Others have noted that the volume of posts and responses on this board have dropped precipitously, particularly since the latest ESP round. Some have speculated that those who left are perhaps just ready to move on, or may still be too shell-shocked to do anything right now. In reality, this is, for the most part, not the case. You see, things have gone quiet because all those people who just left signed nondisclosure agreements to secure their severance packages, many of which are very significant and very necessary to their futures, and they are not making a sound until they get paid. However, what do you think is gonna happen once those checks clear? Well boys and girls, then it will be a different story. A very different story.
(Btw, for those of you reading this who may be interested sideline observers that heard about this site through the industry or from others, be sure to tune back in sometime over the next few weeks. In advance, you're welcome.)
You see, while some of the recently departed truly are shell-shocked, most have been far better prepared for it, given the events of the past year. They knew it was coming, and, like squirrels in the fall, they have been quietly collecting large stashes of nuts in notebooks, logs, and personal drives. Just think about all those levels of access you granted them over the years. How diligent do you really think IT has been about following up on old network permission lists? Really. And, what about those wizened, trusted TAs in your departments that you gave full access to your company email and files all those years, so you could have time to focus on “more important” work? Did they have access to your SAP Mgr’s Toolbox? All those old PASA and PD files? All those old draft budget spreadsheets, including the “dark” ones? Do your really think they were immune to gossip? Never shared any of the dirt with the girls over a few glasses of wine in the evenings or on the weekend? For that matter, what about those nights out with staff at company functions that you can’t really remember, because you woke up in a strange hotel room and forgot where you were? How much did you really share (or brag about) with your “close” subordinates all those evenings before? How much did you really say? And what about all the pillow talk with those cute horizons engineers, department secretaries or young TAs over the years? Remember them? They were so impressed with your tales of all the exotic places you’d been in your career, and how powerful and well connected you were. They were a lot of fun weren’t they? The thinning hair didn’t look so grey, the belly so droopy or the skin so wrinkled in the hotel bathroom mirror the next morning, did it? What promises did you make to them? Where are they today? Did any of them head out the door recently?
Are any of you old enough to remember the City Services scandal? If so, you would have been either much earlier in your career or heard about it later from others. Either way, you weren’t yet on the radar when that went down, so you thought you learned from it. You thought, “That will never happen to me. I’ll never go down like that.” Do you really think less information is collected and available today on your activities than it was 40 years ago? What about all those deleted emails, files, and photos/videos about pipelines that “never leaked”, fires that were “caused by lightning”, and injuries that occurred “off the job”? Are you sure about who you shared those with? Do you really think they stayed deleted? Does anything, really?
Think about it. Once that small trickle slowly builds to a deluge of dimes dropping out of sky, like spring storms in Houston, it will all start coming out. All of it. The illicit affairs, the kickbacks, and much, much worse. Never mind ruined marriages, how about the really juicy, salacious stuff that will make not just local, but national news? Think about it. You learned well in those management courses and you’ve focused on keeping all that out of your head so you won’t make a Freudian slip, but you still remember it, don’t you? You know what I’m talking about. The gumbo mud that you can’t wash off. The zigs and zags of yesteryear that were so cool and easy back then, but will send you to prison and shatter the lives of those around you today. Think about it. How many loose threads did you leave behind? How many more could still be lurking there that you never even knew about?
Think about it. Think about it tonight when you are lying in bed with your spouse. Does he or she know? Do your kids know? Think about how they will feel, what they will think when it all comes out. Think about how your parents will feel. They were always so proud of your beautiful family and successful career, weren’t they? Think about what your extended family, friends, and neighbors will think? Think about what your kids’ friends at school will think, especially when your kids have to transfer because your spouse can no longer afford the mortgage on your 6,000 sq ft home up in The Woodlands or on Bollinger Canyon Road, and they all have to go live with Grandma, or some small town closer to your point of incarceration.
Think about it when you wake up tomorrow morning. Think about it when your spouse makes that same little annoying comment that really gets on your nerves when you are getting dressed. Have you ever said anything to him or her about it? Think about it when you snap at your kids over breakfast. Have you ever really disciplined them, or have you simply caved in to whatever they wanted over the years?
Think about it when you are looking out the window of the bus or the car on the way to the office. Think about it as you pass those run down neighborhoods close to the freeway, with the old wood frame houses and shotgun shacks. Have you ever actually known anyone who lived in those neighborhoods? Known their families? Have you ever thought of yourself living there after 15 years and an early release for good behavior, because that neighborhood is where your assigned halfway house is?
Think about it when you are in meetings tomorrow at the office; during those really boring parts where you drift off for a bit. Think about it later in the day, when you are alone at your desk, staring out the window at a cold, grey, leaden sky.
You see, despite what others have written on this board, Karma is not a bitch, nor is it even a conscious entity. It is neither “good”, nor “bad”. It simply is, and it is very real. It’s just as real as the courts, lawyers, divorce, alimony, child support, bankruptcy, and prison.
Oh, yes. Hell is coming.
Think about it…