Reduction in Force

By Steve Soult

A heartless corporate layoff leaves Gil Schaffer emotionally shattered. A revolutionary memory erasure procedure may be his only hope for salvation, but the price could be greater than he bargained for.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Water Dragon Publishing
• Release date: Apr 19, 2021
• ISBN: 9781953469342

Steve Soult

Steve Soult graduated with a BS EE degree from the University of Santa Clara. He then went to the Navy’s OCS in Newport, Rhode Island and was commissioned as a US Naval Officer. During the Vietnam War, he was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Base. After his release from active duty, he attended the University of California at Berkeley on the GI Bill, earned an MS EECS degree, and was hired by IBM in San Jose.While at IBM, Steve received an Outstanding Technical Achievement Award and had an article published in the IBM Journal of Research and Development. IBM also paid the tuition for his MBA degree in Management from the University of Santa Clara. IBM began to downsize its operations in Silicon Valley after Steve had worked there for over 17 years. After surviving several rounds of layoffs, he decided to leave IBM and join Abbott Laboratories.Steve retired from Abbott Laboratories to pursue his lifelong interests in art, photography, and writing full time. He has three grown children who are all employed as engineers in Silicon Valley. He lives in Morgan Hill with his wife of 36 years, Susanne, and his dog, Snowy.Reviews (0)

Book preview

Reduction in Force

Steve Soult

copyright © 2021 by Steve Soult

Originally published in 2019

in Corporate Catharsis

by Paper Angel Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, except for the purpose of review and/or reference, without explicit permission in writing from the publisher.

Cover design copyright © 2020 by Niki Lenhart

nikilen-designs.com

Published by Water Dragon Publishing

waterdragonpublishing.com

ISBN 978-1-953469-34-2 (EPUB)

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Reduction in Force

Gil returned to his cubicle after getting his morning cup of coffee. Just as he started working on a high-priority mechanical design issue, his phone rang. It was his boss. He picked it up and answered, Hi Skipp. What’s up?

Gil, please come to my office. I must speak to you about something quite important.

I’ll be right there. He hung up the phone and thought, This is not good. A call from the boss on Friday usually means working through the weekend.

He sighed, got up from his chair, and left his cubicle. It only took him about a minute to get to Skipp’s office.

When Gil reached his glass-walled office, Skipp waved for him to come inside. When Gil stepped inside, he said, Please close the door, Gil.

Gil closed the door and sat down in front of Skipp’s desk. There was a blue folder in the center of the desk and a white piece of paper sitting next to it. His name, Gilbert Schaffer, was on the cover. A tight knot formed in Gil’s stomach.

Skipp avoided direct eye contact with him. He nervously touched the folder with his hand. Well, Gil, I suppose that I should cut to the chase here. As you know, our division has not met its goals for the past two quarters. Therefore, the Company has decided to cut our division’s headcount by 10%. As a result of this decision, our department has been affected.

Gil’s stomach cramped and he felt nauseous. He took a couple of deep breaths and asked, So — am I one of the ones affected?

Yes, I’m afraid that you are.

Gil began to perspire. Why? I have met all of our major project milestones and have had excellent appraisals. Our Mechanical Engineering design team received an award for excellence last year. It doesn’t seem to me that I would be a candidate for a layoff.

I understand that, and realize that you have been an excellent engineer. Skipp sighed and lightly drummed his fingers on his desk. However, there were other factors involved in the Company’s decision.

Gil pulled his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. His hand was shaking. Um … what other factors?

"Well, an important factor in the Company’s decision is that it will be much less expensive to use a modern state-of-the-art AI system for our mechanical designs. This system will eliminate the need for