This is a true story.
Gary was the Manager and always there for his staff, taking care of them. He would even take an inside office to give his staff an outside view. Gary was always the calm one, so busy this time, working probably ten hours each day as he had been given responsibility for both production and capital accounting. Since the other manager was on leave, Gary was left holding the bag, but he always found time for me. You could always count on him. He had more wrinkles now, but still so approachable, and I suppose in some ways he hopefully reminded me of my better self.
Then there was Heather, the face of the client, always there, Daisy the funny lady, Debbie the blonde, then the new one, little Lisa, such a sweet young lass with the whitest of smiles. Heather and Daisy have probably been with Gary for over fifteen years, and their work became their life. Gary's office was at the other end of the floor now and Heather said she never sees him anymore as he was just so busy, but he's still her boss and always will be. I was on my fifth systems audit with this client over the past seven years, and they have always been there.
All I needed to do was show up in the hallway and the group stopped working, even Lisa. Maybe it had to do with my colorful shirt and tie. Time to say something, now that I have their attention:
“Daisy! We are not color coordinated! I thought you said to wear orange and green today, rather strange request, but well I have green on, but look at you, black and professional! We do not match! Lisa, what are you smiling at! Heather, be nice now, I'm coming to see you later! Debbie, what do you think about this Daisy lady, eh, I don't know if I trust her anymore. Maybe I need to audit her some more! Say Lisa, I just need a favor of you. One more screenshot...”
Life was good and they seemed fine with me being there to give them a change from normal routine. They were very procedure driven and just wanted stability and put in their hours in the work place.
The time had come, since the company was going through tough times financially. HR and Security hit IT first, kind of hard and fast...the middle aged, the physically challenged, and the opinionated... all fired! (Or laid off if you prefer). Now what will this do to my audit? The next day, I was on the phone trying to sort things out when I noticed the whole Internal Audit group being escorted out the door by security with their personal stuff in hand! The whole department! Hey, wait a minute, I report to Internal Audit! You cannot do this! One guy who I knew just looked at me and I at him through the glass as he walked by on his way out with the security guard, never to be seen again.
I poked my head out of the office and asked a passerby, “Hey, where's Raj?”
“Oh, he is in an Audit Committee Meeting with the Board of Directors and has not found out yet that he has been fired!”
Good grief! His whole department is getting escorted out the door, while he continues to carry on with business in a meeting until he finishes! Raj gave me the most beautiful office with my own name tag on the wall; an external auditor with his own private space!
Raj came back from his meeting later, and he had heard by then, and he reminded me that he had nothing to do anyways as his work had already been assigned to PWC. But it still hurt and he was just getting over his father's passing. Nothing like getting punched when you are down and out. The timing was not good from a job perspective either as there is nothing out there. Then I told him my story about Susan whom I was to meet at 9:30, but she never gave me her room number. So, I emailed her kiddingly to say I hope she was still there, but she never responded! I knew her from before and thought she was messing with me, but then I found out she was fired five minutes before our meeting time! Oh great! Now who do I talk to about these controls? Raj had no idea.
Then Raj mentioned that Gary was gone!
"GARY!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS COMPANY'S INSANE! He is the only one holding this department together? Omigosh, Heather and Daisy must be so upset!"
Raj agreed, but with a security guard by his side, he had to go and so we said "until next time". He walked away from me, and never looked back. I walked by Gary`s office and it was soooo full of stuff. He took nothing when escorted out and he was not coming back! It is unlikely he will get another job in the oilpatch with the industry slowing down and although younger than me, his career could be toast, but he could be happy with his severance package to hopefully settle into retirement.
I chose to leave Heather et al alone as the group would be grieving, busy sorting out who is their new boss, with adjustments to processes and controls required. The next day I decided to email Heather first and I said so sorry for what happened, just devastating, but I needed to know who the group was reporting to. The network returned my email unsent! Noooo! I ran downstairs to her office and saw her room full of boxes...GONE! I went down the hall...Daisy, GONE! Little Lisa...GONE! Their offices were just as they left them, ready for work, but they were gone! We were so happy together the previous day and now they were gone! I did not even get to say good bye or thank you!
Debbie was out and about, but still there, so I was told. Ginny and I just stared at each other, in shock. It was a war zone and there were few survivors! I did see Heather later as she had come back for more stuff, probably fifteen years worth. It was going to be really tough for her to find work again, same with Daisy, so sad. We melted in each other`s arms to console, the external auditor and client hugging. Now that's a new one! She was quite upset as her work was all she knew. I left her there to pack and returned upstairs, knowing that I would not likely see her ever again.
Back in my area, I was alone and no one around. Who am I to report to? Who knows? Why am I still here? Does anyone know that I am charging my time? Well, there still is the IT Manager in the other building. KPMG, my employer, does not know what's going on as they are too busy elsewhere! How could the company let them go before I finished? Why did I focus so much on client relations, when the client is no longer here? I have a job to do somehow, or will I need to do it all again later? Forget that idea as I am not going through this again, ever!
Those who are left in this area will have to move to the other building. Why is it that people are always leaving me and I am the one turning out the lights, and it always happens when it is getting darker and colder outside? I am the one that should be leaving in two weeks so that they can live happily ever after. They welcomed me, made me comfortable and happy, and now they are all gone! I did resign from full time with KPMG, I suppose, but come to think of it, I am still with them for now (on contract), and so have not really left them yet! The sun is setting on me based on my own terms, but my client as I knew never stood a chance and did not know what was coming.
One day you'll look to see I have gone
For tomorrow may rain, so I'll follow the sun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28d_A_NuJ7A
And now the time has come, and so my love I must go
And though I lose a friend, in the end you'll know
The winner in all of this is a young manager whom the company wants to build the accounting organization around. The problem is he comes across as quite political and "slippery". I seldom got to meet him to ask questions but he did not know anything anyways! There is no way he wanted to manage Gary as he knew too much, let alone Heather. Now that he knows he has his job and his people of choice, he conveniently has gone on an extended ten day vacation just when the layoffs were happening! So instead of being there for his team, reassuring the remaining staff that everything will be fine and calming their fears to build trust, he has completely deserted them! And he expects everyone will greet him upon his return and do things his way!
I was feeling a bit gloom but knew I had to let go. Then it dawned on me that I have my "kids" in IT Support still (Dennis, Andrew, and that Ms. Amy lady) as they just emailed stating they are fine, and they are always so nice! They respect me and listen to my advice, but they laugh when I forget or get confused. Maybe they think I am an old "fuddy duddy," but they always make sure I am comfortable. They will tell me anything I want to know! Do they not know I am auditing them? They must not see me as a threat! I will just have to pester them big time next week! Yeah! I will come with a nice treat though for everything they have done. I will get through this somehow.