This is just for a few. A very few. A private matter. It is a sobering thing to receive the final confirmation of the end of 25 years of service. It was digitally delivered, and I had to access it. Amazing, these new times we live in. A synchronicity of events Ill not go into made it the perfect time, and I disappeared like a ghostly vapor dissipated by a sudden wind. That is what I wanted - that is how I want to leave every room I ever entered, it is indeed how Id like to leave the world, but we dont get to choose that path. But somewhere down deep, it is a wee bit disturbing to the tiny part of my heart that is not yet blackened that it was so easy to do. Nearly every goodbye was sent digitally, and those few - three of them, if I remember correctly - on the very last day. Not a one since - not one. Two people from a group Id worked for - that I in fact was a founding member of - stopped by on my last day. Two. Hm. There comes a time when you are no longer needed. When that time comes, watch out - no one, however friendly they may seem, really cares about you. They only like you as long as they need you. When they dont need you, you do not exist. Twenty five years, and the only friends I have who contact me are three - one who retired in disgust a few years back, and one that was fired for absurdly groundless reasons, and one who keeps in touch on these interwebs. As for the retiree and the fired one, they had reason to believe something was unethical in their chain of command. And as for myself, I believe they were right. Ill leave you with these few thoughts, my dear friends. When they tell you this is not the flavor of the month, be well advised - it IS the flavor of the month. Dont waste your time on it. When they stopped calling you an employee and started calling you a team, your parts - ie, YOU - became expendable. The entire Team concept is an insult - a mortal insult - to the value of the individual. When you come together to create a great thing and do it all yourselves in-house, only one of you - if that - will get the credit -- the rest of you will be discarded at the earliest convenient opportunity. When you hear about yet another initiative to solve the problem of team disappointment with advancement, be well advised that no matter how hard you work, the popular and the pretty and the connected will always rise far faster than you, my dear friends. It was always thus. It will always be thus. It is a lie to say anything different. And when you come to your end, whenever that may be, when you walk out that door, no one there will remember your name. You will no longer matter to them. Goodnight, and God bless.
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 00:41:49 +0000
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