11 posts tagged “redundancy”
Three ladies from the admin team of one of our clients came to my office this afternoon to present me with these -
They included a lovely card that they had all signed. One of the comments said that I was "one of the few people that can make a disaster seem like a non event". I really treasure their thoughtfulness and gift of gratitude. I have had the privilege of working with some fine people in the last few years and these people were among the finest
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We have been trying to start cutting back on expenses in anticipation of my upcoming redundancy:
I have cancelled or not renewed subscriptions to magazines or newspaper.
I have learnt to say no to charities - ouch - choosing one or two dear to our hearts
No junkfood or eating out - maybe the occasional coffee and cake, but little else. We rarely go out anyway.
Making simpler meals at home - more fresh foods and less buying of things like prepared sauces.
Buying specials at the grocery market. When I see something on special eg margarine, where once I might have bought 2 or 3 I now buy 6 or more. Luckily we have the extra fridge space. Also buying items of lesser quality - do I really need 52 ply toilet paper?
Buying fewer cleaning products and using more tried and true old homemade products - better for the earth too!
I am gradually buying christmas food before prices go up closer to Christmas. I am also asking family members to bring a dish for Christmas Day celebrations also, where we usually provide all.
I HAVE STOPPED BUYING BOOKS. Time to read the zillions I have waiting to be read anyway.
Not buying clothes unless needed. I certainly don't need office clothes if I am not going to be going to an office!
Cutting back on Christmas gifts - maybe 1 or 2 each for the children not the pile that parent guilt makes me buy each year even though they are adults.
Not using my clothes dryer when it rains - the clothes go onto an airer even if it makes the house look like a chinese laundry.
Growing some of our own vegeables like lettuce and tomato.
Not joining in the bakery run at work - I can live without that sausage roll!
Trying to control wants so avoid places that cause us to impulse buy. Saying no to those things that "speak" to me is hard but not impossible.
This one is a little naughty, but is allowed - driving Mr FD's company car at the weekend rather than our own car. Well it is a fully maintained vehicle, it is just that we normally like to drive our own car more.
Suggestions welcome.
I didn’t notice at first, but home alone in the Basement of Discontent this afternoon, I found myself just sitting there swinging back and forth on my chair. Blank mind. Just swingin’. I was “basement” alone all day. The Assistant took the day off to go update her will – hopefully she decided what to do with her mother’s ashes at the same time too, as they are still in a box in the living room. It is a very nice box, but it is still in the living room. SWKK is still in a fugue and takes leave most Fridays and Mondays now so she can sit at home and perfect her fugue for Tuesdays. Better than sitting in the office and doing nothing I guess…you could find yourself just swinging on your chair otherwise.
Boss didn’t come in. Sent various cryptic messages during the day. He would be in at noon, or maybe 2pm – make that not at all. His mobile was off, it was on silent, send text messages only – no one bothered to do any of the above. We have lived three years without asking him anything, why start now with only 28 working days to go before we are all “Ho, Ho, Home you go, and stay there!”?
Tell me cosmos – does office chair swinging qualify as a form of exercise? Will I develop great calf muscles? Or dislocate a hip? Is it ever going to be a demonstration sport at the Olympics? I can sort of see it slotting into London, that center of business acumen and CBD of many office chairs. Give it a new twist on the label “Swinging London”.
Excitingly, I appear to have spontaneously perfected the left to right swing action. I can swing and still read my computer screen too. Not bad for a one eyed hen! I am so proud of me. I never cease to thrill and amaze myself with my many and varied talents. I also do it with great agility and style. God, I am good. Not unexpected that I am though.
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On another note – what is it about redundancy that makes you want to steal office supplies? Useless stuff like rubber thumb stalls (those little rubber thingies that you see bank tellers wearing on the ends of their fingers when they count notes) and conference name holders with pins to wear on your shirt. Not a lot of call for either when unemployed I fear.
Knowing that you are about to be pushed out the exit door makes you kind of ANGRY. However you can’t be too angry as these are the schmucks youed to give you a reference when you leave. So you peruse the office supplies and cast your eye over boxes of lead pencils and bags of rubber bands. Totally mindless stuff. But somehow the thought of lifting it just seems so comforting. So warm and fluffy and inviting. Take me, take me…
And then Sister Mary Ethel Rita steps back into your mind and you see her there with her leather strap and you halt, hand quivering mid air. Maybe not. It probably wouldn’t be the right printer cartridge for our printer anyway…
Maybe tomorrow will offer better pickings anyway. I think someone said a bulk delivery of Kleenex tissues was due Tuesday…that I could use, crying all the way Ho Ho Home.
Got a big jolly today.
Apparently MegaBoss, Boss. and the gent who is "acting" for Mega Bitch now that she is no more, and has never been part of our organisation and is MERELY a friend of MegaBoss, have been meeting over the past few days trying to find a way to compile some specific information.
Being men they did not think to ask the person who is actually the specialist in that area - YES, MOI! The one and only Flamingo Dancer! Finally the Acting One phoned me from his throne room and asked me if he could do this or that and I said "what is it you want to do actually?" and lo, it was so simple I almost burst ou laughing. Within half an hour I had the report on its way to his kingdom. I did enjoy the fact that I calmly made it look so simple, well it was actually, but they were stupid enough not to ask the right person in the first place so they deserved to sweat for a couple of days.
The jollies don't come often these days, but rare jewels that they are, they are still there to be enjoyed. And I did! Happy, happy little flamingo dance...it is a small life, but someone has to live it.
Life lesson 483 : Take your enjoyment, no matter how small, where and when you can! They don't often get offered twice.
Mental Health Day, Doona Day, Chucking a Sickie, No Show Day, call it what you will but I am not going to work today. I can't take the Cry Me a River Sisters (SWKK and The Assistant) Today.
Besides we don't get paid out for our accumulated sick days so in the great Australian tradition we all plan to use them up before we are shown the door on, Ho Ho Ho Home you go, and stay there Christmas Eve!
I saw that Sarah Palin is still featuring on Fox – talk about news junkies with an addiction! I heard her saying that she doesn’t know whether she will run for President in 2012 or not, that she just asks God not to let her pass an open door. I wished some door would open for me.
The garbage man came this morning. It was a two bin day – garbage and recycling. Always a highlight of the week. I walked out of the house to go to work and noticed that the fine garbage man must have had an off morning and quite a bit of our rubbish, had missed his glorious garbage truck and was now spread about our footpath. So I picked it up and brought the wheelie bins back to their little home against the side fence.
I thought more about Sarah’s open door policy as I drove to work. I always ask the Big Whatever to just take me somewhere I will be happy. Obviously not working all that well. Maybe time to adopt a more “unlock the door and let me in” attitude.
I arrived at work and found that outside the front door a newspaper had quietly settled itself, page beside page. A number of staff had already walked passed it, over it, but all those lunch times spent picking up litter under the menacing glare of the Sisters of No Mercy kicked into memory and I set to picking up the paper.
It was then that I started to think that maybe The Big Whatever was opening a door for me – garbage collection. I have always leaned towards a job with a leaf blower – I really like those things. The power of blowing leaves and various detritus about seems like a good gig from where I sit, with no window. I could probably master working with one of those little spike things and stabbing various bits of rubbish. No sure how I would go mastering a truck with a hydraulic arm though, and left hand drive as opposed to our usual right hand drive vehicles. I am not all that coordinated – yes folks the Flamingo Dancer cannot catch a ball! Shame, horror. I have so much need for ball skills in life too…
What if this is the only door that is coming my way? What if that is it and here I am dissing it off? Will I get to the Great You Know Where and find the door shut and when I ask “Why?” will I get the answer, “Well I opened a door once for you, what more do you want?” When will I know what is the right door and what is just delusion?
I have a job interview Wednesday!
The job.
Pressure on now!
I have to give a presentation to the panel and believe it or not I am not great with presentations.. content is always good, presentation.....not so good. I will just have to remember that I am THE FLAMINGO DANCER, and they would be so lucky to have me!!!!
Positive thoughts, prayers, incantations, whatever, please.
Having a flex Friday. Mr FD rolled out of bed this morning and said that he wished we could have a couple of weeks at home to do some chores. I laughed - 8 weeks today, is not only Christmas Eve but also the day I become jobless. I may have many weeks at home!!!!!
Enjoying the one I have today anyway. I am just pre-heating the oven to bake my Christmas cake. I like to do it now so that I can "drip" feed it until Christmas - that means keeping it moist with more alcohol! My sister used to think that you could get drunk on fruit cake - well we might just achieve it this year! Most fruit cakes last a few days, often into the New Year. Not mine, it is mostly gone by Christmas night!!!! It is an evolving recipe!
and this photo is for GOF and Snowy -
Big weekend. Daughter 2 arrives back in Australia tomorrow. If you are at the Brisbane International Airport tomorrow around 10am you may witness some might fine Flamingo Dancing. In fact, you may witness an entire flock of Flamingo Dancers happy dancing.
Sunday we are finally going to meet our newest family member - our great niece No 3. We are taking afternoon tea with her as a matter of fact. It was fun buying baby presents again. I also bought something for her older siblings, brother No1 and Sister No 2. I always give babies books. I believe it is important to read to babies from birth - they understand more than you think! I read to mine all the time, and talked to them constantly. I have also bought her a little cloth book that has colour on one side and on the reverse side the graphics are all black and white, because apparently babies see everything as black and white when they are first born. I also found the newest Paddington Bear story - tucked away for someone for Christmas. The children's section of the bookstore is nearly my favourite section - after the biography and history section!
I have to disappear for awhile at 10am to go to the interview. They rescheduled to Monday just for me, to allow me time to return from holiday. I will have to shed my holiday brain and adopt my work brain fast! I don't mind anyone knowing I am going to an interview, considering the circumstances, but if I advertise it too much it might make some of the other people in the office feel apprehensive about their own futures as everyone is still in limbo. One never knows if an interview it is all just a formailty and that there is already an uncumbuntant in the role "filling in" and they are using you as a cover to confirm them in the role...but nothing ventured nothing gained.
Fingers crossed, please.
We trooped into the monthly staff meeting today - those who couldn't invent good excuses not to, that is. I got out of my death bed to attend...perhaps I exaggerate just a little, my sick bed. It was a waste of time and effort. MegaBitch sat for close to an hour telling us how hard all this has been for her, and all the hard work she has to go through working through the change over to the outsourcing...and finished off by saying "I know how hard this must be for you all, so if there is anything, anything I can do to help you at all, please let me know". I had to struggle to keep my inside words from leaping into my mouth and escaping as outside words...go lie in the road then!
So this afternoon we all met with the union rep. I wasn't a member but I am now! We realise that we can't really stop things but we can make them perform to the letter of the law... and we might even have a case to argue gross mismanagement by MegaMegaBoss and MegaBitch and have a pitch for their positions to be re-evaluated as they will only have half a position when we are outsourced. So some mud will stick...this may be an era that they`will want to skip on their resume! We may go down but not without a fight...the Flamingo dancers again.
It is interesting though. My assistant fashions herself a little rebel, Billy Bragg is her hero, along with Che , but comes the crunch and she just folds... she creates passive aggressive emails because she wont ask a direct question and rants and raves in the background but wont stand up for herself. Nothing is ever her fault, her responsibility, and she abdicates her own life to others and yet is angry about it all. Not at herself, but she rants about capitalism and elites etc etc. Bit much from a 36 year old! She is not the only one. And there are others at work who are docile and quiet and don't quite understand what is happening to them, but they are stepping up to the plate and fighting the good fight. Still waters run deep I guess after all. I guess it is a bit like Churchill and how he was a great leader in war but not so great in peace time - different types for different occasions and people never cease to amaze one. Thank heavens!
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