Pink Slips and Bipolar Vending Machines

My supervisor is a young, soft spoken Asian gal... Who averted my eyes as she handed me my end of the year "compensation award statement". For working weekends and holidays being an absentee on birthdays and funerals (thank God). Despite the company riding the gilded air currents like a diamond studded albatross, I'll get seventy-three cents an hour raise. I met her eyes and said, "a bag of M&MS in the company vending machine is a buck twenty-five". She exited the room quicker than a nervous giggle. She was once one of us. Now she's one of them. Since the promotion, she's put on about 15 pounds her face is breaking out. She doesn't smile much anymore. I suppose seventy-three cents an hour is better than her giving me the pink slip.