The Deepest Cut
As months passed everything at Bill and Dave's company became increasingly stressful. With each wave of layoffs few employees were left still standing yet our daily workloads increased. It was truly depressing. While Greasy Guy was over in Malaysia, Boozealler and myself were able to turn the entire Mini-Rel operation completely around. Even though I didn't personally like Boozealler much I did have to give him credit for doing such an excellent job in the area. He earned my respect. Because of that strange skin corrosion he was covered in I didn't want him sharing my torque wrenches. I kept my distance. I never did ask him what the hell his affliction was...
Late in the summer that year we were told a final round of layoffs was coming. Rumor had it that this was going to be the last big one, a total bloodbath that hardly anyone would survive. For many of our employees the stress of wondering whether or not they still had a job was too much to handle. Emotionally, some people had turned into total wrecks. They just wanted to get it overwith once and for all. I didn't really care anymore. All I did every day was show up, do shit, go home to drink mass amounts of beer, and sleep through the following afternoon. What a routine.
When Super Geek's offshoring axe did finally swing the rumored bloodbath was entirely as advertised. Most of the people in my department had been handed a severance package and told to leave. Elements of our dayshift team were completely eradicated, and only a handful on swingshift made it. I had even been hit, but someone in management intervened on my behalf. No one told me about that until months later though. At the time I had no idea about it. Since almost everyone was let go that meant big changes were in store for those of us still collecting a paycheck. My fledgeling technical career path was coming to a halt and like many others I would be forced to step down into less challenging work. Sometimes you have to roll with unpleasant changes like it or not. The thing I tried to keep in mind was, a job is a job. Working here a while longer would at least be easier than standing in line at the unemployment office downtown.
Late in the summer that year we were told a final round of layoffs was coming. Rumor had it that this was going to be the last big one, a total bloodbath that hardly anyone would survive. For many of our employees the stress of wondering whether or not they still had a job was too much to handle. Emotionally, some people had turned into total wrecks. They just wanted to get it overwith once and for all. I didn't really care anymore. All I did every day was show up, do shit, go home to drink mass amounts of beer, and sleep through the following afternoon. What a routine.
When Super Geek's offshoring axe did finally swing the rumored bloodbath was entirely as advertised. Most of the people in my department had been handed a severance package and told to leave. Elements of our dayshift team were completely eradicated, and only a handful on swingshift made it. I had even been hit, but someone in management intervened on my behalf. No one told me about that until months later though. At the time I had no idea about it. Since almost everyone was let go that meant big changes were in store for those of us still collecting a paycheck. My fledgeling technical career path was coming to a halt and like many others I would be forced to step down into less challenging work. Sometimes you have to roll with unpleasant changes like it or not. The thing I tried to keep in mind was, a job is a job. Working here a while longer would at least be easier than standing in line at the unemployment office downtown.
posted by factory_peasant at 12:36 AM
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