He cleared his throat and began speaking. In the past I 8 months, there have been many changes in the way Delarks does business. Denton had expected applause at that line, but there wasn't any. Here, he was cut off by applause, raucous and prolonged. He waited until it died down, and continued.
Layoffs are never easy.
I'm not even sure there is a 'right' way to do them. But I take full responsibility for doing them in a way that felt wrong to a lot of you. Again, the room broke into loud applause. He decided to cut his losses and move right into the question and answer period. Denton figured he was someone from the stockroom.