Stories of the Street - Thirty one A and B

-- A --

Lunch times sometimes generate a feeling of deep unease in William.

He likes to go out for a walk to ease this feeling and frequently strolls along the street just to have some company and get the buzz from others going up and down the street.

It was lunchtime when he received the letter in the internal mail telling him that he was to be made redundant. The personnel manager apologised for the use of the phrase, saying that no one can be made redundant. Jobs become redundant in the normal course of business development – a sad but necessary part of the modern world – but people are not made redundant. He should never consider himself to be redundant.

But it was his job that they took away from him; his life, really. And they did give it to someone else. They re-named the job and moved its location. The job stayed but he was told to go. No replacement job for him. Twenty years to reach the position and twenty days to leave it. They paid him for his full period of notice, naturally, along with redundancy pay, but they got him out in just four working weeks. It had been the fastest four weeks of his life.

Everything had gone out of control from that point.

They say things like it was like pulling the carpet from under you but it was really much worse. It was a form of free fall. Forget the carpet; they pulled the floor out from under him!

So, lunch times were not good. Instead, he went out looking for something positive – a little thing to help tip the balance back in his favour.

-- B --

Flat 42b – a card with one mouse dropping on the top left hand corner

Appointment for psychological assessment at the Brownwood Clinic.

Patient: Mr Harold …… Assessment with: Dr Z. Krull

Date: 18/…. Time: 2.45pm

Please arrive 15 minutes prior to time of appointment in order to complete a short test and questionnaire.