Unfortunately, Billy no longer had Kathleen’s number in his cell phone as he had deleted it during a fit of resentment following her unexpected exodus to Oregon in 2010. Admittedly, he could now really use her therapeutic support, a skill which he evidently, under-appreciated during their relationship. He routinely blamed his inattentiveness towards Kathleen on account of his burgeoning work responsibilities. In particular, since the advent of the smartphone, his position with the company incessantly demanded communications outside office hours. Hence, every night, Billy was bombarded with notifications from his cellphone. He felt compelled to always answer the notifications in fear that if he failed to maintain communications with his clientele, they would withdraw their investments. Ironically, he was terminated from JP Morgan this past Monday. Arguably, being a slave to technology was partly why his relationships with women had derailed over the past six years. Unequivocally, text messages and e-mails are not sufficient substitutes for real in-person communication.
Now that he was unemployed it would be even more challenging to meet a woman. He lucidly recollected his sister declaring that ‘no one likes a cheap man’, at the dinner table. At the time Billy dismissed his sister as very materialistic. However, the past few years, he recognized the veracity of Shauna’s statement. All his friends who were still alone never invested their money in real women. Instead, they wasted their money on useless technology, cars and asinine sports. Whenever he did encounter these hapless men, they never discussed meeting new women. Instead, their discussions revolved around baneful trends in the venture capitalist markets, basketball statistics and video games. Billy never understood these obsessions. Instead, he feigned to be vaguely interested in their dolorous conversations. Undeniably, those weren’t topics that peaked the interested of women. Hence, he never felt apologetic for making sudden excuses to exit their rambling.
Was Cheryl a feminist? Could men be feminists? You could certainly support other people’s rights without being a characteristic member of the group. Furthermore, Billy knew that her cryptic quotations were often in relation to existentialists and both philosophical theories were predicated on liberation and self-determinism.
Conversely, Simon the previous branch manager had a different method of evaluating performance. He seemed to evaluate it predicated on his analysts’ client retention quota. Even so, he still was very particular about what company events and conferences he attended. He always failed to attend events hosted in the Southern states because the values of these people weren’t in alignment with his own. Contrarily, Billy had attended several conferences in Louisiana and Atlanta and always revelled in their Southern hospitality. The conferences were always very multi-cultural, involving a host of colorful characters. The members were also extraordinary state loyalists. Potentially, Simon and him never espoused the same values, despite being colleagues for ten years.
Collapsing on the couch under the fans seemed like the best option. The computer likely wouldn’t operate during an unprecedented heatwave. In the past, when Billy attempted to start his computer under these conditions it triggered a technical fault. He had been warned at the electronic shop that an over-heated computer will eventually self-destruct, as recurring technical faults short-circuited the system. Billy had already lost his job this week. Unequivocally, he couldn’t risk anymore self-inflicted failures.
“We’re firing people today based on performance-based measures. Everyone in this room will have to pack up their belongings on their desk and leave by 6pm tonight. This company can’t afford anymore losses,” Cheryl adamantly declared.
She was very statuesque and calm during this public declaration. There was a no- nonsense tone to her voice.
“What about our pay checks?” one person queried.
“We’ll pay you in a month. However, it won’t include the sick leave or vacation leave you never took as we’re refinancing,” Cheryl retorted.
Withholding the terminated staff’s vacation leave seemed inexcusably irrational. Conversely, the second wave of the Global Financial Crisis was fraught with unpredictability. A series of desperate and frantic looks swept across the board table. Monday morning had never commenced so disruptively.
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