The Dismissal of Michael Dearfield: Mel Leonard

Mike Dearfield is the Sales Manager for Arkland Kitchens, a large Canadian company. He has been with them for the past thirty years in different positions. His current assignment is Sales Manager of Canada for which he is paid a large income. It is now 2004.
Mike is a bit of a pessimist and each year he wonders if the good life might come to an end. His pessimism is not without some merit. Arkland has been purchased by an American outfit that makes appliances and for the past two years they have been cutting costs.
A number of high earning employees with less tenure than Mike had been offered severance packages. The company had been quite persuasive and so they took them. Now they are considering people at Dearfield’s pay grade.