The story is so familiar I hardly need to repeat it. I’m talking about layoffs of course and today it was my companies turn. It started this morning, rumors started right away and by lunch it was clear what was going on – our company had been purchased by a competitor, and they were liquidating half the staff by sundown. Anyone judged to be redundant was gone. Practically our whole building was being fired.
We all want to think we’re unique, but I don’t kid myself, ultimately I’m identical to the scores of claims adjusters in cubes all around me. Shoot, I am a good deal worse than many. I am a 24-year-old college dropout with no skills and a painfully shy personality. Thin, small, frail, and leveraged out my ass in credit card debt and car payments, if I was lucky, I’d get a job in fast food, if not I’d end up on the street. My girlfriend would dump me for sure.
“Alex . . . Alex!” I looked up. I was Tracy, the ditsy but sweet secretary. She had tears in her eyes, and her normally flawless attire appeared a bit rumpled. “Anderson wants to talk to you now.” She said and burst into tears. I could still hear her sobbing as I walked down the long hall to my boss’s office.
“Alex, take a seat.” Mr. Anderson said. He was a large man and his frame blocked the light from the window behind him.
“You obviously know why you’re here today. You’re not a total idiot, that’s one of the things I like about you.” He paused for dramatic effect. “We’re firing people today of course. Whole bunches of people, entire branches are being systematically shown the door.” I couldn’t understand why he was drawing it out like this. He continued, “Of course, one of the things I like about my job is that I possess a great deal of discretion in my actions.”
He rose from behind his desk walked around until he was in front of me. He leaned back against the desk and I noticed that he placed one foot on each side of my legs. Sitting in my chair like that, his crotch was directly at eye level. I could see the bulge in his pants and how it stretched against his zipper. I felt ashamed that I noticed. I looked away from it for a moment, but was afraid of being disrespectful. I tried looking up at Anderson, my eyes wide and pleading, but I couldn’t hold his steely gaze. Ultimately I dropped my head and, afraid to close my eyes entirely, stared at the bulge, massive and masculine. He was talking, but I couldn’t hear him, all I could think about was that bulge, how big it was and how small it would make me look in comparison. I was thankful I wasn’t standing, as my penis is barely visible in the front of my pants. It was shameful to be fired, and even more so by a man so much larger than me – in every sense of the word.
“You don’t mind if I stretch a little do you Alex?” he said. I meant to mutter an “nuh uh”, but nothing came out of my mouth. He was looking down at me with his cruel, masculine handsome face. Having him this near with his legs positioned in that way underscored how tiny and frail I was compared to him. To my amazement he dropped his hand to his bulge and started to rearrange his big cock through the fabric of his chinos right before my eyes. I passed it off to locker room rules, the kind of thing confident fraternity boys to mark their territory.
“My discretion allows me to pick and choose who I want to fire, and who I want to spare. You know I could fire you right now, and you couldn’t do a thing about it. Practically the whole building is being laid off; no one would believe you were fired for any other reason. Complaints would be interpreted as sour grapes. Isn’t that right Alex?” My heart leaped, I felt hope for the first time that day, maybe I wasn’t going to be fired. I tilted my head up and looked at Mr. Anderson’s face for the first time, blinking my eyelashes slightly in an unconscious effort to please him.