Does He Get It?

I mentioned I work for a global financial institution. You know, the kind that's practically bankrupt and being propped up by a government treasury. We're cutting client credit lines, closing down country offices and laying people off. For those of us still around, our bonuses were cut, benefits are being slashed, and raises and promotions are a long forgotten memory. Most of us are just happy to have a paycheck. We hope to ride things out until the economy picks up, because then you will see the biggest mass exodus since the Jews leaving Egypt.

There are certainly some nice people that work here, but they mostly have IQs of a plant. Everyday I find a reason to wonder if this financial institution isn't really a mental institution. Today was no different. Amid the economic meltdown and the carnage it has left in its wake, I had a guy that reports into me ask if we could start hiring some more people into the group. It seems he feels a bit overloaded with some requests and was not sure he could handle them.

Overloaded. No shit. Everyone that sits in a ten cube perimeter of him was fired. If he looked around he would realize he's the only one left on that corner of the floor. He for some unknown reason was saved and then put into my group.

I had to bite my tongue and say the only thing one could say in a corporate environment: "Great question, I'll look into it."

Perhaps, I'm the patient here. And those lucky bastards who were let go are the ones who were cured. They got out and I'm stuck with the inmates who are running the asylum.

Such is life when you're already dead and this is hell.