The January cull. Every year. Like clockwork.

It happens every January. Has done for years. You know it's coming. The firm has never pretended otherwise — it's part of the culture, framed as performance management, a percentage gone at the bottom each year. What changes is the scale. This January was different. The number was higher. The seniority level was higher. People with twenty years at the firm, managing directors, gone. What doesn't change is the dehumanising precision of it. The meeting is always short. The script is always the same. Your access is always gone by the time you get back to your desk. I've watched it happen to other people for years. This year it was me. I kept thinking: I knew this day would come. I didn't expect to feel this bad anyway.