You could go on Jeopardy!

A little before lunch on Tuesday May 11, 2010, I was working in my office at Excelsior Printing Company trying to plan a small job for place-cards for the president of Williams College, for which I needed to order some paper, when David Crane stepped in and asked if I had a moment to meet with Sheila, the company controller. As David owned the company, I made time for him, and followed him down the hall. Entering Sheila’s office, it quickly became apparent that the reason I was there was to have my employment terminated.

I had worked at Excelsior for over 24 years, and I had observed the company struggle to be profitable in a difficult economic environment and an environment where the printing industry in particular was challenged by change, and I knew the ropes, so I really wasn’t surprised when David told me that he had some bad news, my position was being eliminated. There was a severance package of course, dependent on various concessions on my part. Some decisions I would have to make. The main decision had been made for me. I called Cathy my wife on her cell phone. It was lunchtime so she was outside on the playground at Bennington Elementary School where she works; she couldn’t believe it. I could believe it, because I had been living it, but she was astounded.

I packed up a few things, gave Sheila a hug, and headed home. Life had suddenly changed. At least it was spring with plenty of things to do. I came home, ate some lunch, waited around for a while.

About three, Matthew, my fifteen year old, came in from the bus. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

I was direct- “My job has been eliminated.”

“You’re kidding! You can’t be serious!”

“I am very serious”.

“I can’t believe it! – What are you going to do?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be alright- we have plenty of money saved up”

“But aren’t you going to work?”

“There aren’t a lot of jobs out there right now; we’ll just have to see what happens.”

“You know what you should do? You should write a book, or go on Jeopardy!”