Layoffs Coming Next Week

Everyone knows.
Layoffs are coming and rumor has it
next week is the big reveal.
The managers assure us
the best people will keep their jobs,
that retention will be based on merit.

The old timers have heard this before.
Don’t believe that for a minute, they say.
Remember when engineering excellence
was all that mattered to the company?
Now it is about goosing the stock price
to please the shareholders.
Reducing payroll is one way to do that,
which means firing those
with the highest hourly rate.

There is an office pool
of who will get the ax.
Cynicism is out in the open
and people laugh about it.
But what can you say?
Contracts have been winding down
for the last year.
We’re losing proposals right and left.
Our bids are too expensive
we are told.

The office catchphrase now is Ask me if I care.
Well, I care. I have mouths to feed.
Oh gah! The boss is walking this way.
I hide my poem behind the spreadsheet.