A Highly Valued Employee
Neil Raeburn clicked send and felt a pulse of adrenaline reverberate through him. He sat very still and watched the status dialog in the bottom corner of his email program until it told him the message had been sent. He felt anxious and relieved and scared and powerful all at once. He leaned back and exhaled. His office seemed strange to him. Funny how things seemed so different already.
Neil was, or rather had been, a mid-level manager at Delinport Systems. He’d worked at the firm for the last fourteen years. He’d landed a job in content marketing with the company after he graduated with his bachelor’s degree. Or, more precisely, he’d been given the job. Merit hadn’t played into it. His dad had known the then-CEO well, and the job was dropped on Neil’s plate with little consideration to whether he’d wanted it or not.
Now, as he sat in his office for what would be the last few minutes, he wondered why he’d worked so hard these last fourteen years. As soon as he’d sent the email, it was like a veil had been lifted from his eyes and he could see clearly for the first time in far too long. Sure, it was true he’d accumulated some wealth, he drove a fancy car and had a 401(k) on track to set him up for an easy retirement in another twenty-five or so years. By all measures, Neil, now thirty-eight, had done quite well for himself. Well, almost all measures — all except the one that…
