The Thirtieth of April

Today, April 30th, or ba mươi tây tháng tư in Vietnamese, meaning the thirtieth of April, is a historical day in Vietnam. April 30, 1975 was the day that the Vietnam War was over. There was no more South Vietnam and North Vietnam, just one unified Vietnam. Sounds nice, but it wasn't. On the surface, all Vietnamese were brothers and sisters again, but I heard stories of revenge, which were more likely the case when a government is overthrown by another. But seriously, I didn't have any personal experiences on that day. I was just a mere teenager tucked away in the countryside, away from all the actions.

This year's April 30 turned out to be an important day in my life, too. My old department, LAN Account Admin or LAA for short, finally got the official word from HR that their job is, for all practical purposes, done with. All LAA functions in the Northeast and Mid-West will be transferred to Tampa and Houston. I suppose they will have the chance to move to those cities to keep their jobs, but I doubt that many people will move. People have roots where they live and it is a major change. From the firm's point of view, of course, change is good, that everyone should embrace it.

Some consultants already got their fateful phone calls. They only have 30-day notices, versus employee's 60. Some time in the third quarter the employees will get their notice. That put their last day of work, at most, around September 1. For sure I'll come out to Jersey City to visit them for some farewell dinner before then. I will miss them.