End of January

Ted is a huge fan of rumors, gossip, and conspiracies.  He likes to pick up on any fragment of gossip and blow it wildly out of proportion.  He's told me before that he does this to scare people, but I think he likes the attention.  He also loves to have exclusive information that he can lord over others (regardless of its accuracy). 

Since the middle of December 2010 Ted has been telling anyone who will listen that our company was going to layoff 5% of employees before the end of January.  This did not happen.

I was with him when he heard the January rumor, and his source was pretty clear that the rumor could not be trusted.  But old Ted spread it hard and tried to inflict as much fear as possible, usually in twenty minute lectures on business practices and the "good old days".

On January 27th Ted updated his layoff projections to March for one visitor and May for another.

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