The next morning, I met with Malek, two members of company security, and someone from HR on the executive floor to go over protocol. What they wanted me to do was so impersonal and just wrong on so many levels. Unfortunately, I needed the job just as much as the people I was about to fire, so a half hour later, I was sitting in the conference room with two members of security posted outside the door, about to fire two single mothers, a guy with a pregnant wife and three kids at home, and two people I’d been working with for almost fifteen years.
I stared out at them through the glass partition, wishing that I could magically make things better—or perhaps go on the run with Jay. This was crazy. I was about to devastate the lives of so many people. But like Malek said, it was part of the job.
I hit a button on the conference room table and got my secretary on the intercom. “Barbara, can you ask June, Tom, Kwali, Maria Lopez, Angel, Malachi, and John Monroe to come in here, please?”
“Yes, right away, Mr. Duncan,” she replied.
I ended the call and waited for the employees to come to the conference room. The ones I’d chosen weren’t bad people or bad employees; they just brought the least to the company.
A few minutes later, they all filed in and took seats around the conference table. Before I even started talking, I could tell that they already knew I didn’t have good news. Maybe it was the security guards out front that gave it away, or maybe it was the pained expression on my own face. I didn’t want to prolong this tension any longer than I had to, so I stood and cleared my throat.
“I know you’re all wondering why I called you in h—”
“No.” John Monroe cut me off. “I’m wondering why the hell security is posted outside the door.” His comment made everyone turn to the door then back to me.
“Look, I’m sure you all heard about the merger—”
“Cut the bull, Wil, and tell us what’s going on.” This time I was cut off by Maria Lopez, a feisty single mother who’d been in our department five years.
“Okay.” There was no use insulting their intelligence with a bunch of empty platitudes about what wonderful people they were, what valued employees they’d been, and blah, blah, blah. It wouldn’t lessen the blow when I let them go, so there was no sense in saying it.
I took a deep breath and said what needed saying. “I have to let all of you go. It’s not my call. This decision was made upstairs. I really didn’t have a choice.”
Angel broke out in tears instantly. June went to rest a reassuring arm around Angel’s shoulder, but not before Angel expressed to me how she felt. “I’m in my twenties, but June is fifty-five years old, raising two kids. Where is she going to find another job? Do you know how hard it’s going to be for her to start all over again in the workforce with all these kids fresh out of college willing to work for peanuts?”
I tried to explain. “Look, Angel, it’s not my fault.”
“Fuck you, Wil!” Tom said, jumping up from his seat. “You think we’re stupid. They didn’t choose who was going to be let go. You did.”
“They didn’t fire you, did they?” John snapped at me, but I declined to respond. “What the fuck am I supposed to tell my wife?”
“I don’t know, John. I really don’t know,” I told him, wishing like hell I hadn’t been the one to deliver this news to them.
“Of course you don’t know,” John replied, pushing his chair away from the table. “You’ve still got your fucking job.”
“I thought you were my friend,” Maria chimed in, giving me the finger with both hands.
“I am your friend, Maria, but this is out of my hands,” I said, hating how hollow the words sounded as they left my mouth. “Look, I know this is screwed up, but if it’s any consolation, each of you will be receiving a three-month severance package.”
“Three months!” Malachi said. “My wife has sickle cell anemia. You know that! How the hell am I supposed to pay for her meds and doctor visits after the three months is up?”
I shook my head. I’d completely forgotten his wife was sick. “I can try to push for a six-month severance package,” I said, not knowing if the big guys would go for it, but I was at least willing to try. I had to put myself in their place. I would want someone to do all they could on my behalf.
Malachi sucked his teeth. “You just don’t get it, man.”
He was right. I didn’t get it, and I really didn’t want to. Still, I wanted to help. “Then there’s always unemployment while you look for another job.”
I didn’t know why I’d said that when it was clear that nothing I could say would soften the blow. They were looking at me as though I was a white dude who showed up at the Million Man March wearing a white hood.
I allowed them to stew for a couple minutes longer before they eventually filed out of the conference room. An hour later, they’d all been escorted off the property by security, and I was sitting behind my desk. This was too much. It felt as if the four walls of my office were closing in on me. I had to step out for a minute and get some air.
When I walked out of my office, Barbara was sitting there with the phone in her hand. “Hold my calls. I’m going to lunch,” I told her. She nodded, and I headed for the elevator.
Outside the building, the first thing I saw was a silver-and-black Rolls-Royce Ghost sitting at the curb. I was about to take a walk to clear my head, until the driver opened the rear door and I recognized the occupant.
“Wil,” he shouted. With everything going on at work right now, he was not the person I wanted to see. He shouted my name again. “Wil!”
Knowing that he was not going to let me ignore him, I turned, and we made eye contact. He smiled, waving me over.
Could this day get any worse? I thought.
“Uncle LC, it’s… good to see you.”