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Willy Bum Bum
Jun. 21st, 2020 12:15 pmOn Friday, we received details of the company's voluntary redundancy scheme following news on Thursday that five jobs on my side of the business are 'at risk'. How much 'at risk' is of course a subjective term, but we have all been given the option to apply for redunancy. There will be a company presentation this coming Monday. I am unsure whether I am one of the five deemed 'at risk', but my gut is telling me that I probably am. I have now been furloughed for over twelve weeks and in that time, my direct line manager has only spoken to me three times. In addition to this, I have become increasingly sidelined since the company takeover happened in late Summer 2018, and have certainly felt since last Autumn that I have been underused. Part of the problem is that I think they don't know how best to utilise me, but the real issue is that prior to the takeover, I was indispensible to a moderately-sized director-owned SME while now I am just one team member of three in a larger company owned by venture capitalists.
I haven't been happy at work for some time and things that were promised to me, or things I was told, turned out not to have been delivered. Consequently, I am leaning towards applying for redundancy, not least because I cannot think of five other people ahead of me who are likely to be let go based on the other structural changes I know head office is making. Furthermore, with the director who hired me having moved from five days a week to a one-day consultancy role (with no overall power in the business any more), whatever I go back to is likely to be worse than what I left. I am going to speak with the head of HR on Tuesday and then on Thursday the director is coming around to visit so I am hoping to get answers then. The redunancy package does seem generous and all of this would tie into my relocation plans towards the end of the year, but not having a job in the current economic climate is a risk, despite me having enough money to surive like I currently am for the next eighteen months or so.
The job front has been rather slow this week, but I have applied for four, while I have a couple of freelance gigs already lined up if I am made redundant. Of course, all of this has really hit my mood hard, and I have spent much of the weekend feeling rather helpless and frustrated at the current situation. I also feel incredibly hurt and let down by everything that has happened, but I also need to hold on to the perspective that I might not have lost my job and that they may need me. Certainly I have some knowledge and skills they need as part of the restructure so it's by no means a foregone conclusion, but as I say, considering I haven't been back to work since 26 March, there is a sense of them having moved on without me. Considering that a lot of my self-worth comes from feeling useful, this has knocked my confidence somewhat, not aided by a somewhat fruitless job search so far, albeit one where I have come exceptionally close on a couple of occasions.
There have been a couple of social events this week. I was late to Pony Chat on Tuesday on an account of attending an online conference dedicated to my industry. I learned quite a lot here and got some important networking in, which may come in handy for my ongoing job search. On Thursday, we were going to have fish and chips in a park near Arc (lols) but the weather was particularly gnarly and it was rained off. This was annoying as when we had planned it, roughly at this time last week, Thursday was deemed the best day of the week but in the end it was sunny earlier in the week and dismal towards the end. Ultimately, we had to do an online fish and chip gathering, during which Taneli, Arc, Wolfie and I played Scribblio, which is very much like online Pictionary. It was great fun and a relaxing way to spend an evening after the threat of redunancy loomed so I was very grateful to have such close friends.
Had COVID not happened, we would have been in Coventry this weekend watching Rammstein at the Ricoh Arena. We've had everything refunded and all is organised for new dates at this exact time next year, but not being there did weigh heavy on the day yesterday. I haven't seen Rammstein since about 2005 and Wolfie not at all, while it would have been a really great adventure. Alas, it wasn't to be and at least we will get to experience it next year. Of course, tangentially to this, was the return of the football season which took place on Saturday. Middlesbrough contrived to go 3-0 down to Swansea in the first half, largely due to our inept inexperienced manager, making me wish that the season had just been written off with Boro just the right side of the relegation zone. With performances like that, they are sure to go down as I don't see them picking up many points in the final eight games of the season.
Saturday was Leeds Meet day, although I wasn't feeling the best following the news of the redunancy scheme, which was announced very late on Friday. I started the day with Arakin's group watching cartoons again, although we seemed to be short of ideas and ended up just talking with each other. We did watch Donald Duck's Adventures In Mathematics Land though, from about 1950, which had some fascinating mathetmatical facts of which I was actually unaware. It's amazing what you still learn, but if I was being honest, my mood kept me somewhat distant from the others. After this, we went to the meet, which was another afternoon of general unwinding. Tonks and Stray livestreamed a quiz on Twitch and I was charged with ensuring no-one was cheating, which was a hard task as all of this was remote. I just bounced around the four private chat areas for each of the teams, although it was frustrating not doing a quiz in which I knew most of the answers. Hearing people's thought processes was fascinating though, particularly when they logically deduced the right answer, and it was a good opportunity to speak to many of the meet attendees.
We round it off at about 6pm and ordered food from Feed, which turned into quite a palava as the order went through twice, giving us two sets of food at twice the price. Wolfie was not happy, particularly when I erroneously suggested he had clicked the 'order' button twice, saying that I always see the worst in him. This soured the mood for a number of hours, not helped by Wolfie being passed from pillar to post between Feed and Uber Eats, with the former insisting they weren't responsible and the latter not having a decent process to claim back money. In the end, we just had to give it up, with the additional food now being sat in the fridge to eat today. We have been loyal customers of Feed for a while and have ordered there every couple of weeks since the lockdown started. We wanted to support a good local business but, considering this treatment, we are unlikely to go back. We MAY do pick up as it's literally just down the road - having accepted the problem was Uber Eats's ordering system rather than Feed themselves - but their attitude was still off and, if I am made redundant, there are far cheaper options for takeout which I would more likely use instead.
This mood - and a trip to ASDA to pick up beer and supplies - meant we were somewhat late to Stray's usual online Jackbox stream. This was a regret as once we had joined at around midnight, we had a fantastic couple of hours laughing and joking. It was definitely the highlight of the week, aided by the presence of Stray's mother and sister, to whom we started embarrassing the special fox. Lots of pup play stuff was mentioned and I felt far more relaxed about things than the previous week, when I had feared I had gone too far. It turned out that Stray's mother was quite filthy and got into the spirit of Jackbox entirely, after which we also enjoyed one of her quizzes, where between CD and myself, we knew nearly all of the answers. The evening ended with a nuanced debate about statues, Black Lives Matter and politics before it was just Stray and I left, having a heart-to-heart chat until about 4am.
Today is Father's Day and my Dad's birthday too, so I'll give him a ring later on, not least to discuss the current job situation. Wolfie is over in Rochdale doing work for a client, so he will be out for much of the day. This will be the longest we have been apart since mid-March and I am already starting to miss him, even if the break from each other will probably do us both good. We certainly have lived lockdown well and our relationship may be closer because of the time spent together, but some alone time every now and again is wise. I may also stick my nose into Pony Chat later today too, we'll see.
I haven't been happy at work for some time and things that were promised to me, or things I was told, turned out not to have been delivered. Consequently, I am leaning towards applying for redundancy, not least because I cannot think of five other people ahead of me who are likely to be let go based on the other structural changes I know head office is making. Furthermore, with the director who hired me having moved from five days a week to a one-day consultancy role (with no overall power in the business any more), whatever I go back to is likely to be worse than what I left. I am going to speak with the head of HR on Tuesday and then on Thursday the director is coming around to visit so I am hoping to get answers then. The redunancy package does seem generous and all of this would tie into my relocation plans towards the end of the year, but not having a job in the current economic climate is a risk, despite me having enough money to surive like I currently am for the next eighteen months or so.
The job front has been rather slow this week, but I have applied for four, while I have a couple of freelance gigs already lined up if I am made redundant. Of course, all of this has really hit my mood hard, and I have spent much of the weekend feeling rather helpless and frustrated at the current situation. I also feel incredibly hurt and let down by everything that has happened, but I also need to hold on to the perspective that I might not have lost my job and that they may need me. Certainly I have some knowledge and skills they need as part of the restructure so it's by no means a foregone conclusion, but as I say, considering I haven't been back to work since 26 March, there is a sense of them having moved on without me. Considering that a lot of my self-worth comes from feeling useful, this has knocked my confidence somewhat, not aided by a somewhat fruitless job search so far, albeit one where I have come exceptionally close on a couple of occasions.
There have been a couple of social events this week. I was late to Pony Chat on Tuesday on an account of attending an online conference dedicated to my industry. I learned quite a lot here and got some important networking in, which may come in handy for my ongoing job search. On Thursday, we were going to have fish and chips in a park near Arc (lols) but the weather was particularly gnarly and it was rained off. This was annoying as when we had planned it, roughly at this time last week, Thursday was deemed the best day of the week but in the end it was sunny earlier in the week and dismal towards the end. Ultimately, we had to do an online fish and chip gathering, during which Taneli, Arc, Wolfie and I played Scribblio, which is very much like online Pictionary. It was great fun and a relaxing way to spend an evening after the threat of redunancy loomed so I was very grateful to have such close friends.
Had COVID not happened, we would have been in Coventry this weekend watching Rammstein at the Ricoh Arena. We've had everything refunded and all is organised for new dates at this exact time next year, but not being there did weigh heavy on the day yesterday. I haven't seen Rammstein since about 2005 and Wolfie not at all, while it would have been a really great adventure. Alas, it wasn't to be and at least we will get to experience it next year. Of course, tangentially to this, was the return of the football season which took place on Saturday. Middlesbrough contrived to go 3-0 down to Swansea in the first half, largely due to our inept inexperienced manager, making me wish that the season had just been written off with Boro just the right side of the relegation zone. With performances like that, they are sure to go down as I don't see them picking up many points in the final eight games of the season.
Saturday was Leeds Meet day, although I wasn't feeling the best following the news of the redunancy scheme, which was announced very late on Friday. I started the day with Arakin's group watching cartoons again, although we seemed to be short of ideas and ended up just talking with each other. We did watch Donald Duck's Adventures In Mathematics Land though, from about 1950, which had some fascinating mathetmatical facts of which I was actually unaware. It's amazing what you still learn, but if I was being honest, my mood kept me somewhat distant from the others. After this, we went to the meet, which was another afternoon of general unwinding. Tonks and Stray livestreamed a quiz on Twitch and I was charged with ensuring no-one was cheating, which was a hard task as all of this was remote. I just bounced around the four private chat areas for each of the teams, although it was frustrating not doing a quiz in which I knew most of the answers. Hearing people's thought processes was fascinating though, particularly when they logically deduced the right answer, and it was a good opportunity to speak to many of the meet attendees.
We round it off at about 6pm and ordered food from Feed, which turned into quite a palava as the order went through twice, giving us two sets of food at twice the price. Wolfie was not happy, particularly when I erroneously suggested he had clicked the 'order' button twice, saying that I always see the worst in him. This soured the mood for a number of hours, not helped by Wolfie being passed from pillar to post between Feed and Uber Eats, with the former insisting they weren't responsible and the latter not having a decent process to claim back money. In the end, we just had to give it up, with the additional food now being sat in the fridge to eat today. We have been loyal customers of Feed for a while and have ordered there every couple of weeks since the lockdown started. We wanted to support a good local business but, considering this treatment, we are unlikely to go back. We MAY do pick up as it's literally just down the road - having accepted the problem was Uber Eats's ordering system rather than Feed themselves - but their attitude was still off and, if I am made redundant, there are far cheaper options for takeout which I would more likely use instead.
This mood - and a trip to ASDA to pick up beer and supplies - meant we were somewhat late to Stray's usual online Jackbox stream. This was a regret as once we had joined at around midnight, we had a fantastic couple of hours laughing and joking. It was definitely the highlight of the week, aided by the presence of Stray's mother and sister, to whom we started embarrassing the special fox. Lots of pup play stuff was mentioned and I felt far more relaxed about things than the previous week, when I had feared I had gone too far. It turned out that Stray's mother was quite filthy and got into the spirit of Jackbox entirely, after which we also enjoyed one of her quizzes, where between CD and myself, we knew nearly all of the answers. The evening ended with a nuanced debate about statues, Black Lives Matter and politics before it was just Stray and I left, having a heart-to-heart chat until about 4am.
Today is Father's Day and my Dad's birthday too, so I'll give him a ring later on, not least to discuss the current job situation. Wolfie is over in Rochdale doing work for a client, so he will be out for much of the day. This will be the longest we have been apart since mid-March and I am already starting to miss him, even if the break from each other will probably do us both good. We certainly have lived lockdown well and our relationship may be closer because of the time spent together, but some alone time every now and again is wise. I may also stick my nose into Pony Chat later today too, we'll see.
