.

I was asked to exit out of the back entrance and not to meet with the other managers until all had been met with individually.  At that point we would have a team meeting to answer questions.  After I called Cari to let her know I was still employed, I went back to my office and played Angry Birds while waiting for the team meeting.

During our team meeting we were informed that one person of our team was let go and offered a severance package.  It turns out that he is the same one that told me a few weeks earlier to work as hard as I always had worked until the last day.  At least he can leave knowing that he did his best every day and never gave up.

As I drove home in the rain, I was really happy to have a job to return to the next day.