Shake Hands with the Unemployed!

The company my husband worked for was sold a while back and he was let go. Finding work has kind of sucked, but we are plugging away at it. Most of the guys who worked for this company are good friends and only a few still remain employed with the new owners. The new owners are quickly running what's left of the business into the ground as they were too stupid to keep the guys who actually know how to sell and build pools. Instead they brought in a few of their own guys with no pool experience, but who apparently know something about kissing hineys! The only people left who know how to do their jobs are 3 friends who each run a tiny office in other towns.

Anyway...one of the friends, who actually knows what he is doing, is running a small office in Bullhead City, barely hanging on to his job. He called my husband last night to tell him of a recent conversation with the new owners. It went something like this:

Friend: Dude, you cannot believe what Don and Martin just did.

Hubby: What, did they let you go?

Friend: No, they called to let me know I needed to cut back.

Hubby: Cut back what? It's just you there, by yourself. Right? No sales guys, no receptionist?

Friend: That's what I said! 'Guys, it's me! I am the Bullhead office! There is no one to let go, there is no place to cut back! It's me!'

Hubby: What did they say?

Friend: Nothing...it was silent for like a minute. Then I told them I supposed I could fire the Fax Machine. I said he wasn't doin' much anyway, plus he was low on toner, so what the hell. I would let him know he was done at the end of the week.

Hubby: You said that? What did they do?

Friend: I thought they would laugh...they said they'd get back to me on where to make cuts. I figured I'd go for broke, I'm probably on my way out now anyway, so I told them the Fax Machine wanted to know if there would be a severance package. (Laughing his butt off!) I told them he would need that in advance so he could pick up some toner to fax them over a copy of the signed agreement. (Barely able to talk now, laughing so hard, can't breathe!)

Hubby: (Rolling on floor, laughing like a girl!) Dude! You are so fired! Call me when you find out when your last day is! (Hangs up, turns to me...) "you so have to put this on your blog thingy!"

Me: I guess this is how out-of-work pool guys bond.

UPDATE!!! - Wednesday 7/30: Mike got let go yesterday...they told him they didn't think he was taking them seriously! He told them it was hard to take them seriously when they were so oblivious to the fact that the company is in the crapper. When they finalized everything he asked what was gonna happen to the Fax Machine. They told him to get the hell out of their office. Mike is now going to start school to be a dentist.