The Ladies Paradise by Emile Zola as Layoff Therapy

I was laid off from my tech job year after a period of my manager antagonizing and accusing me with manufactured offenses, seemingly out of no where. While I've gotten a new job, it's still kind of messing with me mentally, the idea that if I just did, or just didn't do something, it would not have haapened.

Reading about the store managers laying off the clerks in Summer, under the guise of firing them for imagined slights, has comforted me in ways I didn't expect. This reminder of the timeliness of capitalist cruelty and stupidity has done so much to let me know that none of this was my fault, that this is just the way things go

I know this story is set in a department store in Paris, but I can't stop seeing parallels with the tech industry. From the mindless expansion for expansion sake that gobbles up smaller competitors, to the cattiness of the employees (especially when you're a black woman trying to convince a tech interviewer that you know enough about technology and you're just not an impostor, the gatekeeping of mentorship and meaningful projects from you), over hiring and laying off employees, freemium business models etc .

Anyways, I haven't finished the book yet. I am not sure if many people will be able to relate to this post, but this book has really made an impact on me. As James Baldwin? said, you think your pain is alone in this world and then you read