When is it Ever Fair?

As I have mentioned before, this economic crunch is hurting the company that I am working for and we are all on edge over fears of losing our jobs. One of my bosses got the ax a little while ago and I’ve been seeing a number of terminations coming through the security emails. Then this morning, I got a real shocker—A. was terminated.

I try not to discuss too much about work but A. was a version of me just in a different part of the complex. I am capable of doing most of her jobs as she is capable of doing most of mine. In all, there are five of us and while we hardly ever see each other, I work more closely with them through email and inner-office envelopes than I do with my own supervisor. Imagine the five of us as an administrative jack of all trades. We are broadly trained to do a little of this and a little of that--basically a backup. Unfortunately it also makes us somewhat expendable since our job duties can be given to other people. I was scared that that was happening.

What I learned later on was that A. failed a random drug test. I had forgotten that we do those. Never had to worry about it. I feel bad for her and it majorly sucks because she was a great worker. She made a mistake and now she’s dealing with the consequences. So are we. We lost a very productive worker and I don’t know if or when she will be replaced. I would say that the company does a really good job in hiring workers. I have a hard time thinking of one person that I think deserves to fired (maybe the stinky old guy that always comes over to use my phone).

I understand why companies need to do the things they do and I believe that they did the right thing but it still sucks, ya know?