Better Days Ahead?

In my almost twenty years at ZCO, today was probably the worst day in my tenure. Early this morning while most of us were still in bed sleeping, our company president had the unpleasant task of speaking to about one-fourth of our factory co-workers and telling them that as of next Friday they no longer had a job. Sales are down, profits are down, and unfortunately our warehouse is full of pumps that haven't been selling, so it was just a matter of time before a layoff happened. After all, we are in a recession, right? Right.

When I talked to friends about a possible layoff last week, their first reaction was "It won't affect you all in the office, will it?" I wanted to answer them with a firm "No" but I couldn't. Sure, I've been there almost twenty years, and since they go by seniority, I would be about as safe as you can be. But yes it did affect us in the office. We were affected when we walked through the factory today, and instead of hearing laughter we saw somber faces. I was affected when I talked with the company president today and he almost had tears in his eyes when he told me that what he did this morning was the hardest thing he's had to do in his over thirty years at the company; possibly in his life.