The Christmas Clerk Poem by Randy McClave

It is Christmas time
And our clerk is all upset,
Everyone is getting laid off
And she is full of sadness and regret.
There will be no overtime to fill
And less employees to schedule,
She will have a lonely company dinner
On this supposed festive Yule.
So, she will sit and sit lonely at her desk
Thinking and wondering what to do,
Then about the layoffs, she questions her boss
And he said, 'you can get laid off too"!

It is Christmas time
And all the employees are now unemployed,
Except for our one mill clerk
Whose joy has been destroyed.
She has no one to schedule
No one to be seen or to be greeted,
So, she fills out only her time
Her job is the only one to be completed.
She now thinks about the Christmas gifts
And all the laid-off mill employees,
How she wished that they all still were working
Especially for their children, girls and boys.


It is again Christmas time
And our clerk is all alone,
There is no schedule for her to type
And no one to call for overtime on the phone.
But, she remembers talking to her boss
And what that he had said unto her,
That it was her very own decision
And she could be laid off too if she would prefer.
The clerk sits blue and bereaved
This saddened Christmas year,
In her prayers she wishes the unemployed a Merry Christmas
Then she cries without Christmas cheer.

Randy L. McClave