CEO: "Don't worry we are not planning any layoffs!" me: "Why are we talking about layoffs at all? Probably should start planning for contingencies" Don't get

CEO: "Don't worry we are not planning any layoffs!" me: "Why are we talking about layoffs at all? Probably should start planning for contingencies" Don't get me wrong: There's almost certainly a more transparent way of doing this that doesn't involve straight up lying, and it's crummy as hell, but there's some amount of personal responsibility here in terms of knowing how to read between the lines.