I've been looking for a new car. I've test-driven a couple, but mostly so far it's just been looking. My vehicle has definitely seen better days - it got schmucked in a hotel parking lot last year, and my son added a couple of dings of his own when he started driving last year as well. Now my daughter has her beginner's license so I'm torn between getting a new car and waiting until she gets the "dings" out of her system.
Last weekend I was at the Mazda dealership to see what they have to offer. I took a car out and then sat with the salesman to get an idea of how much it would end up costing me. He started telling me the different colours it comes in and I interrupted him to say, no I would want the same colour as the one on the lot - Black Cherry - it goes with my hair. He looked at me for a second unsure of whether I was trying to be funny or having a "blonde" moment. It really is a cool colour, the car I mean.
I am not a natural redhead. I know, this is shocking! I was told once that my hair is the colour of Cherry Coca Cola - by a guy who bought me a drink in an Iowa airport - long story. But since he'd mentioned it, and we had time to kill before our respective flights, I told him the story of how I became a redhead.
A few years ago I worked with two fabulous women who also became my friends. The company was going through some growing pains and we were on our third CEO. I could spend some time describing him but in a nutshell, if you've ever watched the show The Office, that pretty much covers it. He was a Brit. He was also a chauvinist of a degree I've seldom seen before or since.
Shortly after he started, he hired his girlfriend as our Marketing Manager. This might have only ruffled a few feathers if she had any experience whatsoever in marketing, but she did not. Her emails became legendary for their spelling mistakes and poor grammar. She was nice enough, and an attractive red head - she just didn't belong in that job.
To make matters worse, she was promoted a couple of times over others in the company who not only had seniority, but were eminently more qualified. The second of these promotions was announced when the woman in question was away at a conference and my friend Anne, who was in HR, was furious. She went in to give the CEO a piece of her mind. Voices were raised and Anne's parting shot as she left his office was "I guess the only way to get promoted around here is to be a redhead!". She was shaking when she came by my office to tell me about it, convinced that she would be fired for her outburst. Her and I, and our manager went out for drinks after work and developed a plan. I'm not saying it was a good plan, but it was a plan. Anne felt that if she was going to get fired, she might as well go out in a blaze of defiance, if not glory. She was going to go home and dye her hair bright red!
In a show of solidarity, Lori and I promised to do the same. The next morning we were all working diligently in our offices when the CEO did his usual morning "rounds" with his coffee cup. He saw Anne first and almost spewed his coffee across the room. Before he could say anything to her, I walked out of my office and said good morning as if nothing was going on, and then Lori did the same. He just stared at the three of us as his eyes narrowed, then he continued on his rounds. As he walked away he muttered "None of you are funny you know".
Nothing was ever said about our hair -at least not by him. Although on more than one occasion after that I heard him refer to the three of us as The Coven. Lori had only put a temporary rinse in her hair so it washed out before too long, and Anne eventually went back to being a blonde. I on the other hand, decided I liked being a redhead. : )
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Moving On
So. I find myself on the verge of embarking on a new job…again.
About a month ago my boss called a staff meeting. We’ve never had a staff meeting before. I just knew it couldn’t be good. He told us he had decided to retire.
I couldn’t say I was shocked. Anyone could see his heart wasn’t in it anymore. But I guess I had been hoping he would hang on for a couple of more years until I was in a position to make him an offer.
When he was finished talking I congratulated him and wished him well. What else can you say really? I went back to my office and when I turned to sit at my desk, I realized my two co-workers had followed me. The door was closed and we had our own little meeting. There were tears, shock, anger. Not from me. I’ve been here before.
Several years ago I was hired by a small biotech firm as an Accounts Payable clerk. It was my first full time job since I’d had kids and I was both nervous and excited. It was a growing company and I was hoping to grow with it. In the first two years I was there, the number of staff more than doubled and I was promoted to General Accountant and then to Assistant to the Controller. I loved my job. Not only was the work interesting, but I also felt really good about what we did as a company: developing hardware and software for drug discovery. The other thing I really loved about working there was that we recruited literally from all over the world. I took on the job of unofficial welcome wagon, helping new people find their way around the city. I met so many interesting people and made some life long friends.
We grew too fast. The company reached a point where we couldn’t keep up with marketing and distribution and so the owner made the decision to sell 49% of the company to a UK based corporation. Initially nothing much changed except that we now had a CEO as well the President, and hired a few more people. I still loved my job.
The UK Corp. had an option to purchase the other 51% of the shares after five years, which they did. The President and original owner of the company was gone and we suddenly felt a lot more of a corporate presence. They cut about ¼ of the staff – mostly in sales and marketing so we all worked more hours to pick up the slack.
I had thought that they didn’t come much bigger than the UK Corp. I was wrong. One morning I came in and found the CEO had called a staff meeting (yes, I know). The announcement was that our little company had been bought lock, stock and barrel by one of the biggest, soulless corporate giants I could ever have imagined. The next announcement was that “nothing would change”. Followed by they were moving the company to New Jersey.
Primarily they were after our R&D team. They offered them and a number of others jobs in NJ, but it was really the R&D guys that they wanted. And I am happy to tell you that not a single one of them took the offer. That was the bright side of the whole thing for me! Whoever was not going to NJ was offered a package, including my boss, Lori and me. Her and I and three others were offered a six-month extension to close the place down – pack up, ship out, sell off and close the books. The sane thing to do would have been to leave then and there, but I knew Lori was too responsible to do that and I couldn’t leave her to do it all herself. So I stayed. By the middle of December there were five of us left in the building and it was like a tomb. Morale couldn’t have gotten any lower.
We were busy, but there was no life left in the place. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I brought in cookies and soft drinks and set them out on what used to be the receptionists desk. Then I waded through boxes in the warehouse until I found the ones I was looking for and dragged them out to the reception area too. I started putting up the Christmas tree that we’d always had in the front entrance. One by one my co-workers walked by and stopped to help me. We decorated the tree, plugged in the lights and sat around eating cookies! It was almost like old times.
Christmas came and went and the tree was still there. Every morning I plugged in the lights. Valentines’ Day was upon us so I routed around in the supply cupboard and found some pink paper. I cut out pink hearts and stuck them all over the tree on top of the Christmas decorations and lights.
By March a lot of the equipment had been shipped to New Jersey and we were now deciding what could be auctioned off. March also brought St. Patrick’s Day. Yup.
Green paper and cut outs vaguely resembling Shamrocks were stuck up on the tree over the pink hearts and the rest. Easter came early that year and so I cut out yellow eggs and decorated them with highlighters before plastering them all over the tree! It was one weird looking “Christmas” tree let me tell you.
My six months was almost up and I’d found another job and would be leaving a week early. Everything was pretty much done.
On my last day there Lori asked me what I was going to do with the tree? I thought about it for a minute and then said I had an idea. For Christmas the previous year Lori’s husband had given her, as a joke, a large red rubber stamp that spelled out F**K It.
I cut out dozens of white squares from my recycling bin and stamped them all. You guessed it. I stuck them all over the tree. I wasn’t sure what Lori would say, but she laughed, and then the five of us gathered around the tree for one last “staff” photo.
It seemed fitting somehow.
This time around, there is no tree. The last day will see a pizza lunch. Not so much a bang as a whimper. But, I’ve found another job and I will move on, as will we all.
One thing I’ve learned is that change happens whether you want it to or not and the ones who survive are the ones who change with it. Makes me think of the book, “Who Moved my Cheese” by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Better to be the mouse that bravely goes off in search of ‘new’ cheese than the one that just sits and waits for it to find him, and slowly starves to death.
About a month ago my boss called a staff meeting. We’ve never had a staff meeting before. I just knew it couldn’t be good. He told us he had decided to retire.
I couldn’t say I was shocked. Anyone could see his heart wasn’t in it anymore. But I guess I had been hoping he would hang on for a couple of more years until I was in a position to make him an offer.
When he was finished talking I congratulated him and wished him well. What else can you say really? I went back to my office and when I turned to sit at my desk, I realized my two co-workers had followed me. The door was closed and we had our own little meeting. There were tears, shock, anger. Not from me. I’ve been here before.
Several years ago I was hired by a small biotech firm as an Accounts Payable clerk. It was my first full time job since I’d had kids and I was both nervous and excited. It was a growing company and I was hoping to grow with it. In the first two years I was there, the number of staff more than doubled and I was promoted to General Accountant and then to Assistant to the Controller. I loved my job. Not only was the work interesting, but I also felt really good about what we did as a company: developing hardware and software for drug discovery. The other thing I really loved about working there was that we recruited literally from all over the world. I took on the job of unofficial welcome wagon, helping new people find their way around the city. I met so many interesting people and made some life long friends.
We grew too fast. The company reached a point where we couldn’t keep up with marketing and distribution and so the owner made the decision to sell 49% of the company to a UK based corporation. Initially nothing much changed except that we now had a CEO as well the President, and hired a few more people. I still loved my job.
The UK Corp. had an option to purchase the other 51% of the shares after five years, which they did. The President and original owner of the company was gone and we suddenly felt a lot more of a corporate presence. They cut about ¼ of the staff – mostly in sales and marketing so we all worked more hours to pick up the slack.
I had thought that they didn’t come much bigger than the UK Corp. I was wrong. One morning I came in and found the CEO had called a staff meeting (yes, I know). The announcement was that our little company had been bought lock, stock and barrel by one of the biggest, soulless corporate giants I could ever have imagined. The next announcement was that “nothing would change”. Followed by they were moving the company to New Jersey.
Primarily they were after our R&D team. They offered them and a number of others jobs in NJ, but it was really the R&D guys that they wanted. And I am happy to tell you that not a single one of them took the offer. That was the bright side of the whole thing for me! Whoever was not going to NJ was offered a package, including my boss, Lori and me. Her and I and three others were offered a six-month extension to close the place down – pack up, ship out, sell off and close the books. The sane thing to do would have been to leave then and there, but I knew Lori was too responsible to do that and I couldn’t leave her to do it all herself. So I stayed. By the middle of December there were five of us left in the building and it was like a tomb. Morale couldn’t have gotten any lower.
We were busy, but there was no life left in the place. Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore.
I brought in cookies and soft drinks and set them out on what used to be the receptionists desk. Then I waded through boxes in the warehouse until I found the ones I was looking for and dragged them out to the reception area too. I started putting up the Christmas tree that we’d always had in the front entrance. One by one my co-workers walked by and stopped to help me. We decorated the tree, plugged in the lights and sat around eating cookies! It was almost like old times.
Christmas came and went and the tree was still there. Every morning I plugged in the lights. Valentines’ Day was upon us so I routed around in the supply cupboard and found some pink paper. I cut out pink hearts and stuck them all over the tree on top of the Christmas decorations and lights.
By March a lot of the equipment had been shipped to New Jersey and we were now deciding what could be auctioned off. March also brought St. Patrick’s Day. Yup.
Green paper and cut outs vaguely resembling Shamrocks were stuck up on the tree over the pink hearts and the rest. Easter came early that year and so I cut out yellow eggs and decorated them with highlighters before plastering them all over the tree! It was one weird looking “Christmas” tree let me tell you.
My six months was almost up and I’d found another job and would be leaving a week early. Everything was pretty much done.
On my last day there Lori asked me what I was going to do with the tree? I thought about it for a minute and then said I had an idea. For Christmas the previous year Lori’s husband had given her, as a joke, a large red rubber stamp that spelled out F**K It.
I cut out dozens of white squares from my recycling bin and stamped them all. You guessed it. I stuck them all over the tree. I wasn’t sure what Lori would say, but she laughed, and then the five of us gathered around the tree for one last “staff” photo.
It seemed fitting somehow.
This time around, there is no tree. The last day will see a pizza lunch. Not so much a bang as a whimper. But, I’ve found another job and I will move on, as will we all.
One thing I’ve learned is that change happens whether you want it to or not and the ones who survive are the ones who change with it. Makes me think of the book, “Who Moved my Cheese” by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Better to be the mouse that bravely goes off in search of ‘new’ cheese than the one that just sits and waits for it to find him, and slowly starves to death.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
I was 22 years old the first time I saw a dead body. My friend Lisa’s grandmother had passed away and another friend Mary and I, went to the funeral home to pay our respects.
Mary drove and on the way there she said, “I hope it’s not an open casket, but being as they are Italian, it probably will be”.
What? Open casket?
By the time we got into the line my knees were shaking and the colour had drained from my face. Mary actually held my hand in the line because she was afraid I was going to pass out. Of course, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I’d worked it up to be in my head. Since then I’ve been to more open casket visitations than I can count – my husband being Italian and having a very large extended family – and it really doesn’t faze me anymore. And of course I was holding my mother’s hand when she died, but that’s a completely different ballgame.
One of the first times I went to a visitation with my husband, I was completely and utterly horrified to see little kids there, anywhere from about two years of age and up. And yet as I watched them, they were really not bothered at all by the body lying in the casket off to the side. The more often I witnessed this, the more I came to realize that this is a better way to do things. Death is just another part of life and whitewashing it the way we sometimes do isn’t necessarily a good thing. The fact that I was 22 the first time I went to a funeral home isn’t because no one died in my family until then – I lost four grandparents, two great-grandparents, and a few aunts and uncles. I can actually remember asking my mother to let me go to my Great-Grandmother’s funeral, but she said I was too young. (I was 10). I understand that my mom was trying to shelter me from unpleasantness, but the result was the terror I felt at 22 waiting in that line.
So, I started taking my kids with me when I went. They were about 12 and 14 the first time, and my daughter held tightly to my hand. They were both nervous and unsure of what it would be like to kneel in front of a dead person, but once they realized it wasn’t that scary, they were fine. We always fear what we don’t know, and now they both know that they can go and pay their respects and it’s okay. It’s never pleasant, but like me, they’ve learned that it’s something you just have to do sometimes and they know they can handle it.
That being said….
Monday my husband’s Aunt passed away. I didn’t really know her, but I am acquainted with some of her kids. My stomach immediately clenched at the thought of going to the funeral. Suddenly I was back in that line with Mary and filled with dread.
Since my mother died, I’ve had a really hard time with funerals but it has nothing to do with bodies and everything to do with the fact that it brings back losing my Mom. Especially if, as was the case in the last couple I attended, it is someone else’s mom who has died.
Honestly, I feel like an idiot but I can’t seem to get past it. My husband mentioned his Aunt’s passing at dinner last night and said visitation would be tonight and tomorrow.
I didn’t say anything, but the lack of colour in my face apparently gave me away. I tried to explain how I felt.
My daughter Kaitlin smiled sympathetically and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand”.
Mary drove and on the way there she said, “I hope it’s not an open casket, but being as they are Italian, it probably will be”.
What? Open casket?
By the time we got into the line my knees were shaking and the colour had drained from my face. Mary actually held my hand in the line because she was afraid I was going to pass out. Of course, it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I’d worked it up to be in my head. Since then I’ve been to more open casket visitations than I can count – my husband being Italian and having a very large extended family – and it really doesn’t faze me anymore. And of course I was holding my mother’s hand when she died, but that’s a completely different ballgame.
One of the first times I went to a visitation with my husband, I was completely and utterly horrified to see little kids there, anywhere from about two years of age and up. And yet as I watched them, they were really not bothered at all by the body lying in the casket off to the side. The more often I witnessed this, the more I came to realize that this is a better way to do things. Death is just another part of life and whitewashing it the way we sometimes do isn’t necessarily a good thing. The fact that I was 22 the first time I went to a funeral home isn’t because no one died in my family until then – I lost four grandparents, two great-grandparents, and a few aunts and uncles. I can actually remember asking my mother to let me go to my Great-Grandmother’s funeral, but she said I was too young. (I was 10). I understand that my mom was trying to shelter me from unpleasantness, but the result was the terror I felt at 22 waiting in that line.
So, I started taking my kids with me when I went. They were about 12 and 14 the first time, and my daughter held tightly to my hand. They were both nervous and unsure of what it would be like to kneel in front of a dead person, but once they realized it wasn’t that scary, they were fine. We always fear what we don’t know, and now they both know that they can go and pay their respects and it’s okay. It’s never pleasant, but like me, they’ve learned that it’s something you just have to do sometimes and they know they can handle it.
That being said….
Monday my husband’s Aunt passed away. I didn’t really know her, but I am acquainted with some of her kids. My stomach immediately clenched at the thought of going to the funeral. Suddenly I was back in that line with Mary and filled with dread.
Since my mother died, I’ve had a really hard time with funerals but it has nothing to do with bodies and everything to do with the fact that it brings back losing my Mom. Especially if, as was the case in the last couple I attended, it is someone else’s mom who has died.
Honestly, I feel like an idiot but I can’t seem to get past it. My husband mentioned his Aunt’s passing at dinner last night and said visitation would be tonight and tomorrow.
I didn’t say anything, but the lack of colour in my face apparently gave me away. I tried to explain how I felt.
My daughter Kaitlin smiled sympathetically and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll hold your hand”.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Alone in the office today.......
8:30am - turn off the alarm, turn on some lights...actually been here since 8am but didn't open up till now. Two on vacation, one person at a conference, I am the only one here.....
8:40am - okay, checked email, nothing pressing. Nothing much to do, everything is on hold waiting for the client.....guess I'll just enjoy my coffee....
10:32am - I am the Minesweeper Champion of the World!!!!!
11:05am - Okay, so the fax machine was out of paper. How was I supposed to know? Finally, something to do!
12:30pm - well, it was fun while it lasted. Lunch time. Crap, I've read all of these Time Magazines!
12:47pm - now what? Okay, I could go get the mail. Maybe there will be a new Time in there! Lock the door, put up note - "back in 5 min".
Nothing. Even the mail is against me.
12:58pm - let's see if I can break my own minesweeper record!!
1:14pm - how the hell do people do nothing all day?
1:36pm - Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
1:58pm - Was that the door? Oooohhh... a client.
2:10pm - well, that didn't take nearly long enough, but at least I saw another human being!
2:22pm - I swore I would not clean the kitchen and wash all the dishes in the sink anymore since I am the only one who ever does it....but I just cleaned the kitchen and washed all the dishes in the sink. This sucks!
2:43pm - The phone! It was my daughter calling to say she was home from school. I wanted to talk longer but she has homework. She put the dog on the phone and I talked to him for awhile! I could hear him breathing and I'm pretty sure he was licking the receiver. Note to self: disinfect phone receiver when get home.
2:58pm - just finished an online rant against the promo for the new movie 2012. Read your history people! The Mayans are not the oldest civilization the world has ever known, and they did not, ever, not even once, predict the end of the world in 2012. I hate Hollywood!
2:57pm- oh my God, did the clock just go backwards!?!
8:40am - okay, checked email, nothing pressing. Nothing much to do, everything is on hold waiting for the client.....guess I'll just enjoy my coffee....
10:32am - I am the Minesweeper Champion of the World!!!!!
11:05am - Okay, so the fax machine was out of paper. How was I supposed to know? Finally, something to do!
12:30pm - well, it was fun while it lasted. Lunch time. Crap, I've read all of these Time Magazines!
12:47pm - now what? Okay, I could go get the mail. Maybe there will be a new Time in there! Lock the door, put up note - "back in 5 min".
Nothing. Even the mail is against me.
12:58pm - let's see if I can break my own minesweeper record!!
1:14pm - how the hell do people do nothing all day?
1:36pm - Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh
1:58pm - Was that the door? Oooohhh... a client.
2:10pm - well, that didn't take nearly long enough, but at least I saw another human being!
2:22pm - I swore I would not clean the kitchen and wash all the dishes in the sink anymore since I am the only one who ever does it....but I just cleaned the kitchen and washed all the dishes in the sink. This sucks!
2:43pm - The phone! It was my daughter calling to say she was home from school. I wanted to talk longer but she has homework. She put the dog on the phone and I talked to him for awhile! I could hear him breathing and I'm pretty sure he was licking the receiver. Note to self: disinfect phone receiver when get home.
2:58pm - just finished an online rant against the promo for the new movie 2012. Read your history people! The Mayans are not the oldest civilization the world has ever known, and they did not, ever, not even once, predict the end of the world in 2012. I hate Hollywood!
2:57pm- oh my God, did the clock just go backwards!?!
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