PHOTO PROMPT © C.E.Ayr
ONE-WAY STREET
He gave his life to the company, or would have, if they’d let him. He joined when he was 45, and planned to retire with a full 20-year pension, just as he turned 65. Things didn’t work out.
Once upon a time, manufacturing companies made things. Nowadays, corporations made PROFITS, at all costs. 2-1/2 years before his official retirement, his plant was declared –not unprofitable – merely superfluous.
He and 450 of his co-workers were unceremoniously dumped, like so much trash, desperately searching for employment, while the Vice-President in Charge of Expense-Cutting took a two million-dollar bonus. So much for loyalty. 😦 😯
***
Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story
Archon's Den 
I thought this was supposed to be fiction?
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You’ve been rummaging in my background, and peeking behind the curtain again, haven’t you? Pay no attention to that Grumpy Old Dude…. and get that damned dog out of here. My pantleg is damp. 😉 😆
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I have nothing better to do than watch you watch me.
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Love the first line. True for so many, nice one!
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As Jim noted, above, this is far more truth than fiction. Thanx. 🙂
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It’s a sad commentary on what our country has become… and where our priorities lie.
🙁
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The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer (relatively). A century ago, in the time of John D. Rockefeller, he
earnedwas paid 100 times what the lowest person in his corporations made. He received in a week, what they labored for a year to get.In today’s businesses, ratios of 1000:1 are common, and 10,000:1, or even higher, are not unheard of. They rake in as much by lunchtime New Years Day, as office clerks receive all year. Is “Let Them Eat Cake” far away?? 😯
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Probably not. But the question is…. will we have a fork?
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And they wonder why employees aren’t loyal anymore.
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I don’t know if they actually wonder, but I don’t think that many of them care. Interchangeable cogs in a machine. If one quits or is fired – just get another. 😳
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Dear Arcon,
Describes the company I worked for and the last five years of my miserable (thanks to the management trying to get rid of my “ancient” carcass) employment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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It’s like beating your head against a wall. It feels soooo… good when you stop. 🙂
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This is barely fiction – so many similar stories exist, and no doubt there will be people who use the pandemic as an excuse to add to their number.
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I am so happy that I’m out of the rat-race, only depending on the Government 😛 and GM for some miserly pension. I feel so sorry for those who still have to play – and lose – this game. I am not optimistic that COVID19 will improve it.
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I dunno about giving your LIFE if you give 17.5 years but this blows. Reminds me of former co-workers who could have taken their pension but decide to work two more years… then lost half of it when the company was bought by another. They don’t give a rat’s ass about their employees…
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No matter what choice you make, it will be the wrong one. 😦
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It does feel.that way sometimes, doesn’t it?
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This may–or may not–be fiction, but the reality is just as hopeless, just as devastating.
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I couldn’t think of any other theme so, as I sometimes do, I just held a mirror up to current reality. ‘Hopeless’ and ‘devastating’ – when did reality get like that??! 😳
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It used to be done in the shadows. Now it’s done arrogantly and with empty apologies.
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Like only being taken on by a corporation through a temp service, and having to survive three to six months of some job that you are not suited for, before you can even apply for a position where you have years of experience – it just doesn’t seem efficient and therefore more profitable. 😕
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I remember when “they” went after teacher’s unions because they knew the teacher’s union was the strongest one. Once they broke their back, they started picking off the others. When I think back to how strong and respected the union I was in 30 years ago compared to the sham it is now, I hang my head.
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