American Shutdown - Chapter 3: Calls on Company Time

bennybelljr (32)in #layoff • 6 years ago (edited)

At M-Mtek it was considered politically incorrect to put your feet up on the desk. For a last call from the office, Sam put his previously soaked feet up on his desk figuring they couldn’t do much to him, now. He proceeded to call peg on his company cell phone.

“Hey, guess what?” he said as Peg answered.

Peg cut him off, “Yeah, I already heard. Mimi called in a panic. Bernie says it’s curtains for the whole goddamn place. I told you to get out of there when the getting was good.”

Peg’s counsel about getting another job when the writing’s on the wall instead of waiting for the axe to fall was beginning to sound like a like a broken record. Sam sloughed it off. At the moment he needed her help.

“I need your help on this one. Could you meet Bernie and me at Jimmie’s Diner around noon? Bring me a pair of socks too. Mine are all stinky from getting wet this morning. Also, they’re making us hand in our company phones and laptops. I was wondering if we could pick-up a TracFone at a drug store so I’ll have one until you can add me to your account. Get an extra 500 minute card for it, too.”

“Anything else? Jesus, you’re going to get me fired with the new big boss they just got around here. No sense of humor. OK, but you’re paying for lunch and the phone,“ Peg sparred back.

“Not to worry. I’ll get Bernie to cover lunch. I’ll need the phone to call and tell you what bridge we picked to jump off, tonight,” Sam said in jest.

“Just don’t get drunk, tonight. I don’t want to have to come out there and get you.” Peg ended with, “Bye. I love you.”

Sam said, “Love you too.”

At that moment a suit appeared at his office door. It was the guy at the cafeteria introduced as the head of corporate HR. He asked if he could come in.

Sam said, “Sure. You own the place.”

The HR guy smiled and said, “I’m here to tell you that we’re so sorry you’re being let go because we’re closing the plant. Can I close the door.”

“Sure, go at it,” Sam quipped.

“I want to talk to you about some opportunities that might be available to you at M-Mtek in the future. We liked what we saw when corporate reviewed your HR file, especially that part with designing and overseeing the telescoping stent inserts project. Nice going.”

“By the way, my name is Ishaan Gilbert in case you forgot it from the meeting. So, what do you think about coming back to the company to work on the shutdown?”

Trying not to show emotion, Sam responded, “Well, of course I’m flattered but have to wonder why I have to be let go and then called back.”

Ishaan said it had something to do with the procedural legalities of continued employment and being able to negotiate a brand new deal with him.

All Sam could think was that was a polite way of saying he would be coming back as a contract worker with no benefits. It was the new corporate way of saving money and keeping nimble for the next opportunity to cutback skilled labor. Canceling someone on a contract was much easier than letting one go who was a full-time employee.

“Oh, OK,” Sam said. “But I’ll have to see what your offering. You always have my address but you’re taking my phone away at three today. Give me your card so I can forward you my new cell number. Right now I’ve got to meet my wife for lunch for a new pair of socks she bringing me to wear. The ones I got on feel like soft damp cardboard. I got them soaked in the slush sitting in the parking lot this morning. It’s been one of those days.”

Ishaan grinned widely, “Glad to see you still have a sense of humor. You make my job easy. Looking forward to hear from you, soon.”

With that, Ishaan popped the door open and slid down the hall.

Sam had to get over to Jimmie’s where Bernie was going to meet him for lunch. He pondered how he was going to jump over the pool of water to get into his vehicle. He hoped Peg would not forget to bring him clean socks.

The slush-puddle was smaller, allowing Sam to easily scale over it onto the front door rocker panel and into the front seat. Jimmie’s was just a short hop away, tucked into an old neighborhood of 50’s commercial strips and slightly worn houses. Jimmie’s was a landmark known for its ample American breakfasts and rotating daily lunch specials. He pulled into his favorite spot in the parking lot where he knew the drainage was good.

Inside Jimmie’s there was the regular hum from the lunchtime business crowd. Jimmie’s voice rang out above the background noise as he barked-out orders to the grill cooks. A quick scan proved neither Bernie or Peg were there, yet. He caught Jimmie’s familiar glance as he wiped his hands on his dish towel, threw it over his shoulder and began walking toward him.

“Sammy, my man. What the hell is going on over there? Everyone’s talking about the plant shutting down,” he blurted while extending his hand for a hearty shake.

“You heard right, Jimmie,” Sam said. It’s curtains for the whole goddamn place. This is going to hurt your business, no?”

“Ah, you guys not coming over here so much, anymore. Ever since the cutbacks you all afraid of your jobs,” Jimmie wisely proclaimed.

“Well, I’m here today and Peg and Bernie are supposed to be stopping in, too. I have to be back by one to start the mustering out process. We all have to be out of there by six. They say they’re going to escort us to the door,” Sam informed Jimmie.

“Well you just tell them ‘Jimmie says screw them if they can’t take a joke,’ OK?” Jimmie said.

Sam grabbed an empty booth by the window to accommodate three. As he nestled into it, he noticed Peg pulling into the lot. She was such a trooper, always there when he needed her. He wondered what her take on his layoff would be after she had a chance to think about it for a while.

Peg came through the door with a Walmart bag in her hand and a smile on her face. Sam smiled back and waved her over to the booth.
“I see you have presents for me,” he greeted her while leaning across the table for a quick kiss.

“Yep. I got one on special with a 500 minute card so you can use it as a back-up later when you get a regular one,” she proudly announced.

“How about the socks?,” Sam asked.

”I grabbed a pair of your good golf socks. Figure that would be appropriate for your exit. They’re red so they can see you go out the door,” she answered.

“Give them to me. I want to put them on, now. I don’t want to do it at the office. Bernie’s running late. I’ll give you back the dirty ones. Jesus, honey, how do you put up with me?,” Sam quietly said smiling.

“Well, it’s going to be a lot harder if you’re hanging around the house not working,” Peg asserted. “Say, what are you hearing about the shutdown? Any new news?”

“Yep. This HR guy from corporate stopped in to see me and told me I might be offered a comeback job after the dust clears from the shutdown. I took his card. I want to see what the separation package says before I follow through with him,” Sam explained.

“That’s encouraging, isn’t it?” Peg said hopefully.

“Maybe. It’ll probably be contract work through a third party outsourcer. Less pay, no benefits,” he told Peg.

“Better than nothing. Hey, where’s Bernie?” Peg asked. “ Are we going to eat? I just want something light. How about you?”

“I’m thinking I might have a hard boiled egg and some toast. My stomach doesn’t feel right. Must have been the wet socks.“ Sam added, “I’ll text Bernie to see what’s up with him.”

The text message to Bernie read, “Hey @ Jimmies. Comin? Got 2 B back by 1. Peg here - call”

Peg passed Sam the red socks. He kicked off his loafers, pulled off his musty socks and slipped into the clean red ones while balancing his feet on the booth’s bench seat. The dry ones felt so much better. He thought maybe it was a good omen.

Looking down at his buzzing phone, Sam saw that Bernie was getting back to him. He answered his call with, “Hey, Bernie, where the hell are you?”

Bernie chimed in, “I can’t make it. Got a lot of chores to do. Sorry. Say hello to Peg for me. Gotta run, now. I’m driving,” he said before hanging up.

“Peg, he says he can’t make it,” Sam reported. “You know, it’s almost one and I got to get back. Let’s skip out. Maybe you can get a take out for back at the office. What do you think.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a better idea. What’s with Bernie? Is he going to make the one o’clock deal?” Peg said in a worried voice.

Sam told Peg Bernie was Bernie, that he’d be alright and he would cover for him back at the office if he was late. With that he slipped into his loafers, leaned again across the table for a quick ‘luv ya,’ peck on the lips and slide out of the booth.

On the way out he said goodbye to Jimmie and told him to take care of Peg’s take out order. Jimmie wiped his hands on the sides of his white pants and gave Sam another one of his famous hearty handshakes accompanied by “Give those sons-of-bitches hell, now won’t ya.”

3.phonecall.jpg