James Tehrani’s shift at the assisted-living residence was over. He’d made it through his eight hours at the front desk–answering the telephone, making copies, greeting new residents. Now he was sitting in a bar in downtown Skokie, waiting for a cheeseburger.
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Tehrani was making so much money he bought tickets to The Producers, and he went house hunting in the suburbs with his wife, Robin. But around the end of 2000, Tehrani began to suspect that ChinaOnline.com was living beyond its means. The first hint came when management canceled the office Christmas party, telling the staff, “We’re going to have a Chinese New Year party instead, because we’re ChinaOnline.” But February passed without a party too.
In April the clothing store Robin managed went out of business. But Tehrani still had a job, so they bought a house in Skokie. The next month, he got his one-year review. He was promoted to senior editor, and promised more money.
Tehrani was put to work editing accounting manuals. Two weeks later the federal government indicted Andersen for shredding documents related to the Enron investigation. The head of Tehrani’s department gathered all her workers for a pep talk. Andersen was a powerhouse in the accounting world, she told them. Things seem a bit grim now, but if everyone stuck together as a team, they could fight it out to the end. The 40 workers in the room were completely silent. Tehrani’s heart sank into his guts. He’d heard this speech before.
Tehrani felt pretty low all weekend. He’d worked so hard to get this job. What had he done to deserve another layoff? Monday morning he got a message on his voice mail informing him of a “special meeting.” Seven other workers were invited. As they filed into the room, Tehrani couldn’t make eye contact with any of them. He knew what was about to happen. The department head was there–the same woman who’d given the pep talk.
“The way I would describe the last 12 to 15 months is like this,” he said. “It feels like you’re a pinball in a giant pinball machine, and it feels like someone is bumping the bumpers as hard as they can. I thought that I found a way out of the pinball machine, but I ended up back in the lane that takes you to the top.”
