raz almost gets the boot

the dean walked into my office today. the dean never walks into my office. she was smiling and was holding a stack of envelopes. one of them had my name on it. hmm.

i’m getting promoted?
i’m getting a raise?
i’m getting fired?

none of the above.

the envelope had the dean seal on the back, with “confidential” stamped in pink on the front. if this was a pink slip it would have been a nice touch, that pink stamp bit.

the letter explained in detail how i would not be losing my job next month. this was the news. this was the news that just had to be hand-delivered by the dean herself. i was never even aware that i would be losing my job next month, so i was a bit surprised. i joked to others at work that we’d be fired soon, what with the restructuring, but never really thought it would happen. nor did i imagine that we would be told that we almost did in fact lose our jobs.

so i have to wonder what the point of the letter really was. has anyone else received a “you almost lost your job but you didn’t, now will you please stay with us” letter before? do i thank someone? should i be happy? should i work harder? where do i go from here? should i email the dean and tell her that i found 2 spelling mistakes in the letter and that she should really consider proofing the next time? how close was she from printing the pink variety of this letter? many questions.