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We refer to your meeting with the CEO on 9 March and the follow-up letter in which we notified you of the company’s proposal to disestablish and merge several existing positions within the organisation.
This correspondence is to advise you of the decision we have reached.
To summarise the process followed by the company…
Paragraph after paragraph of background information ensued until I reached the part that mattered most. I held my breath.
We are pleased to announce that you will remain in your position in its current form.
I reread the sentence several times to make sure I had my facts straight, then another few times until it sank in.
My position would remain.
I was safe.
I let out my breath and threw my head back in relief, thanking the heavens.
But poor Brooke…
She snuffled beside me, her shoulders shaking.
“Bad news?” I asked.
She nodded.
I placed a hand on her arm. “I’m so sorry.”
She brushed me off. “What about you? Are you keeping your job?”
It felt cruel to tell her, but what else could I say? “Yes. My job is staying.”
“He made the right decision.”
“Don’t say that.”
“Everyone knows you’re the hardest working person in this department, and the smartest too. You’ve been here three months and you’ve already surpassed what I can do.”
“Even if that were true—which it’s not—how would Neil Kingston know? He only just got here. It could have gone either way. It was luck of the draw. That’s all.”
“I’m not so sure, but thanks anyway.” She pulled her bag off the floor and stood up. “I’m off.”
“Where are you going?”
“Home. Where else?”
The work day was far from over, but it was clear that Brooke had already reached her “fuck it” phase.
“Wait. Is there anything I can do? Do you want to hang out and chat for a bit? Go for another coffee or a glass of wine or something? I’ll buy you a drink?—”
“Thanks for the offer, but I’ll be fine.” She pulled her shoulders back and puffed out her chest. “The shock is wearing off already. I don’t need this job, anyway.”
I admired her tenacity. If I had lost my job, I’d be freaking out right now. Brooke left with her head held high.
Slumped in my chair, I reflected that I didn’t feel as relieved as I thought I would. Sympathy tainted the triumph. How could I be one hundred percent happy when so many other workers were suffering? Looking around the room, it was obvious who had lost their job and who hadn’t just from their body language. Brendon appeared to be safe. So did Ellen. But Dylan and Olivia and Caroline… I tallied up the final number in my head, a pang of guilt for each unfortunate coworker.
Then the guilt turned to a strange sense of unease. Something was off. There were fewer redundancies than I thought there were going to be. What had Neil said?
“I would like to cut the communications department by half. At least.”
