A fire alarm, in a large office building, rang at 4 p.m. when almost all
of the company's 500 employees were at work.
As usual in such circumtances the entire office was evacuated within 3
minutes & every employee gathered outside.
Nothing happened for ten minutes or so and there was no evidence of a
fire. Then the firms Security Officer made an announcement .....
"Dear employees, with melting heart I am making this announcement that for
many of you will be your last fire evacuation drill. Due to the recession
the company are laying off almost fifty percent of staff. When you move
back into the building some of you will discover that your swipe passcard
will no longer give you access to the office. If you are among those laid
off, go home and all your belongings will be couriered to you tomorrow.
The management took this approach to save on overloading the email system
with layoff notifications and goodbye messages and also to avoid any
violent outbursts inside the office... Hope you have a nice career ahead
... please move forward and try your swipe card."
