Farewell !

Just heard two of my good friends are leaving. A is moving to another city, while B is moving to another company. So, looks like its farewell time for now.

And the best part - I had heard that A is leaving, and we were planning for a farewell dinner for A, when we get an official communication saying that B is also leaving !! Whoooopsiee..

What I hate about this corporate lifestyle is amount of secrecy that is there always around you. I would not blame B for not telling the rest of us, nobody does that for some reason. Its just the way things work around here. Though I dont know about what happens in other companies and firms, a lot of things seem stupid to me. I still cant figure out the reason for this though. Why cant a firm be gracious when a person is moving out and give him a decent farewell, say that "X is moving to ZZZ firm" and a couple of good sentences about him would not do any harm. But right now, all you get to see is "X is pursuing oppurtunities outside YYY and he/she is here till so and so month end." So?? Is that a grave sin, which calls for corporal punishment ? Everyone knows that people will leave for various reasons. Sometimes its because of a personal problem, or simply greener pastures and sometimes even "its just time to move on".

Why can't it be accepted graciously? Why this cloud of secrecy ??