Sick.
By Sunday I felt halfway human, and then, while eating a very tasty sourdough baguette sandwich, I felt a crunch, and spat out a piece of tooth. (*) And I wondered, what's the third thing?
(* Let me digress lest you are besieged with visions of some shuddersome creature ignorant and lax in the habits of dental hygiene. I grew up in the days of treating tonsillitis with tetracyclene, which we now know does bad things to the permanent teeth still in the gums. Water was not fluoridated. And then I was doubly blessed with a butcher of a pediatric dentist who liked BIG fillings. This trifecta of tooth-unfriendly circumstances [see next paragraph regarding the number Three] led to my mouth containing weak things which are more filling than tooth).
My father, currently and forever under the dank fog of dementia, was a generally intelligent, pragmatic man, though apparently not entirely immune to the lures of some few superstitions and karmic ideas, and strongly believed that bad things happen in threes. One hundred percent.
So:
(1) Sick as the proverbial but mythical dog.
(2) Broken tooth.
(3) Well, what?
I had less than twenty-four hours to find out.
Rentrenchment. Layoff. Redundancy. I find myself jobless in the new year.
The company which used to ensure that I had adequate spinning fiber, yarn and beads, but no longer gives a damn, has been on a steady downward spiral.
When I first started working for them, their shares were trading at around $30 and life was good. Within six months (and I know this, because this is when I was eligible to buy into the employee shares program) shares had plunged down to $8 or so. Not encouraging. Within a couple of years we were haemorrhaging money and there was talk of selling ourselves. The company, not our actual selves, though it feels a bit like the same thing now. We bled more money. A year ago we were sold, but not everyone was invited to join the new company. We were regaled with promises of profitability and bonuses initially, but as the months passed, we lost people, some voluntarily, mostly not so much.
A year ago we were about 145 people worldwide; today (well, Monday, actually. I may not be in the loop anymore) we're probably close to sixty, so it's a numbers game, no more no less. If management is throwing darts at a list of employees (and they had eight darts on Thursday. I was out sick Thursday and Friday), an employee has a better chance of being hit when not in such a dense crowd. I don't believe it was personal. I don't believe it's a message (though in theory layoffs never are). It's just business.
And business leaves me with a clean new year, full of possibilities.
And because I know I check some blogs only for the pictures, and because I'm certain I can't be the only one who does this:
6 comments:
"And business leaves me with a clean new year, full of possibilities"
That, my friend, is a wonderful and exciting way of looking at the situation. I look forward to seeing which possibilities you choose to explore.
And thank you for the photo. I do read, honest, but confess to being drawn to lovely, sparkly beaded things.
ummmm...so when did this creation appear between the sick, sick, sick and the dentist and the layoff??? You've been remarkably productive, or just not telling me what you've been up to!
Amy
Oh, this is about four years old, but I needed a picture...
I have so not been productive, not to worry!
clean slate yes yes yes ,as soon as you feel better you go get 'em girl.
Till then feet up and hot lemon. sleep. feel better soon. love dennyx0x0
Well, to be freed of a sinking ship is in some ways most excellent - but still, not cheerful news. My congratulations and condolences in equal measure.
I do like people who see the possibility in things rather than the impossibility.
Hope you're feeling better at least.
Yes, it's better that I'm not in danger of going down with the ship, and in fact I just learned yesterday that all new lay-offs will not get severance packages like I did (however small, something is almost invariably better than nothing), so my (well, their) timing could not have been better.
The truth too is that I'd been somewhat dissatisfied with my workday tasks of late, but I'm such a creature of inertia sometimes that the pain would have had to have reached a crippling level before I'd have done anything about it, so this is a well-needed metaphorical kick-start to a new beginning. A good one, I hope!
And thank you, yes, I'm feeling much better. I was able to work out today without feeling too puny even.
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