Category Archives: Office Life

The Wait

Leave a reply

Anyone who knows me offline from this site knows that I’ve been dreading my work situation for some time now. The company I work for has been laying off people for about 18 months with no end in sight and I’ve been dreading that layoff since Day One. This means that my family, friends and contacts have all had to deal with me and my dread for about a year and a half… which I have to given them credit for patiently listening. At some point, I’m sure that they have started feeling like I am the boy crying wolf. 

I have been working in this industry for about 20 years and have noted that the cycle of boom & bust can range from 5 to 7 years. Effectively, it’s a reset to the industry to deal with steadily increasing costs. For the previous two bust cycles the industry has gone through, I was lucky to be wherever I was because the personal impact to me was negligible. For one bust, I was protected by the nature of the business I worked for and the other bust happened during a time when the business I work for now was in a crunch of multiple major projects that necessitated us to keep working… and working hard. This is the first time in my career that a bust cycle has directly affected me. Really, I’ve been lucky. Truly. 

In these past 18 months, I’ve said goodbye to a lot of people… some of whom were merely acquaintances while others I’ve come to consider to be my friends. Some… very close friends. It hasn’t been fun seeing so many good people cut loose. The company has gone from 650 people to somewhere just over 100 as of Friday. While not all of them have been layoffs, the vast majority have. 

There is no new work on the horizon. In fact, the work that hasn’t been deferred or flat out cancelled is being pulled back within our client’s organization to keep their personnel busy. No one knows for sure what’s going to happen but the general feeling isn’t good. Where, at the start, managers were trimming the fat and cutting out cancers from the organization… they’ve now had to start carving away the some of the muscle. And they’re getting closer to cutting into bone. 

I heard from my boss last week; he asked me if I would consider working a reduced-hour work week. From 40 hours down to 32, which would represent a 20% cut to my take home pay as well. My work load has declined significantly however I play a unique role in the company so they would rather not flat-out lay me off if they can avoid it. By no means am I irreplaceable but it would mean a change in strategy of how we do work. So they would have to, in advance, plan this change before cutting me loose. Again, not an impossibility in the least but rather only an inconvenience. 

I know that this reduced-hour work week is a stopgap move to avoid having to let me go. Really, with the lack of upcoming work that’s facing us… it’s, in my opinion, delaying the inevitable. I *hope* there is some work coming up that gets me chargeable and working 40 hours again but I’m not optimistic. We’ll see how it plays out… I’m pretty much ready for anything at this point. I’ve been in a holding pattern with respect to a layoff for so long that I think I’m mentally and emotionally ready to accept my fate. 

Take Not My Software, Ye Douchebags From Hell

Leave a reply

terminators

March Of The IT Professionals

With all of the blog updates lately and the subject matter change that I’ve been writing about, you can probably guess that I’ve undergone a relatively recent life event associated with my drinking habits. But that’s not what this update is about.

I was out of the office on Short Term Disability for four weeks, as previously written. Because of the way I left the office, my computer was left untouched and would fall into a sleep/standby mode for most of those four weeks.

At some point during those four weeks, corporate-level IT harvested the license for my version of Adobe Professional. Unbeknownst to me at the time of my return, Adobe Professional was removed from my machine during one of the two Windows updates that were installed. 

I should have seen it coming. Once a year, I get an email from some remote, corporate-level IT dickhead in like fucking Guadalajara asking me if I *REALLY* need Adobe Professional because they want to harvest my license and save some money. Every time I get one of these emails, I respond that I *DO* need it and that it’s integral to execution of my work.

Buuuuut… I guess they decided to ignore me this time.

I re-requested access to be able to download Adobe Professional via the usual software management system, a request that was automatically granted. The software management system is supposed to auto-update to show that I can now install the program however… it doesn’t and still hasn’t. 

Technology is just fucking great when it works. The rest of the time? It’s a complete bite in the ass. 

Back To The Grind

Leave a reply

Today was my second day back at work; my first day back in the office was so tiring that I ended up in bed at 8:30 pm and I was only there for about 6 ½ hours. 

It was very mentally stimulating though because I was asked many, many, many times what happened and how I’m doing etc. Being ‘on‘ and engaging was mentally tiring and then traveling to the clinic to find out the results of my MRI didn’t do me any favours either. 

The good news of the day yesterday was that surgery on my shoulder is not required. Two more weeks of wearing this brace and then 2+ months of physiotherapy and I’ll be tip-top. My rotator cuff was not torn and the bone fracture in my socket (I don’t know the technical term of where the fracture is) apparently looks like it hasn’t changed or grown larger and should heal on its own. 

Today, I started doing a lot more work. I should maybe be a lot more tired than I am but I think that, in a way, the work was less stressful and helped me to be ‘off‘ a little. I am also re-learning my job since I was relatively new to the position before having my seizure and was then on Short Term Disability for a month. 

My biggest point of contention is that I’m now a one-handed typist. Specifically, a one-finger typist and I was a relatively adept typist with two hands. Now, I’m ridiculously slow and it pisses me off. 

Both yesterday and today were challenging though. I wanted a drink at the end of the day… not a real hardcore craving but just the feeling that a drink would be nice to relax. Regardless, the feeling was fleeting and I maintained my sobriety. It’s been 30 days since my last drink and I’m feeling proud of that and it’s something I want to maintain. 

This is reading to be a very short, disjointed collection of anecdotes rather than some kind of proper blog posting. I think this is a signal that I’m maybe more tired than I thought. Time for me to close this off before I crater completely. 

28 Days Later

Leave a reply

  

So I’ve officially been sober for 28 days. I mean, I’m less than an hour away from a full-on technical 28 days but I’m not one to quibble about it at this point. Unless some booze deity appears from the netherworld and starts funnelling alcohol into my gullet before midnight… I think I’m pretty safe. 

I will be returning to work tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to all of the questions and everything that happened the last time everyone saw me when I was a seizing disaster. But it is what it is, my crew is pretty tight and they were all legitimately concerned for me. So it will all be good; basically, I won’t be getting anything done tomorrow and that’s an ok way to ease back into it. Plus, I’m approved to return on reduced hours if need be. 

My biggest concern is that this will be the first real test of my sobriety. I feel strong now and haven’t been challenged too much. Once work stress enters the picture, will that make a difference? Will my resolve hold? I haven’t done all of my homework that I should have but I feel like I have it together. 

Also, I’m looking forward to finding out that the results of my MRI tomorrow. I would love to never have to wear this massive brace ever again. If it’s surgery, that dream is gone.

Anyway, I bid you good evening. And I apologize for luring you in with the false hopes of zombies. Had to be done. 

Sometimes, I feel like the bad doctor.

Leave a reply

https://youtu.be/Pbjypn9JtKE​

…especially in the wake of so many of my talented and intelligent coworkers are being laid off. And then there’s me… maybe not homogenously unqualified but I definitely do not have the intellectual and professional pedigree that these people do. But here I am, moving into a newly created position with massive potential and my professional friends are being terminated.

How far can you coast on charm? Well pretty far, actually.

Living On The Edge

Leave a reply

I feel like I should write something right now. There is almost so much going on (and most of it is shitty) that I don’t know where to start. 

Sadly, a lot of it is work related. My employer is laying people off like mad right now and has been for three months now with no defined end in sight. No one really knows who will be next, when will they stop, what the end game is. Everyone is on edge and morale is in the toilet… swirling, swirling, swirling away. 

The reality is that the majority of companies that have to layoff a significant portion of their employees don’t do it this way. If they have to layoff 200 people, they do it all at once. One day. It’s like tearing off a band-aid; quick pain but then it’s ok after that. The people that are left can just get on with their lives and jobs. 

In Alberta, Canada however, if you lay off 50 people or more in a month, you have to report it to the provincial government and it becomes publicly very messy. Maybe it’s like this elsewhere, I’m not sure. The law surrounding corporate layoffs isn’t my forte. 

Anyway, it’s basically been 150 people laid off so far? I haven’t been keeping a running tally, I’ll leave that to the wraiths in HR. Our office has downsized even further by opting to transfer people to other offices too work on other projects to keep from having to lay them off. And there has been some attrition from the older folks in the office saying, “fuck this shit” and deciding to retire. Also, some (not many) have found employment elsewhere and just quit. 

One might say, “Why don’t more people do that? Who needs to go through the agony of long-term protracted layoffs?” 

I’ll tell you a little story about our friend, Mr. West Texas Intermediate and how sad he is because his price on the open market is very low. The industry I work in and the entire local economy revolves around Mr. WTI and when his price is low, end user companIes lose their minds and throw the emergency brake on all spending. Have you hear the phrase, “shit rolls downhill?” Yeah, me and the company I work for? We’re downhill. Me and every other Joe Shmoe who works for a company below the end user. So there are not many jobs left to jump to and the competition is strong for the few jobs that are left.

I have no idea if I’ll have a job at the end of the day tomorrow or next week or the week after that. Frankly, I can’t even look that far into the future. I’m taking it as fact that I’m going to be laid off and that it’s just a matter of time.

My Coffee Is Sacred

Leave a reply

So, we have the carafe style coffee makers now. No more of this individualization of your coffee experience… unless you like using those syrups, then all the power to ya.

But everyone feels like they gotta get all creative with the coffee making. The one chick in this area who drinks decaf makes a 1.5 package pot of decaf. Whatever, it’s fucking decaf… you’re already laying with Satan for that.

But this older lady in the office, who I’m pretty sure she is a pack a day smoker, has been beating me into the office and taken over the whole coffee making thing. (I’ve been consistently making the coffee since switching over and she’s been at the other office until last week.)

She has got the philosophy of only making a half pot since “it’s more flavorful” this way. I don’t know what the fuck she is doing but yesterday and Friday, the coffee tasted like battery acid was mixed in and this morning is is weak as fuck.

Why do people need to keep fucking with my coffee? If I had any confidence that it wouldn’t get stolen, I’d just buy a Tassimo to keep at my desk.

And, to that older lady? If you want your food or drink to me more flavorful… how about you quit fucking smoking, ok?

You might actually be able to taste things if you didn’t dump ashes into your mouth all day long. Think about that.