It’s been a rough week. One filled with sadness, a few tears, and frustration. Where do I start, other than to say I’m glad the weekend is here.
Monday – my company announced that they’re laying of 10% of the work force. Not which 10 % – just saying that it was done to cut costs, reorganize, and become more competitive. At the same time, they announced 3 businesses that they’d bought. The rest of the day (and into the rest of the week), it was a slow trickle of people going home as they were being told that their jobs were made “redundant”. Some were offered severence packages, some weren’t, and different dates for “final day” were given – all according to the laws of the country they were working in.
Tuesday – I found out that someone I knew had died in an accident. A huge shock as he was only a few months older than I, and being I run in a small group of friends (all foreigners) it was a huge blow to all of us. Also Tuesday, I was jerked around by Ryan Air to the point where my 6 day vacation had been chopped down to 4. I decided to cancel the flights and take the offered refund – keeping my days off and deciding to try to relax at home.
Wednesday – I learned that some of the people I had worked with for almost my entire career (10 years) were out at the end of the year. The Joy of Layoffs. Work also published all the “new” jobs in two other locations – basically they’re eliminating our business units in several countries and reassembling them in only two – with fewer jobs. Also Wednesday, we were told no vacation the week I was supposed to take mine (because this was some of the dates that people would be leaving and my job would be slapped with processing the exits). I fought my supervisor on it – saying hey, this has been scheduled for over two months. I won, so I keep my days off – even if I’m not going anywhere. Cancelled Dogsitter (who it took me almost 2 months to get). Wed night – Thurs am – Went to bed at midnight – tried to sleep. Woke up 2 hours later – and never went back to sleep. Too stressed, too worried. Insomnia strikes again.
Thursday – On very little sleep, I’m already a bit moody. We were informed that the layoffs didn’t affect my group. I got pulled into a conference room by myself and told to watch my back because someone was “angry” that they had overheard a conversation (piece) that they didn’t like. Yet they didn’t have the nerve to say so to me… just report it up the chain then back down. (Gotta love that). I was also informed that apparently everything we’re saying in chat/IM is being monitored for “keywords”. I was pretty angry, and said you know, it’s crap. (and a few other choice things about how people are going to talk about it – this is their life, career, and etc. whether or not the company likes it.) Once these meetings ended, I got a tearful call from some friends in the UK who had just found out that their jobs were gone, followed by a phone call from Ireland where others I knew were reporting the same thing. They could reapply and move to the other locations – but they didn’t think they would. It’s hard to be a good friend (and in these cases what I would consider family) and not feel for the people asking you “what am I going to do? I have a family… a home, a pregnant wife…. and Christmas is coming….” All you can do is offer support, cry with them, and say it’ll all work out. Also, Thursday – I left early with plans to go to the memorial service – wound up not going – mostly because it had been such a rough day – but also couldn’t get to sleep until around 1 AM.
Friday – got to work at 8:30AM – and two others are there. Neither had bothered to call into the maintenance bridge. I was like hello? It’s Friday… and was a bit peeved. In box was full, and so were bugs. (what were they doing?!? still don’t know.) Wound up getting through alot of work in the morning – only to have two last minute urgent priority bugs (and two other high ones) slammed on me at 5:30. Wound up being at work until nearly 8PM. Layoffs continued (not quite as tearful as the ones earlier in the week – I think that people have come a bit more to terms with it by Friday). Walked dog, ate dinner, went to bed.
All in all, it’s a rough week – it’s hard to see your friends (and at what point they became family – I don’t know – maybe somewhere between the weddings, kids, and familiy problems…) and in some cases people you’d consider family – worried. Add to it the Memorial service/ death of V, T looking for a new apartment (and having a rough time getting one b/c of money and logistics problems – and not knowing until the day he’s supposed to be out where he was moving to) , late nights at work, and the Stock Market crashing this week didn’t help anything either (though that took a back burner in my world to the pain others were going through) and I’d have to say I’m emotionally exhausted.
The one good thing I can point to is that today is Saturday, I’m supposed to meet up with some friends in town from Ireland (we’ll comisserate his layoff) and have drinks. Somehow, just for the simple reason I can look forward to that (and the fact that I’m off today) makes me think that it can only get better. Oh – and at least I have my health. Yeah, that too. :).
