Tick Tock

It’s hard to believe, but the majority of the department I've worked in the past four years will be terminated tomorrow afternoon. I will be the last man standing from this project. I’m not sure if that’s entirely a good thing or not, but I’ll still be collecting a paycheck, so I count it as primarily as a good thing. I was the last man standing from the last project too.

The layoffs were announced three weeks ago while I was visiting my folks. I was contacted by my manager, who requested that I return to the home office “bright and early” the following Monday morning for an “important discussion”. Having rode the layoff train a couple of times in the past, I opted to just tell the manager that it was ok to fire me on the phone and save us both the hassle. He laughed, just a little, and said that I was safe “this time”.

A summary of our subsequent discussion goes like this: “Sell something, sell it within the next twenty four months, or your fate will be the same.” This gives me a little breathing room, but not much. It usually takes about 18 months to process a customer from first contact to receipt of a purchase order.

I had a very awkward discussion with one of my departing colleagues last week. I most humbly requested that she transfer any electronic documents of interest from her laptop to my portable hard drive. Without bating an eyelash, she politely told me to stick it. Can’t say that I blame her either! How awful, not to just be terminated, but to be terminated and then be forced to hand all your work over to your colleagues on your way out the door. It’s the real world, but sometimes it’s an awkward world.

I have another colleague that I need data from, but I’ve opted to have our IT department hold his laptop (as well as the other lady’s laptop) after his termination rather than have yet another awkward discussion.

I tried to say goodbye last week, but it just didn’t work out. At some point today I’ll craft a goodbye email and send it into the void.

Are you kidding me?!?

Several years ago (http://roadwearybusinessman.blogspot.com/2007/04/training-escapades.html) I wrote about a few of my brand new customers. Last week, all of these customers were laid off by their company. Layoffs aren’t new to the industry this year. Everyone is doing it. What’s different with this layoff is that the customer terminated ALL the employees who know how to use the equipment my company sold them. (Someone is seriously brain dead.)

It’s kind of like terminating all the public bus drivers and then expecting the buses to run on time. Crazy, crazy, crazy. What’s amusing is that the manufacturing company that purchased the equipment from my company wants me to return to their facility and begin training a new batch of engineers. For free.
There is absolutely no chance of that happening. We’ve sent them a quote of about $700 per hour if they would like me to grace them with my presence. Now if they would only pay ME the $700 an hour, life would be much better!