Thursday, May 27, 2004
Hallelujah, or how I came to be drinking a beer at 3:00 on a Wednesday
So remember when I said I was thinking of quitting my job to become a construction equipment operator? Well, it looks like I won't have to do that. Quit my job, that is. That's because, as of 2:00 yesterday, I no longer have a job. Apparently I'm now officially a casualty of...well, it's not the recession, because that's over, right? I'm more like a casualty of the extreme suckiness of my company.
The fact that one of our big bosses was coming down from Wisconsin for an impromptu meeting had everyone suspicious. We knew someone was probably getting the axe. But I don't think any of us suspected that the entire staff would be called into a conference room and told that our company felt the magazines would be better under a completely new staff, so, effective immediately, we no longer worked there. I mean, you hear about this kind of thing happening at magazines in New York when they get a new editor in chief. I would even expect it here if we were in the midst of a big buyout. But our company had bought the properties we worked for from a local company nearly two years ago. Not only that, we were just about to go into production on two of the biggest issues of the year. (Which made the layoff somewhat of a relief for me, because I honestly had no idea how I was going to get them done. I just feel sorry for whoever has to take over and sort it all out.)
Still, whether we were willing to admit it or not, I think we all saw it coming. As I told some of my friends last night, the decisions being made by the home office in respect to our magazines gave me the feeling that they were trying to squeeze the life out of the Birmingham office, maybe so we would all get fed up and quit, thereby saving them the dirty work of firing us. Basically, they set up an environment in which we were so short-staffed that it was impossible for any of us to do our jobs as well as we were capable of doing them (without the risk of insanity, ulcers or heart attacks), and then they fired us, ostensibly for not doing our jobs well enough. Can you see why I was already looking for a way out? I have been since November, actually. I just regret that I only started to get serious about it here in the last couple of months. But better late than never, right?
But don't cry for me, dear blog readers. The way I view it, there are more silver linings in this situation than there are dark clouds. Let's look at some of those, shall we?
Silver lining #1: We were all fired at once. Among the carnage of the mass firing was my friend Robyn, who's my workout buddy and arguably my best friend at work. I don't think I could take it if she'd been fired and I hadn't, or vice versa. In fact, one of my main hesitations about finding a new job was that I didn't want to leave her behind at such a sucky company--she's one of the only reasons I was able to maintain my sanity this whole time. Also, I was able to persuade her to go out with me for the titular beer to dissect what had just happened to us. She wisely pointed out that perhaps people who had just lost their jobs shouldn't be spending money on beer, but I just-as-wisely pointed out that if any occasion calls for buying beer, it's losing your job.
Silver lining #2: I'm not starting from scratch. Yeah, it would have been nice to already have a job lined up, but I've got a couple of promising prospects. And my freelance job gives me a little breathing room--it's certainly not enough money to carry me through if I can't find something else right away, but at least it will ensure that I don't have any holes in my resume. What really sucks, in my opinion, is that I never got the chance to go into my boss's office and tell him I was leaving, the reason being because I can't work for a company that doesn't respect me. I soooo wanted to do that. Damn!
Silver lining #3: I can go back on the unemployment diet. If for some reason I can't find another job right away, there are some benefits to be had by being jobless. During my previous period of unemployment, I learned that being unemployed is a great weight-loss strategy. You don't have any money for food, so you can't eat very much. And you have loads of free time, which means you can work out a lot. Plus, getting away from this job in particular carries added benefits, namely that I will no longer be tempted to get frostys and hamburgers for lunch at the Wendy's across the street. (Incidentally, when I had what would turn out to be my last lunch at that Wendy's today, they gave me fries instead of a frosty. It must have been a sign!)
Silver lining #4: I had an excuse to buy Bluebell Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. OK, I realize that's somewhat contratictory with point #3. But the unemployment diet starts as soon as the carton of ice cream is finished, I promise. Besides, if any occasion calls for the buying of Bluebell Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough, it's losing your job!
Silver lining #5: I got the fresh start I so desperately wanted. Not to mention the major upheaval. I'm really thinking now that whoever came up with that "be careful what you wish for" adage was very smart. Or me, in a previous life. But seriously. Cleaning out my desk and saying good-bye to all of my friends kind of felt like the last day of school. By that time, the shock had worn off somewhat, and I mostly just felt giddy and excited. I was still a little bit sad, which I guess just makes it more like the end of school. As I drove away, I chose for my soundtrack Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"--partly because it happened to be in my CD player at the time, yes, but also because it's a perfect bittersweet I-just-got-fired-from-a-job-I-hated-anyway kind of song. I've pretty much been listening to it nonstop ever since I fell in love with in on The O.C. , and, needless to say, this is a trend that shows no sign of waning any time soon.
So there you go. I'm off to make a fresh start. Not by choice, as I had hoped, but fresh start nonetheless. Hallelujah.
So remember when I said I was thinking of quitting my job to become a construction equipment operator? Well, it looks like I won't have to do that. Quit my job, that is. That's because, as of 2:00 yesterday, I no longer have a job. Apparently I'm now officially a casualty of...well, it's not the recession, because that's over, right? I'm more like a casualty of the extreme suckiness of my company.
The fact that one of our big bosses was coming down from Wisconsin for an impromptu meeting had everyone suspicious. We knew someone was probably getting the axe. But I don't think any of us suspected that the entire staff would be called into a conference room and told that our company felt the magazines would be better under a completely new staff, so, effective immediately, we no longer worked there. I mean, you hear about this kind of thing happening at magazines in New York when they get a new editor in chief. I would even expect it here if we were in the midst of a big buyout. But our company had bought the properties we worked for from a local company nearly two years ago. Not only that, we were just about to go into production on two of the biggest issues of the year. (Which made the layoff somewhat of a relief for me, because I honestly had no idea how I was going to get them done. I just feel sorry for whoever has to take over and sort it all out.)
Still, whether we were willing to admit it or not, I think we all saw it coming. As I told some of my friends last night, the decisions being made by the home office in respect to our magazines gave me the feeling that they were trying to squeeze the life out of the Birmingham office, maybe so we would all get fed up and quit, thereby saving them the dirty work of firing us. Basically, they set up an environment in which we were so short-staffed that it was impossible for any of us to do our jobs as well as we were capable of doing them (without the risk of insanity, ulcers or heart attacks), and then they fired us, ostensibly for not doing our jobs well enough. Can you see why I was already looking for a way out? I have been since November, actually. I just regret that I only started to get serious about it here in the last couple of months. But better late than never, right?
But don't cry for me, dear blog readers. The way I view it, there are more silver linings in this situation than there are dark clouds. Let's look at some of those, shall we?
Silver lining #1: We were all fired at once. Among the carnage of the mass firing was my friend Robyn, who's my workout buddy and arguably my best friend at work. I don't think I could take it if she'd been fired and I hadn't, or vice versa. In fact, one of my main hesitations about finding a new job was that I didn't want to leave her behind at such a sucky company--she's one of the only reasons I was able to maintain my sanity this whole time. Also, I was able to persuade her to go out with me for the titular beer to dissect what had just happened to us. She wisely pointed out that perhaps people who had just lost their jobs shouldn't be spending money on beer, but I just-as-wisely pointed out that if any occasion calls for buying beer, it's losing your job.
Silver lining #2: I'm not starting from scratch. Yeah, it would have been nice to already have a job lined up, but I've got a couple of promising prospects. And my freelance job gives me a little breathing room--it's certainly not enough money to carry me through if I can't find something else right away, but at least it will ensure that I don't have any holes in my resume. What really sucks, in my opinion, is that I never got the chance to go into my boss's office and tell him I was leaving, the reason being because I can't work for a company that doesn't respect me. I soooo wanted to do that. Damn!
Silver lining #3: I can go back on the unemployment diet. If for some reason I can't find another job right away, there are some benefits to be had by being jobless. During my previous period of unemployment, I learned that being unemployed is a great weight-loss strategy. You don't have any money for food, so you can't eat very much. And you have loads of free time, which means you can work out a lot. Plus, getting away from this job in particular carries added benefits, namely that I will no longer be tempted to get frostys and hamburgers for lunch at the Wendy's across the street. (Incidentally, when I had what would turn out to be my last lunch at that Wendy's today, they gave me fries instead of a frosty. It must have been a sign!)
Silver lining #4: I had an excuse to buy Bluebell Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough ice cream. OK, I realize that's somewhat contratictory with point #3. But the unemployment diet starts as soon as the carton of ice cream is finished, I promise. Besides, if any occasion calls for the buying of Bluebell Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough, it's losing your job!
Silver lining #5: I got the fresh start I so desperately wanted. Not to mention the major upheaval. I'm really thinking now that whoever came up with that "be careful what you wish for" adage was very smart. Or me, in a previous life. But seriously. Cleaning out my desk and saying good-bye to all of my friends kind of felt like the last day of school. By that time, the shock had worn off somewhat, and I mostly just felt giddy and excited. I was still a little bit sad, which I guess just makes it more like the end of school. As I drove away, I chose for my soundtrack Jeff Buckley's "Hallelujah"--partly because it happened to be in my CD player at the time, yes, but also because it's a perfect bittersweet I-just-got-fired-from-a-job-I-hated-anyway kind of song. I've pretty much been listening to it nonstop ever since I fell in love with in on The O.C. , and, needless to say, this is a trend that shows no sign of waning any time soon.
So there you go. I'm off to make a fresh start. Not by choice, as I had hoped, but fresh start nonetheless. Hallelujah.
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