Back in therapy. Sigh.

With the sour announcement this week that Desjardins is kicking CGI's ass in April 2011, I am feeling awfully depressed - I tried watching a game of curling but it didn't cheer me up. I played bridge on my computer but that didn't do. I even tried listening to favourite tunes from Slim Whitman but even that didn't cheer me up. So I called Paul my therapist and asked if he had some time for me this week-end. Sure, he said, as long as you can pay me you are always welcomed.

So I go back to his office on Saturday, drops of rain were hitting my Mercedes like to punish me even further.

So how are you feeling Mike, my therapist asks. It's been a long time since I billed you.

I go, terrible, just terrible. I mean, you read the news, right? Desjardins is throwing us out the window, like an unfaithful husband after 10 years of marriage. CGI doesn't deserve this, I don't deserve this, GIB lost 3% on the TSX, Serge is calling me every hour to lecture me on how I fucked a profitable relation that he carefully put in place when he was the CEO.

Paul pulls out his iPhone and checks the stock chart for CGI. I see, this is really bad, Mike this is really bad, I gotta dump some at market price Monday morning. But let's get back to you feelings Mike, what do think happened?

I sink even further in the leather couch. You know, Desjardins is going through a major reorg and they want to move away from the mainframe platform. They say they burn too much money in IT, they want to cut 900 positions and save over $175M. Sure, there's a lot of bacon fat in IT but that's not a legitimate reason to put CGI in the garbage can, you know?

Paul grabs a copy of The Globe & Mail and scans one article about the CGI / Desjardins news. He goes, would it be possible that Desjardins' conscious desire to restructure their company is causing them to reconsider all prior decisions, even good ones? I see that in couple therapy, guy dumps the wife and then buys a new car even though the old one, the car I mean, was perfectly fine. It's called projection. You transpose your frustration into other entities.

Well, I go, I think we might have pushed our client toward bad decisions just to keep the gravy train rolling you know, the money was just too sweet and we never recommend a client to reconsider things like a mainframe or other goodies that keep the juicy contracts going. A mainframe is like a 24-hour rainbow with a pot of gold constantly replenishing itself, from the IT outsourcing standpoint that is. We don't want to kill the rainbow. We have loads of IT people specialized in mainframe technology.

Paul goes, so what are you going to do with those mainframe people when the contract will be over in April 2011?

I will fire them of course, what else could I do? But that's not the real issue. People are expendable. What matters is profitable growth, FY2011 will take a direct hit unless we find a mother load of outsourcing contracts in Poland or God knows where. Our company is structured for the investor to be happy as a clam, clients and employees are second-ranking beings. If I proceed with my accelerated path to profitable growth, I'll have to suffer the wrath of money managers everywhere.

Time's up, said Paul. Same time next week?

Sigh. Of course. Send me the bill.