It's Sunday and the last day of the month of May. One month is ending; another starts tomorrow.

There's a feeling of other kinds of endings, too. A way of life. Less consumerism and more responsibility to ourselves, other people, and the planet we inhabit (I nearly wrote "infest").

In my work, too. Processes and structures are being dismantled. People are being laid off, most never to return. As staff is laid off, others who have more seniority come to fill some positions, and there's a whole lot of "bumping" going on.

With the movement comes an end to expertise. If our office technician is laid off or reassigned, he takes with him all of his skills in managing our database, taking concerns from customers, assisting the manager with ongoing record-keeping.

When his assignment ends, who will get those tasks? If there is a new person, though they may have greater seniority (which is why they got the position), they will know nothing about the specifics. Much flailing and missteps while the learning curve is walked. If he isn't replaced, rhubarb will have to take up the slack.

I have the feeling that this is the end of business (in my line of work) as we knew it. From now on, what we do will be restructured. More efficient? Or will it be that a stronger turf czar will eat the weaker, regardless of the benefits of his particular office to the whole enterprise.

Since reorganization is inevitable (pink slips go out June 15th), I would like to see the elimination of offices where folks spend their days gossiping over cups of coffee and pushing a few tools from point A to point B, rather than positions cut just because their boss doesn't have enough clout or enough F2F time with the decision makers.

Each section head is required to develop a statement that shows how his/her office contributes to the mission of the company. I know, however, that there is not as much objective analysis as one could hope for. I have heard, several times already, "Do you know this supervisor? Is he a good man?" (Somehow the question is not so often about a woman. Does that say that minds are already decided about the women? That decisions are made on who you know, with whom you play golf, not how well you perform?)

There may be a whole lot of people who wish they'd taken up golf, the executives' game.