Lecturas de ingles

Nivel intermedio.

Don’t take it personally.

Carlos is gathering his personal items. He picks up his boxes, looks around his office and
then quietly walks out, leaving the door open behind him. As he waits for the elevator, he
thinks back to that morning when out of the blue, his boss stopped by his office.

"Good morning Carlos! How are you?"

"Great Maurice! It's Friday! ", replied Carlos, "and you?"

"Very well, thanks. By the way, do you have a minute to talk? "

"Of course!", replied Carlos a bit surprised.

Maurice walked into Carlos' office and shut the door behind him. He sat down and his
expression turned serious.

"I have some bad news, Carlos. As you know, things have been tough with the recession
lasting longer than we expected. Upper management has concluded that we have to let
some people go if we want to stay competitive. Do you understand?"

"Excuse me Maurice but, I'm not sure I understand. Are you firing me?", asked Carlos, a bit
confused.

"Please don't take it personally. We agonized over the decision for months. We are really
out of options."
"'We'? But Maurice, I just bought a new home. My wife is 6 months pregnant. I have
worked for this company for almost 20 years…"

"…for which you have been well compensated" replied his boss, finishing Carlos' sentence.
"I am so sorry, but we cannot take into account the personal circumstances of every
employee when reductions are made. These decisions are never fair. I did all I could to
convince them to keep you but they had already made up their minds. Today will be your
last day. A representative from Human Resources will contact you in about 30 minutes to
discuss your severance package. It is very generous; I can assure you of that. Well, I have
to be at another meeting in about 2 minutes so if you have any questions…"

Carlos was speechless. He just stared at Maurice with a look of disbelief.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Maurice stood up and extended his hand to shake
hands with Carlos. "I'm truly sorry Carlos. I wish you all the best. If you have any questions
you know where to reach me."

Carlos sat in his chair, stunned, unable to respond. Maurice, realizing that Carlos was not
going to shake his hand lowered it, turned and left the office. As Carlos gathered up his
personal items, he began to make a list of all the expenses he could cut until he found
another job: cable, magazine subscriptions, expensive wine, golf on weekends, expensive
vacations…

Now, as he enters his home, he wonders if he should tell his wife yet. She has enough to
worry about with the baby.

"How was your day honey?", she calls out from the bedroom.

"Good… busy as usual", he responds.

His wife gives him a kiss. "It's Friday! Let's go to Maggiano's!! I can be ready in 10
minutes."

Carlos takes her hand in his. "What if we stayed home for a change? We could have a
romantic dinner, maybe watch a movie…"

II

The Bricklayer’s Accident Report.

The following is a humorous letter that has been circulating on the internet for some years.
A bricklayer had an accident on the job and filed a claim with his insurance company
soliciting compensation. In order to process the claim, the insurance agent assigned to the
case requested more details regarding the accident. The following is the reply from the
bricklayer:

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to your request for additional information in Section 3 of the

accident report form. I put "Poor Planning" as the cause of my accident. You asked for a
fuller explanation and I trust the following details will be sufficient.

I am a bricklayer by trade. On the day of the accident, I was working alone on the roof of a
new six-story building. When I completed my work, I found I had some bricks left over
which, when weighed later, were found to be slightly in excess of 500 lbs. Rather than
carrying the bricks down by hand, I decided to lower them in a barrel by using a pulley that
was attached to the side of the building at the sixth floor. Having secured the rope at
ground level, I went down and untied it, holding tightly to ensure a slow descent of the
bricks. You will note that in Section 11 of the accident report form that my weight is 135
lbs.
Due to my surprise at being jerked off the ground so suddenly, I lost my presence of mind
and forgot to let go of the rope. Needless to say, I proceeded at a rapid rate up the side of
the building. In the vicinity of the 3rd floor, I met the barrel, which was now proceeding
downward at an equally impressive speed. This explains the fractured skull, minor
abrasions and broken collarbone as listed in Section 3 of the accident report form.

Slowed only slightly, I continued my rapid ascent, not stopping until the fingers of my right
hand were two knuckles deep into the pulley. Fortunately by this time I had regained my
presence of mind and was able to hold tightly to the rope, in spite of the excruciating pain I
was now beginning to experience. At approximately the same time, however, the barrel of
bricks hit the ground and the bottom fell out of the barrel. Now devoid of the weight of the
bricks, the barrel weighed approximately 50 lbs (I refer you again to my weight). As you
might imagine, I then began a rapid descent, down the side of the building. Once again in
the vicinity of the 3rd floor, I met the empty barrel coming up. This accounts for the two
fractured ankles, broken tooth and severe lacerations of my legs and lower body.

Here my luck began to change slightly. The encounter with the barrel slowed me enough to
lessen my injuries when I fell onto the pile of bricks and fortunately only three vertebrae
were cracked. I am sorry to report, however, that as I lay there on the pile of bricks, in pain,
unable to move, with the barrel approximately 6 stories above me, I again lost my
composure and presence of mind and let go of the rope.

This explains the two broken legs.

Regards,

George Smith