I don't think anyone would argue that our economy sucks right now. It has been officially deemed the worst economic downturn since the great depression. That should be a bit scary and it is. Banks are failing. Big banks. Auto companies are struggling to the brink of failure. People are losing jobs and houses faster than the Detroit Lions can lose a football game (for those uninformed, Detroit has really sucked for the last couple of years--the football team, that is, not just the auto and music industry). One of my best friends since youth, a chronically, very gainfully employed person got laid off for the first time in his life recently. It really does suck, and I feel for him since I have been in the same boat before. I have had the wonderful distinction of having ridden in the funeral procession of four companies as they proceeded to the grave of financial failure (I was only an employee, not any part of the moronic management who couldn't run a company unless the economy was so strong it was impossible to fail). The result of being employed by such an organization is one day everyone is called into a room and given the bad news--"Oh, and by the way, as of now, you are unemployed." No "thank you." No "we're sorry we sucked so bad at running a business and that our heads were up our butts so far that we didn't see the writing on the walls before it was too late. And oh, by the way, you're whole life will suck for the next 2 to 18 months (the amount of time I have been unemployed due to these circumstances). Just, "That's it. Turn in your keys and clean out your offices/cubicles." So I do feel for my friend, and like so many others, wonder if I will be in the same boat trying to bail and stay afloat long enough to reach the next solid landfall (or landfill) of employment. Your arms do get tired, and your will does grow weak.
Yes, the economy is in terrible shape and it is effecting nearly every part of our lives. What is interesting in this particular "recession" is there has developed the concept of the "bail out". The government is "bailing out" banks, and auto manufacturing companies, and insurance companies. Yes, the government sees the economy as being so bad and the possibility of such major stalwart institutions failing as "not a good thing," so the government is bailing them out to the tune of BILLIONS of our tax dollars. I'm not sure what I think about all of it, but I do believe that in offering such "bail outs" in the way they have been offered, the government is just rewarding the poor judgment, and stupidity--oh all right, let's say it straight, greed, and corruption that produced this massive recession in the first place. The idea is, "we have to bail them out. We can't just let them fail." Hey, wake up! They have failed. It's right there in black and red. Lot's of red. They have failed in a gargantuan way. They and the government just don't want to face it.
But honestly, as far as the bail outs go, I've reserved opinion and judgment for the most part until yesterday. That's when the idea hit home very hard. That's when the company I work for demanded me and my coworkers bail them out. No, they didn't ask. They just said, in effect, "things are so bad, and the only way we can keep them going is to bail the company out in the form of pay reductions, to the tune of 5-15 % (an average being 12.3%). Oh, and by the way, you don't get to stay home 12% more of your time. No. What you do get to do is to continue not only working full time hours for less pay, but due to the needs of the company, all salaried employees are expected to continue working long hours and for some, Saturdays in order to make this all work. That's like being punished twice for someone else's crime. Which is exactly what it is.
Do I sound a tad bit bitter? Maybe it's because it's not only the economy that has landed our company in this position. It's been very poor choices and performance in upper levels. Our illustrious leader admitted in our meeting where all of this was spelled out yesterday, that a big part of our problem is due to one specific BIG project that wasn't quoted and conceived well. Imagine that. Who knew that if you didn't conceive and quote a large project well you may lose lots of money on it? I'm guessing the upper management should have known this. I'm thinking it's their jobs to know this kind of stuff, but I may be mistaken. If they, in fact, did not know, all they had to do was ask any of us in the lower levels who have worked on projects for years and we could have let them in on the secret. I was intimately involved in the design and build of this particular "difficult project". I wasn't brought in at the beginning, however. I was brought in after the conceiving and quoting was done, and along with the rest of the team told, "here it is. Now, design and build it within the insane budget and time constraints quoted." We immediately knew it was impossible, but any voicing of such was not accepted. So here we are, with a massively over budget project, hemorrhaging cash every day while we struggle to correct the remnants of it's poor concept. I have personally worked one and a half years on this project. I've put in long hours, late nights, and Saturdays. I have wrestled, on my "off time" with design issues while I'm supposed to be paying attention to my wife and others around me. I design in my head as I creep along the paved pathway leading to work every day and while slog through a consistently congested route home. I have dreamed incessantly about this project and it's endless debug efforts. And now, I get to continue doing all of that for 12.3% less compensation. Yes, I get to bail out this project and my company. I get to pay for the stupidity of those above me. But we don't want the company to fail! Listen up people! The company has already failed. It's right there in black and red. Lot's. . .of. . . red! And now the powers that be are putting the rest of us in the red to prolong the agony and keep it on life support for a while longer.
There are those who will say, "well, at least you still have a job." They are correct, for the time being. It's hard to look at this in a positive light at present, however. Whether one tends to be a glass half full or empty type person depends a lot on where the glass started. If it was full or at least more full than not, then yes, the glass is half empty. If it was more empty than not, then yes, it is half full. It's not a matter of attitude, it's a matter of motion--progress--or regression. My pay has now regressed, so you see, the glass as I see it is definitely half empty. And yes, I still have a job, but the basic problem remains. The company is doing terrible and those at the helm helped navigate it into shallow, rocky waters. They are still at the helm, and I'll guarantee you one thing, if I had done this poorly in my work here, I wouldn't be around any longer. I've been here before with other companies whose leadership were just as inept. On one such occasion we got our pay cut 20% with an additional poke in the eye of postponing our pay period 2 extra weeks right before Christmas. Did that help save the company? No. The company went out of business shortly thereafter. Luckily I jumped ship before the waves came over the boards. Not many of us have much faith that this will end any differently. It's just a matter of time. How can it come out differently with the same leadership at the helm? As it stands right now, they have driven the ship onto the rocks and are asking the crew to bail diligently after having cut their rations significantly.
I wonder if he'll go down with the ship? Oh, I hope so.
Yes, the economy is in terrible shape and it is effecting nearly every part of our lives. What is interesting in this particular "recession" is there has developed the concept of the "bail out". The government is "bailing out" banks, and auto manufacturing companies, and insurance companies. Yes, the government sees the economy as being so bad and the possibility of such major stalwart institutions failing as "not a good thing," so the government is bailing them out to the tune of BILLIONS of our tax dollars. I'm not sure what I think about all of it, but I do believe that in offering such "bail outs" in the way they have been offered, the government is just rewarding the poor judgment, and stupidity--oh all right, let's say it straight, greed, and corruption that produced this massive recession in the first place. The idea is, "we have to bail them out. We can't just let them fail." Hey, wake up! They have failed. It's right there in black and red. Lot's of red. They have failed in a gargantuan way. They and the government just don't want to face it.
But honestly, as far as the bail outs go, I've reserved opinion and judgment for the most part until yesterday. That's when the idea hit home very hard. That's when the company I work for demanded me and my coworkers bail them out. No, they didn't ask. They just said, in effect, "things are so bad, and the only way we can keep them going is to bail the company out in the form of pay reductions, to the tune of 5-15 % (an average being 12.3%). Oh, and by the way, you don't get to stay home 12% more of your time. No. What you do get to do is to continue not only working full time hours for less pay, but due to the needs of the company, all salaried employees are expected to continue working long hours and for some, Saturdays in order to make this all work. That's like being punished twice for someone else's crime. Which is exactly what it is.
Do I sound a tad bit bitter? Maybe it's because it's not only the economy that has landed our company in this position. It's been very poor choices and performance in upper levels. Our illustrious leader admitted in our meeting where all of this was spelled out yesterday, that a big part of our problem is due to one specific BIG project that wasn't quoted and conceived well. Imagine that. Who knew that if you didn't conceive and quote a large project well you may lose lots of money on it? I'm guessing the upper management should have known this. I'm thinking it's their jobs to know this kind of stuff, but I may be mistaken. If they, in fact, did not know, all they had to do was ask any of us in the lower levels who have worked on projects for years and we could have let them in on the secret. I was intimately involved in the design and build of this particular "difficult project". I wasn't brought in at the beginning, however. I was brought in after the conceiving and quoting was done, and along with the rest of the team told, "here it is. Now, design and build it within the insane budget and time constraints quoted." We immediately knew it was impossible, but any voicing of such was not accepted. So here we are, with a massively over budget project, hemorrhaging cash every day while we struggle to correct the remnants of it's poor concept. I have personally worked one and a half years on this project. I've put in long hours, late nights, and Saturdays. I have wrestled, on my "off time" with design issues while I'm supposed to be paying attention to my wife and others around me. I design in my head as I creep along the paved pathway leading to work every day and while slog through a consistently congested route home. I have dreamed incessantly about this project and it's endless debug efforts. And now, I get to continue doing all of that for 12.3% less compensation. Yes, I get to bail out this project and my company. I get to pay for the stupidity of those above me. But we don't want the company to fail! Listen up people! The company has already failed. It's right there in black and red. Lot's. . .of. . . red! And now the powers that be are putting the rest of us in the red to prolong the agony and keep it on life support for a while longer.
There are those who will say, "well, at least you still have a job." They are correct, for the time being. It's hard to look at this in a positive light at present, however. Whether one tends to be a glass half full or empty type person depends a lot on where the glass started. If it was full or at least more full than not, then yes, the glass is half empty. If it was more empty than not, then yes, it is half full. It's not a matter of attitude, it's a matter of motion--progress--or regression. My pay has now regressed, so you see, the glass as I see it is definitely half empty. And yes, I still have a job, but the basic problem remains. The company is doing terrible and those at the helm helped navigate it into shallow, rocky waters. They are still at the helm, and I'll guarantee you one thing, if I had done this poorly in my work here, I wouldn't be around any longer. I've been here before with other companies whose leadership were just as inept. On one such occasion we got our pay cut 20% with an additional poke in the eye of postponing our pay period 2 extra weeks right before Christmas. Did that help save the company? No. The company went out of business shortly thereafter. Luckily I jumped ship before the waves came over the boards. Not many of us have much faith that this will end any differently. It's just a matter of time. How can it come out differently with the same leadership at the helm? As it stands right now, they have driven the ship onto the rocks and are asking the crew to bail diligently after having cut their rations significantly.
I wonder if he'll go down with the ship? Oh, I hope so.
1 comment:
I read that one line as the "next landfill of employment". Maybe you should do a rewrite. You can use that free of charge.
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