It's Over For The Weekend Job

I know that I have been writing blog entries related to the Super Bowl, one way or the other, all this week.

And yes, I will continue to do so a bit later.

But, just as an update, since I have also written about this before, I thought it would be worth mentioning that yesterday afternoon's shift has turned out to be my last one.

Eleven years, and they pulled the trigger. Not just one me, of course. It has been a long and painful process for all of us involved. Hell, even those who remain are very unhappy. Morale is very low. No one has any job security, everyone is being pushed around by this dictator (and it really is just one man directing and responsible all of this turmoil). In short, nobody is happy.

Some of the people that they trained to be supervisors (to replace us outgoing supervisors) do not want any part of it. Yet, they have to work the shift that they are told to work. I'm not happy to have been let go, and figured I was safe through Super Bowl weekend. But, apparently not. I had watched the last ten Super Bowls from that facility while on duty, and was hoping for eleven. But I was one day short.

And the guy who is working it is not happy, either. To be told, literally a couple of days or so beforehand, that you will be working on a day like that, when he already made plans? Yeah, you can see how things seem to be running there.

It's a nightmare scenario, and indicative of just what is wrong with the corporate climate we all live under. You know, I see a lot of people casting their suspicions about unions, due to corruption, and what have you. Probably some prejudices. And maybe they are right, on some level. No human made institutions is perfect. But I'll tell you this much: we all wish we had a union right now. We do not. Fact of the matter is that there is safety in numbers, and sometimes, you need that organized body to pull together and stay firm. The man on top has been bullying his way to get what he wants, and the only way to get a bully to stop is to fight back. We are still trying to do that, but the workforce is divided. Many are intimidated, whether or not they admit it.

Others are opportunistic. I had one guy preaching to me, and anyone who would not run away, that we needed to stick together, no matter what. I can still hear him saying, "Unity! Unity!" That was back when they were screwing around with his schedule.

But a few weeks ago, when I asked him if he was going to be my replacement, he responded by saying, "I sure hope not." To me, that as the equivalent of saying, in effect, "Well, if I can advance myself at your expense, then of course I will, although I'll try to sound unhappy about it."

So much for unity. And perhaps it seemed to be like that with some of those other people there. Many just want to keep their job, understandably. They have responsibilities, including children, and risking it all to make some kind of a statement is not for everyone, to be sure. I was only part-time. It might be a struggle for a while to adjust, but more than likely, I will adjust.

If that had been my full-time job, maybe it would have been different.

In any case, it is done. No eleventh straight Super Bowl from there. Also, no longer can I say something which, to this point, I had been able to say: that I had never left a job other than on my own terms. Clearly, i did not leave this job on my own terms.

Perhaps I had grown too comfortable at that place. Funny to think that, because one of the first guys I met on the job, a very decent guy, had mentioned the same thing, warning of the dangers of getting too comfortable with a job. I've seen others make that mistake. Perhaps this was a wake up call, that despite doing what I consider good work for a long time, no one perhaps owes you anything. We deserve better than this guy, don't get me wrong. But th fact of the matter is, things can be taken away from you at any time, and that is simply a fact of life. Perhaps, the longevity of my stay there itself was a problem, because I had grown too comfortable, too expectant on continuity to recognize the possible fleeting nature given the right, or rather the wrong, circumstances. This was exactly the type of thing that I had heard others going through, and which I would hope, afterwards, that I could avoid that kind of fate.

There are worse things, though. I am still relatively young, and in decent health. And perhaps it is time to take this to the next logical conclusion: as an opportunity to make changes in my life. To turn a negative into a positive. To explore other opportunities, and try to use this as the push I needed to try and obtain those.

So, even though my heart is heavy right now, and I have felt a bit sluggish and, yes, admittedly, even stunned since hearing the news (on Friday), a part of me is definitely keeping my chin up, and actually optimistic about exploring those opportunities, which is something that I know, deep down, I should have been doing a lot more of over those years, while I felt comfortable at that place.

It is gone now, and I will go on with this journey, with hope for a better future, and faith that I have enough talent and ability to mold that better future for myself.

Let's see how it goes...