And then there were three. :0(

Today we "lost" another lady from our department.  Well, apparently we lost four people today in total, but I don't know who the other three are.  I say "lost" in quotation marks because really she has another two weeks to go, but they told her about it today.  How crap must she feel to have to stick around and be pitied and patronized for another two weeks?  If it were me, I'd want the eff out of there pronto. 

And really, how much work is she going to feel like doing?  She already went home early because her heart wasn't in it.  I don't blame her.  She's been here 30+ years, and is probably one of the hardest-working people I know, but the way this place is going, that doesn't matter much.  It's all about saving money, just like everywhere else.

I don't think I feel all that bad for her though.  As bad as that sounds, hear me out.  It's a tough job she had.  I don't think she got much rest, and there were quite a few days where she would go without lunch.  She had to do a lot of work helping out the lady I used to be the assistant for before we had our big Division Shuffle a couple of years ago, and that wasn't her job.  On top of that she had to start tracking for the other half of her division that she never had to deal with before.  She had a long commute, got here early and left late a lot.  I really think she deserves this rest.  It's like that with everyone else who leaves this place.  When they come back for a visit, they're practically glowing.  I hope it's the same for her.

I wish her luck, and pray that they lay off the laying off for a while.

Calgary yes!

So the meeting is on for sure, and I'm hitting up Calgary in another week and a half.  Should be fun!

Calgary? Yes? No?

I've been waiting for this ever since I started working with the agents on the west side of the country.  A business trip to Calgary!  Okay, it's not a big deal for most people, but I'm pathetic when it comes to travel experience, and I've never been out of my own time zone so I'm looking forward to it.

Of course, I'm not going to get TOO excited about it, since everytime I do, nothing ever works out.  That, and the meeting itself is still tentative, but the outlook is good.

I've become the enemy!

At work we're doing a special project, conducting a survey on all our clients who have purchased a Cancer Disability insurance policy, and they've given me the job of calling some of them.

So I have become one of those annoying people who call you at suppertime asking, "Would you like to take a survey?"

Someone please redeem my soul.

Lovely!

Our parent company's policy is to let their people leave a bit earlier the day before a long weekend, and last time they did that, we didn't really know so I thought they were going to lock us all out or something.

This time we're older and wiser, and are expecting it, since it's Easter weekend. We got to leave at 3:00 on Family Day weekend, but our VP says we can leave at 1:00 this Thursday! That's awesomes!

And of course, it's a jeans day.

-4

We're now losing another 4 people in our Administrative Services department. We already lost 3 from there in February.

What stinks is one of the people in that department is married to someone in Marketing, so they could both be out of a job together!

'Tis not over, folks! More to come.

What a s**t day.

Today we found out that 5 out of our 8 Marketing Department staff are getting let go, and 6 out of 14 Regional Sales Assistants too.

The Marketing Department wasn't a surprise since they laid off the one at Head Office in Chicago, and much of the work will be outsourced so there's no extra burden on who's left.

The R.S.A. Announcement was surprising though. Without elaborating, it's a busy, stressful job, and with 6 of them going, the rest are going to have to take the extra load, since they can't outsource it. I can't even begin to imagine how they'll handle it.
I used to be an R.S.A. before they have me other administration duties, and even though I'm not keen on the job I have now, I don't miss that one.

Top this crap news off with being tired, having a sore throat, and copying 7 different expense reports (which is one of my more hated tasks) for someone who hasn't submitted them for the past months, it made for a really s**t day. Oh, and I'd like to add that there is almost no one more useless than a Sales Executive.

It keeps getting worse.

I work for an insurance company in sales administration. We have had two sales forces for almost ever, but we will be merging them next year.

They did already merge sales admin, though, and since the sales force I was with was smaller, they fired most of our department and split the rest of us up. I got out with the people I wanted to be with the least.

Now, it seems they're going to split up the Compliance department so there's one person for each of the four sales divisions we now have. Wouldn't you know I end up with one of the more disliked people in the company on my team.

I think it's going to get to the point that when they have their next lay-off blitz, I'm going to hope it includes me.

Such a cheap slob!

I have a candy dish on my desk, and everyone is free to partake.

However, one of our agents that comes in once in a while makes a meal out of them. The worst part is that he always leaves the wrappers all over the place, like it's his right. I know my desk is a mess, but it's work, not garbage. I've called him on it before too, but nothing sinks in with this man. It's like that with his work too. Big promises, no results, and no matter how many meetings you can have with him, he never changes.

He's also pretty cheap. You're supposed to order supplies through our warehouse, but he comes in and raids the small stock of stuff we keep in our area for our use. Then, when we need it, it's gone.

I don't care what kind of gross crap you do at your house, but my desk, and our office floors are NOT your rubbish depositories. And do your work properly. GOD!

ARGHH I'm so mad.


10, 9, 8, .....

Why is it....

...that when you have some time off work, it's like you haven't worked in ages, but when you get back, it's like you've never left?

I no believe!

The do0dz working on our broken elevator are done! I think they're still cleaning up the temporary shack they built around the elevator so no one touches their stuff so the elevator itself still isn't running, but they're done and it should be okay to use when we get back next week.

Just in time for the other one to break down from excessive use.

WOO HOO............?

I just got an email from Human Resources that they're closing the office a bit early tomorrow. Plus it seems like they're letting us have an impromptu Casual Friday. Many offices have one every Friday, be we have ours on the last Friday of every month.

They're doing it because it's Monday is Family Day in Ontario and Louis Riel Day in Manitoba, and they want to give us a break. Good idea. We're all pretty stressed and down-and-out.

Call me a cynic, but I think there are alterior motives involved. From what I heard there is another wave of people getting laid off very soon, and maybe they're trying to make the rest of us feel better. Frankly, I'm getting sick of this sneaky bullturds, and I wish they'd be out with it. People have futures they need to think about.

Hah...watch them lay off some people, let the rest of them go home early for the weekend, and then lock them out on Tuesday morning.

Damn, I WAS feeling good about this 10 minutes ago.


UPDATE: Okay, apparently I'm a paranoid freak. It turns out that it is the policy of the company that bought us out that we can leave early the Friday before a Monday long weekend. I suppose we can expect this more often from now on. No complaints.

And again.

They let another lady go today. She worked in the Records Management area, but I dont' know what she did.

It's looking like a Tuesday pattern.

Maybe later...

I was supposed to learn how to do a new task this morning, reporting agents' results for the past week, so I can back-up the lady that already does it.

Well, it's not exactly new, because I've done it for at least three years, but we have two divisions in our sales force, and I only know how to report for one, so my boss was supposed to come in to train me on the other way. Well, wouldn't you know it, he's sick this morning, so the poor woman has to do the work after all.

I'm not complaining, because it looks a lot more complicated reporting for this division, and I still have some reporting to do in the old way, but on the other hand, I wish I DID have this training.

What I really want to say is that if an opportunity comes up where you get to learn something new, take it. It never ever hurts to gain knowledge. Okay, maybe it might hurt in that the more you know, the more work they'll make you do, but you never know where the knowledge will take you.

For instance, my boss told me to get a life insurance license. Not a stretch when you work for an insurance company, but I'm not an agent. I don't work in the field, so I don't need it. Still, learning what I needed to in order to get it, and passing the exam was such a thrill, and if they decide one day to promote someone, they may choose someone with a license over one without.

Next week my boss will probably feel better and we can get started on this training, but apparently it takes a while to learn, and the lady who normally does the work will be on vacation week after next, so someone has to do it properly by then. Hope I can do it!

Busted Elevator

After a couple weeks of waiting for a custom part, the guys hired to fix our elevator at work have finally come back. We have hydraulic elevators, so it's a little harder to fix them, and this one has to have its piston replaced. Never a good thing. Plus people are complaining that having only one elevator out of two working is a pain in the butt. I don't care, because I take the stairs as much as possible, but I'm relieved that they're back. I was hoping they didn't skip town with whatever money the building owner paid them.

Nevermore....

We're pretty desperate for entertainment here in my department. Ever since we went from 13 to 4 people in the downsizing blitz of 4th Quarter 2008, it's been pretty quiet around here.

That's why we took time out of our day to stand at the window and stare at two ravens (or crows. I don't pretend to know the difference) sitting there.

I wanted to take a video, but as soon as I came back with my BB, they flew off. I did catch them doing that, though, but I can't seem to upload the video right now. It's only 3 seconds long anyway, so it's not really worth it.

I think they say that if you're visited by a blackbird it is bad luck. Well, we got 2! That's a pretty bad indication of things to come for this company, if you belive in phooey, hogwash superstitions.

Personally, I don't need a raven to tell me this place is headed south.

Ch-ch-ch-chaaaaaaaaanges....

So like I said a few posts back, we lost a few people last week, and we'll probably lose more. Now, we've got people from the company that bought us out back in April "kicking the tires" again, so to speak. A bunch of them came from their Philadelphia, PA office to our humble Markham, ON headquarters to size up the real estate. The gossip of the day is they're either going to move their Toronto people to our Markham building, or move whoever is left of us to their Toronto building.

Now, I'm torn about this.

The Yay argument:

I am a city girl at heart. I grew up in the 'burbs, and have always worked in the 'burbs, but I loooooove the city proper, and nothing would thrill me more than being part of the hustle and bustle of downtown Toronto. I'd love being able to hop on the subway and get where I have to go in no time instead of sitting in a car getting no where. Plus, I'd probably never go home after work, I'd be shopping so much. And I don't normally like shopping!

The Nay argument:

I don't live in an area that has access to the Toronto Transit system. I'd have to either drive to the closest subway station (which takes over half an hour with no traffic and nice weather), or take a GO Train (which is part of a company which luckily provides transportation to a wider geographical area) to Toronto's Union Station, then catch a subway to where I have to go. This will cause me to most likely have to get up earlier than I already do, which will make me quite the crank. Also, it's not just myself I have to worry about. As previously mentioned, I work with my mother. She worked with this same company since 1973, and they were in Toronto at that time. She's had her fill of hopping trains to get to work. If I think she complains of a little traffic now, just wait until the train is delayed!

I could be contemplating our future location pre-emptively. Maybe the "parent company" will continue their cheap streak and put their Toronto people with us so that they're paying less rent. It's too early to know, but something is in the works. I just hope it works.

Another THREE bite the dust!

So we lost three more people at work today. They were from the department that orders all our office supplies and manages the warehouse where we print and keep all our forms and applications. Apparently the warehouse is supposed to be closed altogether because they're outsourcing the printing.

It's not the end, either. There are still other departments that were supposed to cut people that haven't yet. I think the Marketing department is getting shut down completely too, sometime in the future, again because they've outsourced the printing.

My boss keeps telling me sales administration (where I work) is safe. They've let go whoever they let go, and soon when our Accident/Sickness and Life/Health divisions merge for good, we may have different jobs, but we'll still have jobs.

I don't believe him for one minute.

Working With Mom

So I work with my mom. That's great! We drive in together, we take lunches together, and we can talk about our days and know exactly what the other is on about. And considering the quality of most of our co-workers' personalities, it's a good thing we have eachother.

The only thing I don't like is that I have to follow her schedule. She works 8:30 to 5:00, which means we have to get there before 8:30, and have to leave after 5:00. I don't mind being in before 8:30, but that means we should also get to leave at 4:30, but she is the receptionist, and the phones don't close until 5:00. It makes for a long day, because the commute takes almost an hour each way too. That leaves practically no time in the rest of my day for relaxing because I have to worry about going to bed so I can get up early to do it all over again. This is fodder for another story, though.

Another con is the fact that when she's late, she complains. Nothing new there; we all complain when we're unhappy. I do it too. But, I don't like to hear it from other people. That probably stems from some deep-seeded need to help everyone, and since I probably can't help with whatever they're complaining about, I get upset and don't want to hear it.

A big pro, however, is the alternate route we take when our main route is backed-up. It's a twisty country road, and most of the farm houses along the way are old and beautiful. I'll try to take a video of some of them, and the twisty road, with my BB and post it here if we take it again soon.

Anyway, back to work, until I find something else to gripe about.