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keeping company
Image by buckshot.jones
As much as anything else a business is a social organism. That is why I think the term ‘company’ is so fitting. We build relationships around work and the folks at work keep us company while we go about our business. I think too often that’s what slides on by analysts and economists when they try to explain this massive dislocation in jobs. They talk in terms of jobs added or subtracted during the current month, boiling down all of this action to a few abstract numbers. Numbers may help you keep score, but they cannot provide the narrative and tell the story in meaningful terms.
I look at these shuttered enterprises across this once great city and I can’t help but imagine the scene on the last day work was performed inside the brittle walls. The week likely began with a small crew hanging around to fill the last orders on the books. These orders were filled with the same care as if the business was still a going concern. Pride and love found in the working folks hanging on until the end wouldn’t allow it any other way. On the last day, boxes were packed in a deliberate, day- dreamy manner. Plaques, awards, team photos are held gently as they spark fond memories. Sometime around 3:00 10, 20, 30 years of work are tucked into an old copy paper box. People awkwardly hug while trying to hold onto their boxes. A few tears are shed. Words of reassurance, “it will be alright”, are shared. The light switch is turned off and the door closes for the last time. More than a job was lost.
