At the Receiving End.

Prem had been summoned to his senior's office. It was a great day for one of his trainees, Spandana. She had completed her probation period and was expecting confirmation of the same. It was Prem who had picked her from the campus and trained her on the job and she was his pet favorite. She was only twenty four and with many dreams and aspirations. But the Seniors had something else in store for her. The corporates always know to feel the pulse of the economy and not of any individual.

The senior in his fifties had seen the many sides of the economy and exactly knew what he had do in this economy, "Prem, we need to either downsize our manpower or reduce the cost on them. This is the list of employees whose salary should be slashed to 60-80 percent of what they receive now depending on their period of service. They have the option of accepting the same or terminate the contract with two months salary. The same termination clause will not apply to those with less than eight months of service. With more than two years of service are not covered in this list". Prem was devastated to hear this. Prem saw the list and saw the name of Spandana and her salary would be slashed to sixty percent.

Prem, "Why this move, Sir ?" The Senior , "We have to move along with the economy. We can reduce the production and the area of operations. We cannot compromise on quality and the promise of continuity of services to the customers." Prem's mind was thinking of Spandana. 'What about our promise to employees of a great working environment. It was he who had motivated Spandana to join the organization and showed how she can move up the career graph within the organisation. It was he who had shown her the moon.'

The Senior was not the one with emotions as he continued, "We can't cut too much on the finance cost, though we can ask for rearrangements." Prem's mind raced back to Spandana. She had acquired a new Honda Activa only a month back and was learning the same. She has also to make the monthly instalments. The bank will not agree for rearrangements with her.

The Senior continued , "We have plans for future and to secure our future, we need to make this move." Spandana's Plight has fully occupied his mind. Even Spandana had planned for the future. She wanted to save for her marriage which was due in the next year beginning and with salary slashed, can she save what she had planned.

Prem didn't knew how to communicate the same with his junior, Spandana. Luckily she was not in her seat. He just kept the correspondence on her desk. He couldn't communicate the same on her face and he thanked God that she was not in her seat.

Every day, Spandana used to vacate the office with a good bye to all. On that day, Prem didn't get that good bye. Even the next morning, Spandana was not there to wish him good morning.