When life sends you a curve ball...

Last week we had a team meeting to let us know that there would be 100 redundancies at work.

Yesterday, management told us why.....

In three weeks we find out who is being affected, who is staying and who is going.

It was a rather scary experience to see the slides showing the financial position and to see the projection going below zero.

Looking around the room there were so many stunned faces, trying to grapple with the news we were hearing and the ramifications.

It occurred to me as I looked around the room, in three weeks, when those who will be leaving will be told, so many in this room will be gone and I may not see them again.  All based on decisions taken 18mths ago.

These things can make or break people, couples and families.  Some the stress is too much and they will take years, if ever, to recover.  Mortgaged to the hilt, bills coming in, and winter not far off I just pray that it does not send some people over the edge.

With some trepidation, I accept the likelihood that I am going to be one of the 100, it would only be the terribly cocky to not think it could be any of us and that I am safe but you would not be.  So I start to look at my resume and make sure its up-to-date and Linkedin is sorted ready for looking for a new job.

It has also occurred to me, it may be better to be one of the 100 rather than one of those left.  Confidence in management is at an all time low and will we even be around in another 5 years?

Awww come on.....

Have you ever had that person that picks a totally inappropriate time to have a rather heated discussion with you, doesn't get that your trying to back out of the door and just keeps going?

Oh boy did that happen to me today.

Here I am walking to the work kitchen to clean my lunch plate and make a nice hot cup of tea and there is one of the managers fixing her lunch.

I know what you're thinking, this is the time for that light banter.

How was the footie?
Why are you wearing such cool gumboots?
How was your Easter break?

But no, it's the time to have a conversation, directed to manipulate, control and make the other person so uncomfortable that they are back out the kitchen doorway and running quickly back to their desk.

I never know what people are thinking when the do something like this in such a public place.  

All I know is that I have revised my view of the manager involved and will be checking very carefully, from now on, who is in the kitchen before walking in.