Collapse anxiety
Rod Dreher, a newspaperman like me, writes:

At my office, we’ve been through so many rounds of layoffs in the past few years that the upcoming one doesn’t seem to be getting to people. I suspect this is a reflection of despair, of the recognition of the truth that this is entirely out of anybody’s hands. Maybe.

You know me: I cope with collapse anxiety by blogging incessantly about it, as if talking about it were some kind of ritual that kept it at bay.

At my place it turns out our superannuated receptionist was made redundant due in part to advancing technology: it costs less to eventually automate the phones completely and besides thanks to e-mail and computers in general newsrooms are now blessedly quiet much of the time; no more clackety-clack or ringing phones.