Beware the ides of March

They sit you down, in a manner reminiscent of school

To studiously check, if you have been playing the fool

And give you grades, for your performance this term

Courtesy a detailed ‘process’, guaranteed to make you squirm

--

Where you first fill out long forms; that seem from outer space

On which sanity, like intelligent life, seems to vanish sans trace

That ordeal is enough, to drain you of all vigor and critical thought

Perhaps this is the inebriated condition, the management deviously sought

--

As you swagger into the ‘ring’, like a boxer badly dazed

All aspirations of a pay or designation hike, seem utterly razed

Your crimes against the company are now brought to the fore

This is precisely when your bosses, keenly begin to keep the score

--

They delightfully dig out that wretched client mail

Of the one time in the year, your patience did woefully fail

An outburst for which, you had long since made amends for

But a blemish recorded, as you having the temperament of Thor

--

Each and every success, is due to the influence of your leaders

Failures are down to you, or more accurately irresponsible breeders

They say you lack initiative, and are never completely ‘on the ball’

You think of the one place when kicked, causes even giants’ to fall

--

Targets are then reviewed upwards, your support system the opposite way

All this is tuned to the earnest exhortation of, ‘we so much want you to stay’

They say you are part of the family, but more in a mafia sense of the word

For if you fail at your impossible goals, your cries are unlikely to be heard

--

Hence March is the month, for those in the white collar to carefully take stock

Have they overstayed their welcome, been oblivious to the ticking clock?

Are your peers going to stab you in the back, as you groan ‘Et tu Brute’?

Are your bosses planning to cursorily eject you, with a golden parachute?

Beware the ides of March...