You walk into your Boss' office. He is standing behind his renowned oak desk with his arms crossed and a perfectly impassive face. "Hi, I'm Brittany, I'm the Human Resources manager", says a lady you hadn't noticed was sitting in the corner. She gets up, shakes your hand and passes you a bunch of paperwork. She keeps talking, but it turns to white noise as soon as you've regained eye contact with your Boss.

Your stomach sinks.

It can't end like this. You have a mortgage, two kids in elementary school and your wife left her job to start her own cookie-baking company after you encouraged her to chase her dreams. But that was two months ago, when you'd been freshly promoted.

You hear Brittany's voice again: "the corporate behavioural polict extends to all work functions and any incident or series of behaviours stemming from that function."

You notice your boss's jaw clenching and unclenching. He once believed in you. He gave you so many oportunites and much needed encouragement. You look to the carpet and keep your eyes fixed there. It was the Sambuca. God, as soon as it was over, you knew you'd fucked your life. You knelt there, with both hands on the toilet bowl and a black stream of acidic bile spewing from your mouth. From the bedroom you could hear your Boss' daughter laughing and calling for the next man. When you arrived home, you collapsed on the front porch and offered no explanation when Lisa found you and helped you inside. God, would she find out?

The meeting ends and you pretend to understand. Brittany hands you a pamphlet. It's titled, "Moving On And Letting Go - Career Opportunities When Change Occurs."

Your Boss finally speaks. "Before you go Sam. I want you to know. Every other executice wanted you to stay. They argued for leniency, maybe a temporary stay of higher duties. But I fought hard for this result. You were gonna be someone. Now, I hope I see you making my coffee at Starbucks or cleaning my god damned windshield at the traffic lights."

You nod dumbly and walk out of the office.

You stare at the line of seven other men standing against the wall. They look to you for some amswers, but you just shake your head.

---

Does that give you the visuals of being fired that you were after?