Payback For My Cheap Severance

Summary

Thirty-seven bodies were crammed into the glass-walled conference room. Somewhere in the back, someone was quietly wiping away tears.

Greg Stanton, our CEO, was smiling. He leaned back, one ankle crossed over his knee, idly twirling a customized metal pen between his fingers.

"This company has kept a roof over your heads for eight years. I’d say I’ve been more than fair," he said.

The severance package was exactly one month's salary. My share came out to $4,500.

Eight years of my youth, my sweat, and my sleepless nights, reduced to a single, heavily taxed direct deposit.