My fucking job, man...
The Europeans who own the company I work for e-mailed old S.W. this morning. They've decided to "revitalize their interests in the American market" - by shutting down our current operation in its entirety. I don't know what these old dinosaurs are thinking, because when they yank our offices out of play and leave the North American customers dangling in the wind for months while they pursue an as-yet-nebulous "revitalization" strategy, all the tenuous trust between the North American market and their offices in Old Europe will be irrevocably severed. The people who need Queenie's widgets on a just-in-time-delivery basis - a service the offices in Old Europe are not equipped to handle - in order to make their businesses run will view any interruption in service as unacceptable, and take their widget bidness down the road, to the Japanese, as they damn well should.
Old Europe is shooting its foot off, here. They're choking the cash cow to death. It makes not one lick of sense, from any kind of business perspective out there. My guess? The whole operation, Krauts, Limeys, Whops, Micks, Frogs and Yanks alike, is fixing to take the dirtnap, and the Powers That Be want all the money out of our place, to throw a steak to the wolves at the door, to lengthen the inevitable demise. They just won't come out and say it. Oh, no. Heaven forfend a German lawyer and a French accountant should shoot straight with you.
Old S.W. has been with the company for twenty years. Our sales manager has been with the company for eighteen years. Our tech manager has been with the company for seventeen. The list goes on and on; our newest employee was hired a year ago - the poor fucker just closed on a new house, his first ever, last month...and the pussies Over There axed us all - by e-mail. They wouldn't return our calls, all day. We don't know if our severance is going to be honored. We don't know if we're supposed to work two weeks. Hell, I don't even know if there's a paycheck coming on the fifteenth. We don't know shit.
Via e-mail. Twenty years of service, and they axe your sorry ass via e-mail. Like asking your husband for a divorce on a text-message. Just pussy shit.
So, your humble narrator is out of a job, for the first time in a looong time. Keep your fingers crossed for old Queenie, won't you? As you can see, I'm more than a little upset.
My fucking job. **poof**
Posted by Queenie at February 1, 2005 02:59 PMYet another reason to hate Old Europe.
Best of luck, Queenie.
Posted by: Jay G at February 1, 2005 03:27 PMNow, that blows. Wishing you all the luck with the "now important" job search.
Bet this all has to do with the Euro doing so well against the almighty dollar.
Hang in there.
Damn!!!
Posted by: Sam at February 1, 2005 06:00 PMDude. That is suckage on a global level.
Do let us know if we at Casa Lowry can be of any assistance, kay? And I MEAN that.
:: sending good vibes ::
Posted by: Margi at February 1, 2005 06:49 PMGot Damn. What a pile of shit. Let me know if I can be of assistance in any way. Got Damn!
Posted by: Velociman at February 1, 2005 07:50 PMOhhhhhh shit. Gawd I wish you didn't live so far away; I'd be on my way over with a good bottle of wine and some shitty DVDs.
Hey, if a relocation is necessary, consider the Atlanta area, will ya?
Posted by: Key at February 1, 2005 08:02 PMWell now, ain't that just a freakin' fine thing to find out about on a Tuesday via email. They usually shitcan people on "Fridays before 10:00" at my joint. When I first started workin' for the place I work, the weren't "Corporate Owned", but 'bout a year or two after I started, the owner took the money and ran. Can't say I blame him, especially since I still had my job... 16 years later, I've changed a boatload in my outlook on "Corporate Loyalty". Thing is this, employees are supposed to have it all the time... employers are permitted to show it "selectively". That shit sucks. I can't stand it, but I know, one day, it's comin' my way. If it's any consolation, and ir probably ain't, I always tell myself, well, shit, I was lookin' for a job when I found this one.
Best wishes,
'Neck.
Fuck that job. You'll get a better one. Especially when I'm elected President.
Posted by: Acidman at February 1, 2005 10:59 PMThere really was a time when companies demonstrated genuine concern for loyal employees (and dammit, it was good business to do so), but now they hire consultants to tell them how to "create a corporate culture, foster teamwork, align people's jobs with the corporate strategic objectives, and, most importantly to have a solid "mission statement."
What a crock of shit.
Sorry you and your co-workers got hosed. By e-mail yet!! Bastards.
Grab your best and your brightest from 'your company', quit yesterday, and form your own company tomorrow. You and they have the skills. Take a week at a cheap motel with cases of cheap booze, figure out your direction, and head there. Fuck those euro-pukes. We kick their ass every time it's tried. Don't get mad, get mad and get even. Bite their nose off and spit the bloody chunk back into their face. Start a suit, now, to get what's owed you. Don't wait for it to be given, go and take it. Seize assets, freeze accounts. Shove the bayonet in and work it around until you see light coming through the other side. And then fuck the hole while they die. You know where all the bodies are buried. Go, dig them up. Fuck threatening. Do it.
Posted by: Bane at February 2, 2005 01:47 AMHoly Hell, Queenie!
Thats just wrong. A corporate fuck you via email. Classless. With any luck, Karma will catch up to them in a big way and they'll be tits up in a year. Meanwhile, you'll be doing just fine.
Damn. What a way to start the day.
Good thoughts to you.
What Bane said! If theres an opening for your product, step in there and take it! Get some of your fellow "victims" together and make a plan. Ya'll know who the customers are, ya'll know their needs. While Old Europe is getting their act together is when somebody will move in and take their place, better you than the competition.
Hooz.
PS- Bane, you do have a way with words! Poetry!
Posted by: Hooz at February 2, 2005 10:18 AMDamn butt munchers! I'm all for giving them the ole shaft and stealing all their customers for your new company as well! If there's anything a redneck Okie can do, just let me know!!!
Posted by: WarWagon at February 2, 2005 10:48 AMOh Queenie, I'm sorry.
Fucking Eurotrash.
Get your resume updated and get busy.
Most company's drug test now, so please stop smoking the weed for now, I'm sorry about that too.
Fucking Eurotrash. People wonder why I start swearing every time I have to deal with the bastards.
Posted by: BeeBee at February 2, 2005 12:28 PMI was truly sorry to see you get hosed like this. I've been there too, and it sure was no bed of roses, but at least they had the decency to let me go face to face, and no BS about the severnce owed me.
With your talents, I'm sure you will end up landing on your feet. Untill then, let Mamamontezz and I know if there is anything we can do to help.
Posted by: delftsman3 at February 2, 2005 05:03 PMBane has the right idea.
Posted by: ErikZ at February 3, 2005 10:56 PM