A Tale of Two Legacies

  Chapter 23

  The USGS field men had been called in for a special early morning meeting that Thursday in the Bureau’s conference room. That probably was a harbinger of unwelcome news as all the employees were aware of the agency’s budget problems. All ten of the field men were there. Most, the senior and junior professional engineers, were higher pay grade than the two helpers, David and Clark. Sure enough, the budget axe was at work. The chief’s head count had to drop by one in this first go. As per his normal modus operandi, he asked for a volunteer with the proviso that all comp time would in fact be paid before termination. Everyone looked at the floor.

  “If I have a volunteer, I need to know by tomorrow noon. If no volunteer, I’ll start working on the forced layoff,” said the chief. “Questions?”

  Clark looked around the room in his mind. All the engineers were married with families and already well down their chosen career paths. It was up to him and David. Even though David had less seniority and even though Clark loved the job and it’s convenience during the school year, Clark felt he could read the ‘handwriting on the wall’. This was the first, he thought, of a nonstop series. As far as David was concerned, losing this job might be enough to push him over the edge, thought Clark. Even before anyone had stood up to leave the meeting, Clark said, “I’ll volunteer.”

  The chief looked at Clark and said in an unmistakably sincere voice, “Somehow that’s the way I thought this would turn out. It would be an honor to give you whatever references you need.”

  “Thank you, sir. I’d appreciate that very much,” said Clark feeling no semblance of regret. In fact, he felt real good inside.

  “Come into my office, Clark, and we’ll discuss the details, go over your compensatory time reimbursement, and start the paperwork. The rest of you should start considering the fairest way to cover Clark’s assignments now that we’ll be a person short.” The chief smiled an encouraging smile to the group as he rose to his feet.

  Last summer, Clark had built up considerable comp time on all-nighter sampling stints such that he was able during school to get paid full time on his part-time job well into December. He had little comp time coming now because the new season really hadn’t gotten underway. Clark started to wonder if he could maybe find a job with decent wages, but with an ability to manipulate his schedule to suit his needs better.