Enjablog

In response to Laura’s comment, I figured this all needed a little more explanation than I should leave in a comment. So here goes…

My company won a Navy contract that brought them out of the woods about 5 years ago. They had been down to about the size the company is now after the layoffs. They started hiring like crazy to fill that need. Then, they also won a contract to bid on another ship overseas. So, they opened a new office and shipped off some people from our local office to get that started and hired 40-something people over there and dozens more locally to keep up and back-fill the people who got sent away.

In February, the Navy contract received a stop-work order. The first ship we were working on was over-budget, but already mostly built. The second ship got canceled 90 days later.

We thought the other contract would keep us afloat and many people got transferred over to that in the interim. Two weeks ago, they announced that our competitor’s design was chosen.

We expected that we would be allowed the 30-day extension that was offered in the contract; that would keep many of our employees afloat until new projects are scheduled to start at the end of the summer. Their government was uninterested.

There were a number of people who caused scenes on their way out. There were specific instances that I don’t think my company handled well. But overall, I think they were as classy as they could be. And I think many employees made very graceful exits.

The company forgave computer loans and moving expenses. The pay period ends on July 1st, so they’re footing the bill to keep everyone’s insurance through next month. They reverted to an older policy to give more severance than they are obliged to. They have one of our recruiters (who also got laid off, or maybe resigned) helping people update resumes. There is a list circulating around that the chairman of the company has helped put together with companies who are hiring now.

So… our engineers are well taken care of. A number of them already had jobs lined up. Many others have lined up interviews or offers in the last 2 days. Admin staff and IT are on their own.

And, L, the same thing happened with our IT staff. They were notified, then escorted out. They didn’t even get to say goodbye. I guess it’s a security issue for the company… But in light of the situation, I thought that was unnecessary. It wasn’t personal and it wasn’t anything they did or didn’t do.

Yesterday was pretty quiet at work. A lot of global emails from people wishing everyone good luck, thanking the company for the opportunities, and notices about where people were headed. My floor was pretty up-beat. They all had leads and were just asking around for contacts and recommendations for which company was better than others to work for. Almost everyone made it out for lunch and we had a good send-off.

QOTD: “If I knew I was getting brownies, I would’ve gotten laid off sooner!”

Home now. Never fear!

I did, however, forget my keys this morning… and then forgot my cell phone in the car, so i had to dial the front desk to get in. Then I had to explain that I really did live there… I just forgot my keys.

Sigh.

So, since I last updated, I went to use the bathroom before heading out of the office. And when I got back to my office, Boss Jr was back in his office. At 11pm.

Then, I left shortly after that (Boss jr was on the phone with Australia) and saw our COO driving out of the parking garage.

Off to bed now. Have a long day of goodbyes tomorrow.

Ok, so layoffs at work today. Tomorrow will be going away lunches and tonight was depression hour.

Been drinking for the past 4 hours. Doing hw and waiting to sober up before going home.

Yeah, it was that bad.

My job is safe. Most of my department is staying. Most.

IT is gone. Other departments/locations were decimated.

Half the company is gone.

LOTD: Fucking Kangaroos

Cousin’s wedding last weekend. More wedding festivities this weekend.

ASNE Day yesterday and today. I’ve also been trying to get some work done in the interim, scraping together about 3 hours of actual work time. And for some reason, I usually receive 3-5 emails a day that need (would like) immediate replies and the past two days have greeted me with a couple dozen emails. What’s up with that?

Going to get a MacBook Pro.

Need to make a doctor’s appointment to get different drugs. Nothing seems to be working lately. And I know I’ve been hitting REM because I’ve been having all kinds of dreams. One night I had 3 really boring dreams. Another night, I was “at work” but work was outside on a hill covered in snow.

17 unread messages in my personal email inbox. That’s practically unheard of.

Haven’t updated my netflix queue. Haven’t read Ask Amy in 5 days. Haven’t read Sunday’s Carolyn Hax or Weingarten’s column.

Back to work tomorrow. Should be back to goofing off by late tomorrow afternoon. Then class. And homework.

Homework due Thursday. Maybe no goofing off.

Went with Ian yesterday to get a haircut.

Need to go to CVS to pick up meds that don’t work.

And today… Went down to Winchester with the family and some of Sonny’s friends to see him off. The buses were late, so we had a few extra hours to hang out and make the most of our quality time. Anyway, he’s off to Mississippi for a few months of training, followed by the remainder of the 12 months in Iraq. *sniffle*

Congratulations to my cousin and his new wife! :)

I’ve been getting these tension headaches the past couple days, which in and of itself is odd for me. It’s very rare for me to get headaches. Two days in a row has never happened before. But also, it’s 12:30am, I have work today, and I can’t fall asleep. I’m still tired between 1 and 3 in the afternoon, regardless of what I do, how much sleep I get, or whether I take my meds. This whole not being able to sleep thing is very strange indeed.

Ok, so now I’m just playing on WebMD to see what possible conditions I might have. Symptoms: headache, restlessness, and “punching or kicking in sleep.” So, the last one isn’t actually one of my symptoms, but it sounded funny. In any case, the conditions associated with my symptoms include farsightedness, sunburn, and malocclusion (bite out of alignment). I don’t think any of those are my problem.

Oh well. I’m bored with this entry. Back to my book!

Things going on…

Still haven’t gotten together for the 1/2-HOY reunion. It keeps getting pushed off because everyone’s getting old now. Eepie has to take care of a kid, Crit is dying from pneumonia, Yenny is [almost] unemployed, Marc has class on Thursdays, I have class on Wednesdays…

Craziness at work with all kinds of rumors flying around. The situation for which the president of our company explained (during an all-hands meeting) with a thumb down and a “plbthththbth” noise has come to fruition. The next few weeks should be exciting. But, you know, in the bad way.

Watched Pirates two weekends ago. Watched Knocked Up last weekend. Careful, the ending is crazy scary. Knocked Up, I mean, not Pirates. This was the first movie I’ve watched with Ian where he actually covered his eyes because it was so scary. Or gross. One of those. Sonny did not scream like a little girl though.

Helped NewGirl move. We swiped a dolly from the office. And half our department was there to help her, including Boss Jr. Only one broken desk and the cactus survived. I’d say it was a success.

Had some good family time this past weekend. Hung out with Sonny and his friends watching Knocked Up and playing Boggle(TM). Then, everyone got together for a Fathers’ Day party. There was cake, but no singing. I missed out on Lenny’s housewarming/Fathers’ Day/100-day baby thing though. I heard there was cake there too.

Got good feedback about the project at work that I’ve been working on. We had our big presentation 3 weeks ago and will have another in 2-3 more weeks.

Saw JL2 a couple weeks ago when I was in his area for a meeting. Met up with him for lunch and gossiped for a while.

There’s going to be a Farewell Ceremony for Sonny’s battalion next week. He was supposed to head out a few weeks ahead of them, but has been able to stick around to wrap up some stuff. So, we’ll all be heading over for the big send-off.

My cousin is getting married this weekend!

International Sub Races are next week in Carderock. I was hoping to sneak over and watch some of it, but I don’t think I’m going to have time. Attending a conference on Monday and Tuesday and I’m not sure if I’m supposed to be attending the shmooze-fests in the evening.

Alright, now that I’ve gone through my calendar for the last 3 weeks, I think I’m all caught up. Woo! I’m sad that I’ve forgotten all the QOTD I’ve been collecting though. I need to start writing them down.

Happy Birthday to JL2, Elf, and Jackie!

Man, what’s with people? It’s like no one around here celebrates Flag Day. Sigh…

Happy Flag Day!! :)

*gasp*

Mr. Wizard died!

:(

My most memorable Mr. Wizard: Peristalsis. Mr. Wizard made some kid stand on his head and eat a slice of apple. Wouldn’t let him get down until he finished.

Ian and I checked out Floyd’s Grill and Bar a couple weeks ago. We went over for Sunday brunch after their grand opening, so they were still pretty new. For the most part it was pretty entertaining.

It started out with us reporting to the hostess that we noticed a car outside with the headlights on. She was very apologetic, as though this car had inconvenienced us and her only recourse was to apologize and hope that we would forgive her enough to eat there.

They were still training up servers, so our server had an apprentice buddy following him around. He would explain to her what he was going to do before he actually did it, i.e. “I’m going to introduce myself; Hi, my name is [Bob].” “Now I’ll ask them if they want something to drink; Would you like something to drink?”

The rest of the meal was relatively uneventful. We ordered, they brought our food out. They needed to work out kinks with delivering both our food at the same time. And then they weren’t that busy, so our server moved around the dining area hovering over us.

At the end of the meal, after Ian had given the server his credit card, the busboy came over and made polite conversation with us as he cleared our plates. He asked if we were through with our drinks as well and took our glasses. He had cleared everything except my napkin before a manager passed by and politely pulled him aside. We assumed the manager was just explaining that he was supposed to wait until patrons had left before clearing their table. To make up for it, the busboy returned a few minutes later with new glasses of water. Except, these weren’t just regular glasses of water; they were fancier than what we originally had. They were the Sam Adams Ultimate Beer Glass… with water in them.

It was just awkward after that. Fortunately, we paid almost immediately after that and then had everyone say goodbye to us on our way out.

Oh, and P.S. The headlights on the car were still on when we got outside.