From The Layoff:
B&N will struggle through the holiday, and will probably fall short, since it has for the previous six seasons, and there’s nothing to suggest that it’s doing anything new to prevent it this year.
The money guys will come in on a certain Monday morning, and call the people who are providing the line of credit that the company has been relying on, and ask for a short term loan to make payroll for the coming Friday. And, they’ll be told, no, we’re not going to continue servicing this loan. And, not only that, but we’re calling in all your paper.
Then, the money guys will sit there in shock for a few minutes, drink some coffee, maybe head out to the street to smoke a c-gare–e, which they had quit some years ago but which seems like a good idea today. Then, they’ll start calling everybody they know and their uncle, whomever has some cash laying around. Maybe they’ll find some shylock who will front the money, or maybe they won’t. Word will get out on the street that B&N isn’t solvent, and can’t make their payroll for the week. And fewer and fewer calls will be answered, and if they can find somebody who will front the money, the interest will be usurious.
Worst case scenario: booksellers show up to work, and the stores are padlocked.
Best case scenario: stores stay open, but the company goes to the receiver and Chapter Eleven.
If you’re a bookseller at B&N, start looking for a new job now. Forget about severance and all the rest of that b—s—, because you won’t get it at this point.
This is how it will go.
Link to the rest at The Layoff and thanks to Felix for the tip.
You can see more anonymous comments at the Barnes & Noble section of The Layoff.
Anyone in that room without his or her resume already posted to another dozen companies…[finish the thought]
…is planning to retire anyway?
The sad thing is this is their staff talking.
Not some outsider playing “analyst” trying to cook up reasons why Amazon should buy B&N or a publishing insider pining for 1990.
These are the people whose livelihood depends on these executives and they feel they are in Dante territory.
“The money guys will come in on a certain Monday morning, and call the people who are providing the line of credit that the company has been relying on, and ask for a short term loan to make payroll for the coming Friday. And, they’ll be told, no, we’re not going to continue servicing this loan. And, not only that, but we’re calling in all your paper.”
Then, the money guys will sit there with grins for a few seconds before saying: “Took you guys long enough! And there is no ‘paper’ – you and the others can fight over the corpse!” They then walk out laughing that they’d gotten away with it as long as they had.
MYMV