getting fired

Posted on | December 26, 2009 | Comments Off

I have seen a lot of comical/not-quite-comical scenes around people being fired- I guess people find such scenes funny because of the other-slipping-on-the-banana-peel thing that we all have. Latest case in point is the new Virgin mobile ad, where a very obnoxious guy gets his come-uppance for making eyes on his boss’s daughter, and this ad, which was slightly funny initially has lost all taste and watchability because of its ubiquitous presence everywhere (and remember here, that I watch TV barely for the extent of my dinner time- so its almost like a gratuitous waste of money).

Anyways, so much for context. What I have been wondering was that in all the movies, and ads, inspired no doubt by the American practice, the guy getting fired is shown leaving with all his worldly belongings in a carton- and this carton/box is what intrigues me. Such cartons are seen rarely in the market, I mean, I have only ever once seen such cartons. Its never those fold-flap ugly grey cartons you and I use for, say when we are moving house, its always those fancy cartons which have lids instead of flaps, with the lids removed, to presumably show the stuff inside to security at the point of egress. So where do they get them? And how do they get them at such short notice? Is there a store nearby which supplies all fired employees with such cartons? Do companies have godowns with stacks upon stacks of such cartons, carefully wrapped in brown-paper, just waiting for employees to be fired, so that they may be disbursed as a parting gift? May be a brown-paper-shake instead of a golden handshake? I find the idea disturbing, and vaguely terrifying. But thankfully, I have been into the godowns my company has at HO, and we do not have such stacks. Or may be they have one, hidden behind the HR director’s office, in a top secret semi-warehouse. I wouldn’t know.

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