Soundlessness

(This from 2007, just after being laid off from another job. That company soon went out of business. Similar things happened throughout my career.)

Sitting in the morning sun, sipping coffee, with nowhere to go and no one to meet. From an extremely busy schedule peppered with meetings to the long, slow silence of aloneness. All the little daily pleasantries of working in an office have vanished. You make your own coffee and there’s one to talk to at the water cooler.

Come to think of it, you don’t even have a water cooler. Or a copy machine, a Fax, long-distance telephone service or snacks. There is no Odwalla machine, no fresh bagels this Thursday morning. One irritation is you handled all your appointments via the company’s shared e-calendar system, the kind that allows others to see when you are free to meet and when you are booked.

Since leaving a company in this era means losing all access privileges, you’ve lost access to your own calendar! You cannot remember what is happening when or where. Was that board meeting for your non-profit this week or next? Was that lunch with a friend tomorrow or next month?

Disoriented, you go about your new daily rituals: Waking up long before dawn and fretting. Sending out mass emails, letting contacts know you are newly “available.” Moving the car that you used to commute in from one side of the street to the other in order to avoid getting a parking ticket.

You’ve been “redistributed.” Remaindered, de-activated, decommissioned, rendered redundant and eliminated. You’re back to being just a guy without a business card.

It’s funny how close you grow with the people you work with in offices. In the days following a layoff or a company shutdown, your first impulse is to try and continue to connect with the people who were such a vital part of your daily life for so long.

But just like after any breakup, you’ve got to realize they are gone now. They’re all gone.

It’s the first warm day since my change in status. I think I’ll go to the beach and search for some seaglass.

NEWSLINKS:

• Trump joins conspiracists stoking doubts about Pelosi attack (Politico)

• History of threats against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: 'It's here; we shouldn't be surprised' (USA Today)

• Accused Pelosi attacker’s history shows blurry lines of radicalization (WP)

• Musk boosts surge in misinformation about Pelosi attack (AP)

• Fog of disinformation spreads after Pelosi attack (Politico)

• Republican Election Prospects Rise as Inflation Overshadows Abortion, WSJ Poll Finds (WSJ)

• Republicans up to 50-50 in Senate battle. (538)

• In a blistering editorial, The Denver Post's editorial board urged voters to reject far-right Trump loyalist Rep. Lauren Boebert. Boebert “has spent her time and efforts contributing to the toxic political environment in this nation,” the paper wrote. [HuffPost]

• A member of the far-right Oath Keepers group who took part in the attack on the Capitol in January 2021 compared it to the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison in the French Revolution, and said he hoped to "disrupt Congress" from certifying Biden's election victory. (Reuters)

• Supreme Court clears way for Sen. Graham to testify in Ga. election probe (WP)

• ‘Greed and cheating’: Prosecutor outlines tax fraud allegations against Trump Organization (NBC)

• Jewish leaders call on GOP candidates to reject antisemitic comments (WP)

• Supreme Court Seems Ready to Throw Out Race-Based College Admissions (NYT)

• Ukrainians grapple with power outages as winter approaches (AP)

• Russia ordered civilians to leave a sliver of Ukraine along the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, a major extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to the forced depopulation of occupied territory.(Reuters)

• Russia recruiting U.S.-trained Afghan commandos, vets say (AP)

• Ukrainians line up for water as Russian strikes target infrastructure (USA Today)

• Russian Missiles Deliver New Woe to Kyiv, Knocking Out Tap Water (NYT)

• Saudi Arabia, U.S. on High Alert After Warning of Imminent Iranian Attack (WSJ)

• Bolsonaro supporters block Brazil roads for a 2nd day as president refuses to accept election loss (CBS)

• Brazil’s next president has promised to protect the Amazon. Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, who was elected Sunday, could have a big impact on the fight against climate change. (WP)

• Back to the Past: How Taliban Rule Has Wiped Out Afghanistan’s Gains and Provided Haven for Terrorists (HistoryUS)

• Opium production increases 32% in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, U.N. report says (CBS)

• Aging Infrastructure May Create Higher Flood Risk in L.A., Study Finds (NYT)

• Antibody treatment tested as new tool against malaria (AP)

• ‘Planet killer’ asteroid spotted hiding in the sun’s glare (CNN)

• Martin Luther King Jr. paid the bill for Julia Roberts' birth. Here's the backstory (NPR)

• Julie Powell, food writer behind ‘Julie & Julia,’ dies at 49 (WP)

• How Old Is Too Old in Politics? (Atlantic)