It’s been almost a year since I’ve written about the woes of my corporate life, and as much as I’d like to blame my lack of attention to the mattresses on my ever-growing to-do list both at home and at work, really I just lost my motivation and somewhere along the way, my wordpress name and password. Anywho, its time to catch up.
In August my small company of about 100 staff members (I believe this includes contractors and remote employees) got some foresight into the wobegone future, and decided that lay-offs were the only way to save our financially drowning butts.
Much to my shock and awe, my boss was one of the few people (that made up a large 15% of our tiny corporation) to get the heave-ho–leaving me wondering what was to come of our magazine, that up until that point had been run by a two-man team, she and me. As is often the case, it turned out she was let go because I could do most of what she did, for a much smaller salary.
Since then, I’ve been happy to vamp up the resume (and the daily activities) with heavier workloads, and new opportunities for projects that in any other situation, in any other environment I never would have been included on, much less in charge of. My name in the masthead quickly changed from Editorial Specialist to the intimidating and powerful title of “Editor”.
As far as the rest of the company goes…after the layoffs morale dropped–fast and far. People worried that they were no longer considered an asset, and could just as easily be let go at any given time. To shake things up, and Employee Recognition Committe was formed (which I dutifully volunteered my large amount of free time to), the senior staff immediately began drafting plans for a telecommute policy, enabling employees to work atleast one, up to two days, a week from the comfort of their home and in the comfort of their pj’s and everyone basically bent over backwards to ensure the remaining employees felt pampered enough that they would avoid looking for new jobs, thus leaving the company floundering back at square one.
On the outside, my outlook on the real world seems to have only been bettered by this economic pitfall that left so many other bruised and broken, and now, months later is taking its toll on the rest of the country. But, true to my real world ways, its still not the perfect carefree world I knew in college. And while I’m lucky to have a job and the [meager] means to pay rent, I’m still not all the way happy. What I really want, is to make all of the money that the editor-in-chief of Vogue makes, while working my own hours correcting typos on other people’s stories. This, I could do by the pool (thus canceling out my previous post) or even while sitting on a beach in the Bahamas in the dead of D.C.’s dreary winter.
This was boring, but thought I’d bring you up to speed. Much more to come as we explore this real world life in the nation’s capitol as the first African American president is sworn in. A week from now, I’ll probably once again be wishing for the Bahamas, because traffic is already a million times worse than usual, and things will only get more and more crazy as we creep toward next Tuesday.
