so this morning the controller asks to speak with me in her office. then i have to sit & wait minutes, intestines clenched, reviewing every gesture & facial expression i'd seen this morning for some clue as to my future (but all the while feeling pretty damn secure for a person in that position, after all, i've survived whole companies falling apart around me since being here, other people may go, but i stay).  so then she comes in and she says, so we're going to change some things around ... let some people go ...

 

and would i mind answering the phones and 'doing whatever they need me to do'? 'of course', i reply, 'whatever you need me to do, i'm there'.  because you know what? i am. i am always here. like, every day, an hour or more before the rest of everyone gets here.  i do not email in sick, i do not catch headaches or food poisoning on friday afternoons (though there are those who do), i just show up, day after day, and do what i'm asked. 

 

so i'm not an underpaid computer programmer, i'm an overpaid secretary. who also programs the website, but hey. other people will be going, but i am staying.