Life After the Fall - Part 1

Chad Kensington was born to be on the A-List. It was a fact. He had grown up with all of the “beautiful people” whose names were on the list. He came from the Kensingtons of Delaware. His grandfather had come to Dallas and made his fortune in oil, so Chad was already considered old money. His father was none other than the illustrious Lawrence Kensington, senior senator from Texas. For three generations, the Kensingtons, now of Dallas, Texas, USA, had been part and parcel of the social elite of Dallas. Besides, he often thought to himself, anyone with a first name of Chad should be one of the chosen few who was a certifiable A-List sort of person.

Chad lived a very charmed life. Sarah Chadwick, his girlfriend of nearly 3 years and soon to be his fiancé, came from a really good family. He earned a very substantial amount of money working in marketing, after his graduation from UT Austin. He was a well-known face at the local charity events. What he savored most was that Arthur, the Maitre D’ at Alfredo’s always greeted him as Mr. Kensington. “So nice to see you again, Mr. Kensington. You wish to be seated at your regular table?” Everything about his life told him that he was a somebody.

Being a somebody, an A-Lister, didn’t come without a price. One had to keep up appearances. Chad had to live at a “very good” address. He had to drive a very classy car. He was careful to wear the “right” clothes and he was especially selective in choosing with whom he associated. He did not care if some people thought of him as a snob. He would say to himself, “Being a snob is good.” And of course, it was important to vacation in the right places. In short, Chad earned a lot of money. He also spent a large amount of money keeping up appearances. But anyone who is included in that selective bunch known as the social elite already understands that what one spends on keeping up appearances is just a cost of doing business.

Chad arrived at his office on Tuesday. The minute he walked in the door, he knew something was up. In his department. People were clustered in little groups talking about something. He walked over to Charlie Waters and asked him what was going on.

“The company is being bought out by Tidewater Development. We were advised that the public announcement is going to be made in about twenty minutes,” Charlie reported to him.

Chad didn’t immediately say anything. He knew it was simply too soon to know what the takeover would mean to any of the people in the room. The news certainly was unwelcome, because a takeover by Tidewater cast a shadow over his future. But Chad decided not to give the matter a lot of thought. He had work to do and it would be awhile before anyone knew how the takeover would play itself out. Hopefully, his career would not suffer because this was happening. So he simply shrugged his shoulders without saying anything more than, “I see.” He then walked another ten feet and entered his office. He sat down at his desk, turned on his computer and pulled the stack of unfinished work from yesterday in front of him on the desk. He soon got lost in his work and put the matter of the takeover to the back of his mind.

Over the next few weeks, it became clear that Chad might be affected by the takeover. With Tidewater being the dominant company in the upcoming merger, the marketing divisions of Tidewater and his company would be combined. Chad knew that there were going to be some layoffs. He might very well lose his job, even though he was one of the best and most imaginative guys in his department. At times like this, it is who you know that is more important than talent and a great track record. He was beginning to get worried, because he was knee deep in debt. The job market was very soft and Chad wasn’t sure how long it might take him to get another job as good as this one. Or how long he could survive financially, given all the bills that came in each month. Or how he was going to keep up appearances. His crowd wasn’t particularly forgiving or helpful when one of their own fell on hard times.

A few days later, Chad was called into his boss’s office. Brad Anderson told him to take a seat. Chad had a sinking feeling as he sat down. Brad started by saying, “Brad, I really appreciate all the hard work you have put in over the last two years. You bring energy to our projects and you have the creativity to make it in this business.”

Chad thought to himself, “Well, that’s maybe hopeful.”

Brad continued, “You know that some of the marketing staff is going to be cut because of this merger. I have had to make some really difficult choices here because we can only keep about half the staff here in Dallas. So, I want you to know that I really wanted to keep you on, but there just weren’t enough slots for me to be able to do that. I really am sorry I have to do this, but we are going to have let you go. You are a very talented young man and I am sure you will land on your feet. Let me know if you need a reference from me. I will be happy to give you a very good reference.”

Chad had known this moment might come. It had come and now that it had, he couldn't think of a single thing to say.

After a very long minute or two of absolute silence, his boss ended with, “Your final day will be next Friday. We will be giving you a generous severance check. If you have any questions before then, let me know. Thanks again for a job well done, Chad.”

Chad only nodded numbly, got up and left the room. Now he was in shock. How could this be happening to him? He had done everything right. He had gone to the right college, He had gotten the right job. He had given 110% of what he had to give. He had put in overtime when a project needed to be completed on time. And what had all that hard work and commitment gotten him? This. Getting fired. “And how the hell am I going to pay my bills?” In the pit of his stomach, he had the sickening feeling that his world was going to fall apart. His day went downhill from there.

To be continued...