The jam in Hollow Way was long, slow and loud. There was a bottle of Jonny Walker Black on the floor. Five interested souls communicated with analogue sounds being sent through high powered amplifiers, and the mood was somber.<\/p>\n
One of us, over there in the corner, a coworker by day and cojammer by night, well, was fired from his job earlier in the day. The mail we all received from senior management was terse: “So-and-so is no longer working at <place of business> effective immediately. Replacements are being sought.”<\/em><\/p>\n No further details at that time. But the details did emerge eventually. They came out after subjection a couple hours of high distortion guitar. There was nothing serious at hand, no criminality, no\u00a0egregious assholeness; it came down to a social media\u00a0policy that was violated. The reason it was fireable was because it was the second time. In fact, he had been suspended just two months prior for the same thing. The notice of termination came from the highest level of our institution, and the legal team representing it. No recourse this time. Done deal.<\/p>\n He has a kid entering first grade this year. Damn.<\/p>\n We didn’t discuss it at jam other than to hear the story.<\/p>\n I passed him this morning at the farmer’s market, and he was with his wife. He was grinning like a guilty kid.<\/p>\n Things will be fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The jam in Hollow Way was long, slow and loud. There was a bottle of Jonny Walker Black on the floor. Five interested souls communicated with analogue sounds being sent through high powered amplifiers, and the mood was somber. One … Continue reading