April 1st equates to.....management reorganization! Historically it's been a once a year exercise in moving warm bodies to and fro on the org chart in the hopes that upper management won't realize that nothing has really changed except everyones job titles.
Except this year, with the economic meltdown, things are changing. There's blood in the water. An entire department has been axed. Bodies out the door, bodies on the floor. I didn't even have the opportunity to say goodbye to the co-workers that were terminated. They're just missing in action. The semiconductor industry is in a gigantic meltdown, so there's no where for these folks to go. Just out of work, with no job prospects.
In my department, the manager has been replaced with...no one. The manager has been moved to a different department, and I now report to the next level manager(my managers manager).
Other folks in my group seem quite concerned, but I'm a little more relaxed about it. I've been with this company for about eight years, and I've worked for seven different managers. Managers come and go in this department, and I remain. This may say far more about me than it says about those that I've reported to.
Yet this year, there's an air of desperation. We aren't loosing gigantic amounts of money, but nor are we making gigantic amounts of money. Breaking even isn't good enough. Profit is a must, at almost any cost.
Now that I have learned to sway to the baton of my hardworking Japanese Maestro, I must now learn to sway to the baton of my hardworking, hard drinking, Scottish Maestro.
My liver quivers in anticipation.
2 comments:
Hey Steve, I think you'd look very Scotsman-like wearing a kilt to work and all day everyone will wonder if you are a "true Scotsman". Just keep a flask of your boss's favorite brew in your little pouch thingy ma bob...I think it's called a sporran.
Ah, yes, the Sporran! Aka, man bag.
I spent a long, long evening of beer and soju with my new Scotsman manager. His liver is much stronger than mine.
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