Nancy.

I'd be lying if I said I was good friends with her, she kind of got on my nerves. An older woman who at times could be pretty inflexible and demanding. She has a good sense of humor and often would have a little tittering laugh when the younger boys teased her. That reminded me of the way my mother got when my brother told dirty jokes. She thought they were funny but she just had to be a little scandalized. That's the way Nancy was around the boys.

She caused quite a fuss last year when she acused another employee of harassing her. Then complained to HR because she didn't think anyone was taking her seriously (which they weren't). Gave the bossman a major multi-day panic attack.

She's been here a long time, had been here I mean. She worked her way around from one office to another. Looking for a way up the ladder (not that there really is one). When I started she was content. Worked at the operations center doing what she liked, around her friends. Princess brought her here shortly after I came here by telling her that our software was superceding what she was working with there.

That never happened. Now she doesn't have a job.

There are a couple people who are gone that you can say maybe they weren't up to snuff. It just seems though, that many of them had just been here a long time. This used to be a place you came to work and stayed. The first place I've ever been where people retired with 40+ years of service.

Do the new guys think the best way to change the culture is to eliminate the past? Certainly the culture here has been dealt a death blow with 25 layoffs. Not a huge number. But significant. Made up of people just like Nancy.

I hope she will be ok.