Ever since the economy “soured,” as the New York Times tends to say, we’ve had many opportunities to hear about countless layoffs, “tough choices,” and vacant glass storefronts. This week, we received two rare and unusually personal and frank stories about corporate comings and goings.
The first actually came from Gizmodo on Feb. 4 in textual form. Gizmodo solicited writings and reflections from Circuit City employees as an independent liquidation firm led the company into shutdown. The folks at This American Life produced a radio version with actual former employees telling their stories.
The second comes from a former employee of the American International Group’s Financial Products division. He sent a copy of his resignation letter to the New York Times, providing an analysis of events the rest of us simply did not catch via the papers or TV news. Check out the readers’ comments for an even more telling counterpoint.
Both stories provide surprising glimpses of personal strength, a healthy dose of good old American bad behavior and some of the shocking ways in which we fail each other.
