Last man standing

It was the work Christmas party the other evening and it was most definitely a darker atmosphere from last year - and not just because of the change of venue. It has more to do with the re-organisation currently underway, with a 20%-30% downsizing across some parts of the business. Someone commented that snatches of overheard conversation were reminiscent of wartime: "How many did they lose?" "How hard were they hit?" "How many were left standing?" And that's how it felt in some ways because we knew that this group of colleagues would never be celebrating Christmas in this configuration again - especially knowing that the news of their future would be made known in the coming week (much to relief, you would have to think, of the staff who signed confidentiality/non-disclosure statement about the re-organisation some time ago).