Family Leave = Fired?

A copywriter took time off to care for her sick parents. Normal, Human, and Relatable. But when she came back, her boss basically said: “So… about your job… the robot’s cheaper. Don’t take it personally, it just doesn’t ask for vacation days or health insurance.” Imagine coming back from family leave to discover your replacement isn’t a person, it’s a piece of software that doesn’t even know how to spell “empathy.”

Fair left the building years ago, right after “job security” and “pensions.” The founder wasn’t being evil for fun; he was doing what every company now dreams about: cutting payroll with a shiny, low-cost, silicon worker. Was she lazy? No. Did she deserve it? No. Her only mistake was being human in an economy that now treats humanity like a liability.

The company looks cold-hearted, sure, but this is capitalism’s version of musical chairs: when the music stops, you hope there’s a chair left with your name on it. Meanwhile, AI doesn’t even need a chair; it just takes the whole table. And if you’re a rival company still paying real writers? You look like Blockbuster bragging about late fees while Netflix is streaming circles around you.

In today’s climate, a week off is enough for your boss to test-drive AI. If the bot performs, congrats, you just trained your replacement. It’s like loaning your friend your car for the weekend and finding out they traded it for a Tesla that drives itself.

The brutal truth is, if she had come back saying, “I can use AI to do 10x the work,” she might still be at that desk. Instead, she got blindsided. That’s the new game: either you learn to boss the machine around, or the machine becomes your boss.

Whether you’re sitting in a boardroom or on your couch, eating leftover pizza, this affects you. If you’re a CEO or Founder, this story is your shiny toy and your biggest headache. Yes, you can save big by cutting humans, but what happens to your reputation, creativity, and culture when people see you swapping out workers for robots like expired coupons?

If you’re a VP or Manager, you'd better be asking: how do I keep my team relevant? Because if AI can do half their work faster and cheaper, how do you justify keeping everyone around?

If you’re an individual contributor, here’s your reality check: safe jobs don’t exist anymore. The question isn’t “Am I good at my job?”, it’s “Am I the person telling the AI what to do, or the one being replaced by it?”

And if you’re just an everyday American, you can’t shrug this off either. When your neighbors lose jobs, when your local diner sees fewer lunch breaks, when your kids graduate into an AI-saturated market, guess what? That ripple hits you, too.

This isn’t just one copywriter’s sad day at work. This is the preview reel of our new economy. Companies aren’t competing with each other anymore; they’re competing to see who can fire humans the fastest. And you, me, all of us? We’ve got to decide: are we riding shotgun with AI, or are we the next ones getting left on the curb with a cardboard box of our stuff?

Best,

Matt Masinga