I had a meeting first thing this morning. Everyone I work with in any capacity was in the room from temps to my boss's boss in for a meeting from Delaware. A man I didn't know (though he carried the air of someone in charge) stood in front of the room and said, "I have some devastating news." And then he announced they had cut the project we were working on, and immediately followed that statement with "your jobs are just as secure as they were yesterday." They (who is they?) are finding us all new jobs within the company, and have set a goal of completing this reassignment by the end of the week. All work on our current project was to stop, lab notebooks were to be completed, and we would be notified when there was more news.
After the meeting was adjourned, we all stood. And that's all we did. We didn't know where to go, what to do, what to say. After what seemed like forever, we headed back to our offices and labs. I remember thinking how seeing it from everyone's perspective would be interesting. One of my co-workers just got back from vacation today and didn't know about the meeting until we told him about it. One had worked for the group for a few months a few years ago, went to one of these meetings and got let go, and was rehired last week. This was his 7th day of work. Imagine how he perceived it all. I think most of us were blindsided, even though this group has been reorganized multiple times. I couldn't find Rick right away, and by the time I got back to the lab, the part-timers were updating resumes and one co-worker was cleaning out his desk drawers. It was a calm, awkward chaos.
Perhaps even more awkward was the day and a half worth of meetings that were previously scheduled, reviews of the projects that were just cut. We were all planning on attending anyway, and since the morning's news, we had nothing else to do. The tone of the meeting was defeatist, and presenters kept correcting themselves: "the project is, er, was", "our timelines were". Their voices sounded depressed and we all listened and watched years of work presented for the last time. I am thankful that I haven't put in years of work to see the plug pulled. I can't imagine.
I still have a job, I just don't know what it is. I really like the people I work with and my current job; I hope that the same will be true of the new job. I also hope that I end up with some of my same co-workers, though I'm not sure I get much of a choice in any of it. They will evaluate our talents and place us accordingly, but my resume shows field and lab, Johnston and Hawaii. I wonder where they'll place me.
Rick says we should buy a lottery ticket. His computer drive isn't working so he's sending the whole tower back. He decided to play his Xbox tonight since his computer was gone, and it no longer works. Not a good few days...
Tomorrow is another day. Our project review meeting goes all morning, but in the afternoon I don't know what I'm going to do. Or the next day. Or the day after that. I have about an hour's worth of data analysis to complete, but after that, it's a waiting game. Waiting with the others, tensely, whispering and speculating. Wondering our fate.
At least I still have a job.
1 comment:
The Project Has Been Canceled? Man, now we will never be able to have that cocoa/corn crossbreed!
OK, not funny. May not even make sense... It's great that you get to keep your job. Is this thing usual in the science/research field. It is possible for my company to lose a contract with a school, but at least I know that the kids will continue to grow. That would suck to have your "kids" be considered disposable, irrelevant, etc
And it maybe a waiting game, but it could also turn into a snood game... Just saying.
And this is on a different note, but it isn't it weird to be younger than most of your coworkers and yet more qualified? I was that way at Target and am very much that way in Japan. A city nearby ours recently lost their contracts for assistant language teachers (the schools are either going to go with a different company or just hire directly), and some of the teachers are finding it hard to get new jobs. Some of them have kids, wives, etc. But, even with just my four years experience I have worked both the private sector and the public sector which puts me available for pretty much anything. It's nice to know that I could easily get a job pretty much anywhere. I think you, with your looks, talent, brains, and experience, could get a job anywhere too!
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