08-08-2020, 07:51 AM
August 7th
Tacuitapa
Tlocacihe smiled as she bent down to tie Metili's shoes. "You really need to learn to tie them yourself," she chided her son gently. The boy laughed and ran off to play with his sister, Apalin, as his mother sighed. She stood up and began tidying up the living room; her two children had the tendency to rampage through the house like miniature tornadoes.
The sound of the door opening caused Tlocacihe to look up; her husband, Catoqui, had just walked in. He dropped his briefcase on the floor, and absentmindedly turned to hang his suit jacket on the coatrack. He missed, and the jacket fell on the floor. Catoqui didn't even notice; he walked to a nearby armchair and fell into it.
"Hard day at work today, hon?" Tlocacihe said, then noticed the drained look on his face. "Catoqui....what's wrong?"
"They laid me off," Catoqui said tonelessly. Tlocacihe paused; surely he was joking. Catoqui worked in a management position at Mizhua Corporation, one of the mammoth Xiomeran corporate juggernauts that was considered a five-star employer. Mizhua never laid anyone off. As Tlocacihe continued to stare, Catoqui shook his head. "Eighteen years I've worked for them, and they dropped this on me today without any warning. No severance, no money, nothing. They said they'd pay my last paycheck today, and that I could take a loan off my investment plan, not that the investment plan is worth anything right now thanks to the stock market tanking. They said they would call me back to work 'when the economy gets better'. Who are they kidding? It's not going to get any better, not anytime soon. Not when half the damn nations in the world have slapped sanctions on us....." Catoqui's voice trailed off for a moment. "We still have our savings, but that won't last forever...."
"What are we going to do?" Tlocacihe asked, her voice hollow.
"I don't know!" Catoqui shouted, then shook his head again at the look of shock on his wife's face. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to yell...I just..."
"Kids, go play outside now, please," Tlocacihe said in a soft but firm tone. Metili and Apalin ran outside, closing the door, as Tlocacihe sat on the couch near her husband. After a moment, Catoqui sighed. "They're laying off thousands of people. Factory workers, managers, across the board cuts. Mizhua isn't the only company doing it, I've heard from dozens of friends already. Lohuā Licā, Coltec, Imperial Petroleum, Zacuetz, Coycē, Zalta, Cala Computer....they're calling it the Friday Massacre already on the 'net. Thousands of people being laid off, or just outright fired. I don't understand....This is Xiomera. This sort of thing doesn't happen here," Catoqui said in a bewildered tone.
"I guess it does, now," Tlocacihe said, shaking her own head. "But we'll get through this somehow. We have to, there's no other choice really."
"I'm supposed to take care of my family. I've failed," Catoqui said, staring at the wall.
"I don't think you're the one that's failed, here," Tlocacihe replied, placing her hand on her husband's arm. After a moment, he looked at her and nodded.
---
Saclamantón
"This is bullshit!" Antlitel shouted.
Along with dozens of her fellow factory workers, Antlitel stared angrily at the Lohuā Licā foreman in front of her. Two of the three shifts that normally worked at the Saclamantón paper products plant had just been "indefinitely furloughed" - no severance, no further pay beyond their last paycheck.
Those workers were now outside the main entrance to the plant, where the besieged foreman had just delivered the news to the workers. The foreman, Tema, sighed. "I don't like this either, Antlitel, but it's a business decision. There simply isn't enough demand right now for us to keep everyone working. We'll bring everyone back once the economy rebounds. This is just a temporary situation," he pleaded.
"Temporary. Are my bills just temporary also? Is my rent temporary? How about my utility bills, or the pesky need that my wife and kids and I have for food, is that temporary? How the hell are we supposed to pay our bills and feed our families until Lohuā Licā decides they can afford to have us work again?" Antlitel shouted, shaking her fist at Tema. The workers behind her began shouting as well, echoing her concerns.
Inside the plant, the plant manager, Acinchenepa, hastily picked up a phone in her office as she looked out the window at the crowd of workers on the ground below.
In a few moments, a large group of Lohuā Licā security exited the plant, standing behind Tema in a line. "Look, Antlitel, I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can tell you right now. Just go home, please, and wait to hear from us. Don't do anything dumb that will get you permanently fired, or worse."
Eyeing the security guards lined up in front of the plant, Antlitel and the laid-off workers were clearly assessing their odds. After an extremely tense moment, Antlitel turned to leave, the other workers following her. She stopped at the gate out of the complex, turning to look at Tema. "This isn't over. We're not done with you - or with this company," Antlitel said grimly as she walked out with the other workers. Tema sighed, wiping his brow, after they left. "Make sure there are guards 24-7 around the fence," he said quietly to the security team leader.
---
XBA headquarters
Tlālacuetztla
"So, it's done," Pa'zi said, sipping an expensive imported beer as he leaned back in his chair. "As we expected, the layoffs and terminations are not playing well, at least among those laid off or terminated. But with these measures, we should be able to ride out the economic disruption we're experiencing currently, with our companies' futures intact." The CEO of Imperial Petroleum shook his head. "It needed to be done."
Cuitōnzitl, the CEO of Tinal Mining, nodded in agreement. "There will be some complaining, no doubt. But if we didn't take these measures, there might not be any companies left to hire these people once this mess all blows over. I do hope these workers understand that keeping them on until we went bankrupt would have done no one any good in the end."
"Indeed," Cuālincōcatle, the CEO of Coatōn Corporation, said before taking a puff on his cigar. "Damn all of the bleeding heart do-gooder foreigners interfering in our business. The Eirians, the Legionites, the Laeralites, all of them. Their damned economic interference is the reason for all of this," Cuālincōcatle grumbled.
"I am concerned that we may not accurately be assessing the domestic anger these layoffs and terminations may cause," Xocolcōza said. "I tend to monitor social media and the 'net a bit more closely than you all do. Even with the attempts by the government to spin this situation and censor discussion of it, there are a lot of people that are very upset about this situation."
"So?" Matlate, the CEO of self-monikered Matlate Technicar, took a sip of wine and smiled. "I look at the interwebs just as much as you, Xocolcōza, and anyone with the time to go online and complain won't bother to do anything except rant and shout on Happytime Online before cleaning up the basement room they have in their mom's house. Who cares if they're upset? They can do like I did, and start their own companies if they're so worked up."
"I would not discount what Xocolcōza is saying so quickly." Manopantin, the Chairman of X3 Network looked at everyone. "I am seeing the same rumblings about all of this as Xocolcōza is. We cannot discount public anger. We have to manage this situation."
Atzical, the CEO of Lohuā Licā Companies, nodded. "And so we shall. But we did what we have to do. If it's sink or swim, I would much rather swim than sink. And by jettisoning the deadweight....it was necessary," he said with a nod of finality and took another drink from his glass. "All I know is....we bet on Xochiuhue to make this all work. He had better fix this situation, and soon. But for now, we must survive as best we can."
The leaders of the Xiomeran business community nodded in agreement. The motto of the XBA was Our prosperity is your prosperity. It didn't say Your suffering is our suffering.
Tacuitapa
Tlocacihe smiled as she bent down to tie Metili's shoes. "You really need to learn to tie them yourself," she chided her son gently. The boy laughed and ran off to play with his sister, Apalin, as his mother sighed. She stood up and began tidying up the living room; her two children had the tendency to rampage through the house like miniature tornadoes.
The sound of the door opening caused Tlocacihe to look up; her husband, Catoqui, had just walked in. He dropped his briefcase on the floor, and absentmindedly turned to hang his suit jacket on the coatrack. He missed, and the jacket fell on the floor. Catoqui didn't even notice; he walked to a nearby armchair and fell into it.
"Hard day at work today, hon?" Tlocacihe said, then noticed the drained look on his face. "Catoqui....what's wrong?"
"They laid me off," Catoqui said tonelessly. Tlocacihe paused; surely he was joking. Catoqui worked in a management position at Mizhua Corporation, one of the mammoth Xiomeran corporate juggernauts that was considered a five-star employer. Mizhua never laid anyone off. As Tlocacihe continued to stare, Catoqui shook his head. "Eighteen years I've worked for them, and they dropped this on me today without any warning. No severance, no money, nothing. They said they'd pay my last paycheck today, and that I could take a loan off my investment plan, not that the investment plan is worth anything right now thanks to the stock market tanking. They said they would call me back to work 'when the economy gets better'. Who are they kidding? It's not going to get any better, not anytime soon. Not when half the damn nations in the world have slapped sanctions on us....." Catoqui's voice trailed off for a moment. "We still have our savings, but that won't last forever...."
"What are we going to do?" Tlocacihe asked, her voice hollow.
"I don't know!" Catoqui shouted, then shook his head again at the look of shock on his wife's face. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to yell...I just..."
"Kids, go play outside now, please," Tlocacihe said in a soft but firm tone. Metili and Apalin ran outside, closing the door, as Tlocacihe sat on the couch near her husband. After a moment, Catoqui sighed. "They're laying off thousands of people. Factory workers, managers, across the board cuts. Mizhua isn't the only company doing it, I've heard from dozens of friends already. Lohuā Licā, Coltec, Imperial Petroleum, Zacuetz, Coycē, Zalta, Cala Computer....they're calling it the Friday Massacre already on the 'net. Thousands of people being laid off, or just outright fired. I don't understand....This is Xiomera. This sort of thing doesn't happen here," Catoqui said in a bewildered tone.
"I guess it does, now," Tlocacihe said, shaking her own head. "But we'll get through this somehow. We have to, there's no other choice really."
"I'm supposed to take care of my family. I've failed," Catoqui said, staring at the wall.
"I don't think you're the one that's failed, here," Tlocacihe replied, placing her hand on her husband's arm. After a moment, he looked at her and nodded.
---
Saclamantón
"This is bullshit!" Antlitel shouted.
Along with dozens of her fellow factory workers, Antlitel stared angrily at the Lohuā Licā foreman in front of her. Two of the three shifts that normally worked at the Saclamantón paper products plant had just been "indefinitely furloughed" - no severance, no further pay beyond their last paycheck.
Those workers were now outside the main entrance to the plant, where the besieged foreman had just delivered the news to the workers. The foreman, Tema, sighed. "I don't like this either, Antlitel, but it's a business decision. There simply isn't enough demand right now for us to keep everyone working. We'll bring everyone back once the economy rebounds. This is just a temporary situation," he pleaded.
"Temporary. Are my bills just temporary also? Is my rent temporary? How about my utility bills, or the pesky need that my wife and kids and I have for food, is that temporary? How the hell are we supposed to pay our bills and feed our families until Lohuā Licā decides they can afford to have us work again?" Antlitel shouted, shaking her fist at Tema. The workers behind her began shouting as well, echoing her concerns.
Inside the plant, the plant manager, Acinchenepa, hastily picked up a phone in her office as she looked out the window at the crowd of workers on the ground below.
In a few moments, a large group of Lohuā Licā security exited the plant, standing behind Tema in a line. "Look, Antlitel, I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can tell you right now. Just go home, please, and wait to hear from us. Don't do anything dumb that will get you permanently fired, or worse."
Eyeing the security guards lined up in front of the plant, Antlitel and the laid-off workers were clearly assessing their odds. After an extremely tense moment, Antlitel turned to leave, the other workers following her. She stopped at the gate out of the complex, turning to look at Tema. "This isn't over. We're not done with you - or with this company," Antlitel said grimly as she walked out with the other workers. Tema sighed, wiping his brow, after they left. "Make sure there are guards 24-7 around the fence," he said quietly to the security team leader.
---
XBA headquarters
Tlālacuetztla
"So, it's done," Pa'zi said, sipping an expensive imported beer as he leaned back in his chair. "As we expected, the layoffs and terminations are not playing well, at least among those laid off or terminated. But with these measures, we should be able to ride out the economic disruption we're experiencing currently, with our companies' futures intact." The CEO of Imperial Petroleum shook his head. "It needed to be done."
Cuitōnzitl, the CEO of Tinal Mining, nodded in agreement. "There will be some complaining, no doubt. But if we didn't take these measures, there might not be any companies left to hire these people once this mess all blows over. I do hope these workers understand that keeping them on until we went bankrupt would have done no one any good in the end."
"Indeed," Cuālincōcatle, the CEO of Coatōn Corporation, said before taking a puff on his cigar. "Damn all of the bleeding heart do-gooder foreigners interfering in our business. The Eirians, the Legionites, the Laeralites, all of them. Their damned economic interference is the reason for all of this," Cuālincōcatle grumbled.
"I am concerned that we may not accurately be assessing the domestic anger these layoffs and terminations may cause," Xocolcōza said. "I tend to monitor social media and the 'net a bit more closely than you all do. Even with the attempts by the government to spin this situation and censor discussion of it, there are a lot of people that are very upset about this situation."
"So?" Matlate, the CEO of self-monikered Matlate Technicar, took a sip of wine and smiled. "I look at the interwebs just as much as you, Xocolcōza, and anyone with the time to go online and complain won't bother to do anything except rant and shout on Happytime Online before cleaning up the basement room they have in their mom's house. Who cares if they're upset? They can do like I did, and start their own companies if they're so worked up."
"I would not discount what Xocolcōza is saying so quickly." Manopantin, the Chairman of X3 Network looked at everyone. "I am seeing the same rumblings about all of this as Xocolcōza is. We cannot discount public anger. We have to manage this situation."
Atzical, the CEO of Lohuā Licā Companies, nodded. "And so we shall. But we did what we have to do. If it's sink or swim, I would much rather swim than sink. And by jettisoning the deadweight....it was necessary," he said with a nod of finality and took another drink from his glass. "All I know is....we bet on Xochiuhue to make this all work. He had better fix this situation, and soon. But for now, we must survive as best we can."
The leaders of the Xiomeran business community nodded in agreement. The motto of the XBA was Our prosperity is your prosperity. It didn't say Your suffering is our suffering.
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