Tony, after a short meeting with the Production Supervisor, entered the control-room and proceeded to clean out his box. I looked at him and said, "Dude. Why are you cleaning out your box? You're scaring me." At which point he turned around and said to the whole room, something like, "It's been nice, see ya!"

What is known:

      --Supervisor comes in and says Tony has been fired.
      --News Director says, shortly thereafter, that Tony quit.
      --And not much else.

Who to believe... I'll go with the News Director. I know Tony well enough to say he'd quit at the slightest hint of being "railroaded" [a term which could be viewed as subjective on my part, however, I am speaking in terms of what I know about Tony. And based on what I know of Tony, he would quit before being fired if he thought he was being unfairly attacked. Then again, I was not present at this meeting]. Ergo, claiming to have fired someone "after the fact" being a cowardly way to save face, I have to err on the word of the News Director.

Let's not parse or mince words here. I understand that when someone quits their job, the company then terminates that employees employment, via paperwork and other such niceties, but this is not the same as firing an employee. To then come out and say that "so-and-so" has been fired... Well, this is worlds away from "fine-line" territory. I imagine being on the wrong side of such a distiction could very well carry with it the possibility of legal action. But this is America, each person is an individual, and sadly, cannot be muzzled without severe consequence to everyones freedoms. And it's not my place to take sides here. Nor will I.

As to circumstances? Without observation/testimony from Mr. McCannon, I cannot say, or even speculate. It's enough that I've posted on this subject at all. Having done so could very well come back to bite me in the arse.

So why post at all? I began typing. This is the result. And I'm not inclined to backspace here; this is my forum, and the last time I checked, I still live in the United States of America.

And I can comfort myself with that fact when I find myself in the unemployment line.

11:59am Sept 29, 2005