Wednesday, December 16, 2015
No Man Is An Island?
The Wave
Ernst could take it no longer!
Wages cut in half and all vacation
time cancelled.
Time to speak out! He was a bit
of a parliamentarian, and found
the obscure provision in the
Employee Handbook that enabled
a single worker to call a meeting.
Couldn’t leave anything to chance,
of course, so phoned all he could
to get promises of support, and
hear the individual grievances he
could get expressed at the right
moment.
The Board sent the CEO, first occasion
he was actually caught working.
Ernst rose, and swayed, and began speaking.
The whole surrounding audience seemed
to leap chromatically.
But he calmed down to deliver his prepared
remarks, mostly to the effect that too
many rights had been viciously stripped!
There were places where he invited other
comments. There were none.
“So it seems,” CEO laughed, alone on the stage,
“that we have a Revolution of One!”
The audience around Ernst joined the laughter
as if their life depended on it.
Then abruptly stopped as the CEO hissed:
“And in this time of serverest danger to
The Nation!”
Ernst’s test then was not to look ashamed.
Not a hint! as he finished strongly to
vast, vast silence. Can silence groan?
When he was alone in his cubicle, with
just the guard helping him gather his
things, individuals dropped by to tell him
why they couldn’t risk...etc etc.
Only Broadwell told the truth. “I didn’t help
because I'm a coward. I watched that
squealing little pisser berate you and
did nothing!”
The guard informed the crying man: “Enough!”
One woman allowed in, and she imparted
that all the women thought of it as just
another male folly.
Ernst went to his car escorted by the
guard carrying the box.
A bicycle stood there, a long legal notice
taped thereon.
The guard helped him secure the box to the
handlebars with the tape, and Ernst shoved
the notice down his shirt.
The bike proved to have an eccentric front
wheel, delighting everyone in the town
who saw him. Most waved.
Labels: Capitalism, CEO, employee meeting, firing, rebellion, stacked deck, vacation, wages, workers' rights, workplace
