Money from Panama

I've remarked before that I take home a small amount of money as a souvenir when traveling in other countries. It's the easiest memento to buy.... I don't even have to buy anything! Bringing home foreign currency from Panama late last month was complicated a bit, though, by the fact there isn't much of it. Panama's domestic currency, the Balboa, is pegged to the US Dollar, and dollars are accepted as official currency. Panama doesn't even print paper currency for the Balboa, just coins in small denominations.



Here's what I came home with. It's B/3.70. The coins at the top are dollar 1 Balboa coins. There's also a half-Balboa and two 0.10 coins. The latter get mixed freely with US dimes in cash drawers. And cash drawers also contain plenty of US quarters. I don't think a Balboa quarter exists. I didn't see one, anyway. And the coin-op laundry machine we used one night took only US quarters.

The 1 Balboa coins have different designs on them. The one in the upper left is the first I got. I was wondering, "Why does this look like a Swiss coin?" It's from 2017 and commemorates the centennial of the Red Cross (la Cruz Roja) in Panama.

They Whacked my Whole Team, Except Me

I don't know what's going on with my job this morning. The company has whacked my whole team except for me. My boss and two immediate colleagues are out. There have been no communications about what happens next.

I only know this much because colleagues reach out to me via text message. It looked like their company comms were disabled early this morning. The texts started with a message from my boss at 7:20am.

Boss

It's been a pleasure guys. I have really enjoyed working with you guys and I wish you well going forward. Please keep in touch.

WTF? I wondered to myself. It sounds like he's quit— or been fired. But there's been no official communication.

I decided rather than send an alarmed response I'd hold off and see if he volunteered more info. Plus it was 7:20am, before my usual start of 8am. One of my two colleagues asked the obviously clarifying question, and our boss confirmed that he's no longer with the company.

Then came this:

Colleague 1

Just found out that I'm also no longer with the company It's been great working with everyone. Best wishes to you all. Keep in touch.

Wait, what? Now I'm afraid to read my email!

Colleague 2

I'm gone too.

Is this a joke? A glitch in our HR system?

It's no joke. It's not a software glitch, either. My boss and the rest of my (small) team have been let go.

At this point I'm wondering what I'm supposed to do. I will repeat, there have been no official communications. I can only surmise that I'll be merged in with the regional team covering the Central US. And whatever team I'm made part of, I hope they bring another colleague my way. Right now there are 4 account execs in the West, and only me left standing as a sales engineer to support them. There's no way, zero, I can cover all that work.

Update: It Gets Worse!