What I am talking about is how ex employees adore, I mean just love to nose into the affairs of their old workplace and enjoy hearing how bad news-could be that the organisation is not doing well in terms of business, less profits, loss of customers and these nosy employees will not bat an eyelid to connect this downfall into their absence. Nobody is indispensable, Why people think that they are, is because they are glued to the work and love all the dependency created by the output of the job. If some other employee does the same job in a more efficient manner that is enough to drive them to the extreme end of jealousy all because they find it so hard to accept change. It’s also because these ex employees will not accept that if there was an era where they were in demand that era no longer exists.
There is a simple logic to the demise of your stay in a workplace and that is the stinking feeling of not being appreciated, rewarded or recognized for your efforts. But you hang on hoping for a ray of light to flicker through a long dark tunnel. It never seems to get better with more destructive incidents only to prove that time’s up for you to move on. When this feeling sets in it's best to get out of the door as fast as you can. Lingering on will only bring more misery.
I can vouch for this insanity because I have been a victim of different kinds of discriminative behavior leading from being left out for the company group picture because I didn’t qualify in the ‘looks’ department ( I actually overheard this very cattily being remarked- can you imagine how I felt ?) Being check mated over a virgin dumb woman who had no clue about anything except enticing all the men in the workplace with her low neckline and super tight dresses and molly cuddled for being the pretty dumb gander, (ugh disgusting I can tell you) Passed over for promotion because the boss’s inner club members could not except an employee from a minority ethnicity going up the ladder (So it was my fault for not being born in the majority ethnicity), rewards given but taken back on the grounds that rewarding my work was a mistake (hang in there, till I compile a book of all the madness that I went through)..Somehow at some point you draw the line to all the insanity that eats into you and then your decision to walk out either surprises them or delights them. I bet they secretly wonder if you could find another job (because you just hung on no matter what..and you also didn't have good looks to keep them happy)
Whatever it is whenever I decide to close books with a nut house and move on, I totally abstain from nosing around the affairs of the business. In my mind if there was a chapter in my life that dealt with the nut house I have shut the door and decided to move on. If I am to bump into any of my ex colleagues I would deliberately limit the conversation to general well being, family and so-so kind of topics in order to avoid talking about what went wrong, what could have been better, that numerous what if’s..Maybe share the silly memories of the good times if there were any.
Just this morning I was greeted by an ex colleague over the phone who I sensed had a different intention of calling me up. The conversation went something like :
He: hi, so, so how are you doing?
Me: OK
He: So what are you doing?
Me: nothing
some silence
He: Rattles on with the new developments in the ex workplace and asks me if any of the big wigs have been calling me
Me: Is there a purpose for them to call me? I also do not expect them to call me
He: You know X is doing very well and she is now in charge of everything
Me: Good for her, every dog must have its day, she’s having hers. (Why do I need to know this?)
He:You know I am writing this letter to the authorities to let them know about the discrepancies and all the other concerns. If I write and send the letter to you can you check? (oh here we are..so this is why you actually called you downcast dog?)
Me: Trying to remain calm, inspite of rising irritation at this totally jobless jerk, I tell him I am out of Colombo and I have sold the computer, Without a job I need money to survive. I do not like to depend from others to help me out, I try and find my own solutions. (will I ever sell my computer? maybe someday if and when I get really tight on money, but not right now)
surprise..silence and some verbal nodding
He: OK then I will keep..keep in touch
Me: OK Bye (It’s better if you do not)
Some days ago I was greeted by two of my ex colleagues and the two phone conversations which were in Sinhala went something like:
Conversation No. 2
He:Hello how are you miss?
Me: OK
He:What are you doing now? (talking to you)
Me:Nothing
He:Are you working?
Me:No
surprised…silence..
He: Blabs on and on about how things could have been better and I decide to cut him short..
Me:What happened to the van that you used to hire from A to B locations? You must have made quite a killing while you were there? Are you grieving because you are not able to continue doing this?
stunned silence..I guess he never expected me to know his secret spare business revenues
He: quickly changing the topic, Have you had any news from Y,Z, W, ?
Me: No, you assisted in kicking them out of their jobs, obviously they left not with a good mindset and how can you now have the nerve to ask how they are doing?
He: Strong denial, to which I cut him off..and switches to a different topic now You know I am writing a proposal, Can you check on the accuracy of English?
Me: There is no free lunch in this world, I now charge for any work I do.
He: Trying to entice me into doing it free on the grounds of old colleague friendship.(I never considered this moron a friend to begin with)
Me: Putting both my feet down, and firmly .. I do not work for free. I think you have enough money to pay with all the money you made from hiring your van
He: somewhat taken back, then I will keep, Let’s talk sometime, please give me your email id
Me: OK Bye (I never gave my email id to the pariah, nor did the dog call me after that)
Conversation No. 3
He:How are you miss?
Me:OK (standard answer for morons)
He:Blabs on about all the mishaps in the ex workplace, I cut him short
Me: What has happened is done and over, you cannot reverse that can you ? I am sure you have gained a lot of experience in terms of work and otherwise, I think you need to see how those can be used to generate an income for yourself and move on.
He: Continues with the same tape, I cut him once more
Me: You had worked there all your life, You got a big fat compensation package when you were laid off is there anything else for you to be grieving about?
silence…
He: Changes the topic, So how are you miss? what are you upto these days?
Me: Nothing just living
He: Are you working?
Me: No
He: It must be difficult to meet the usual costs?
Me: There is nothing unusual in that isn’t it?
He:Yes and then rattles on with the rising costs..
Me:I am sure your compensation package can patch upto whatever that is an extra cost eh ?
He: silly giggle, eheh eheh ...yes but..and more rattling
Me: Your giggle explains it all so why do you crib?
He:Yes but we need a job as well no miss
Me: You have to accept the fact your job died a tragic death a long time ago
He: Yes that's the thing...it is so difficult..
Me: Weren't you the people who preached to the community to live with the available resources? Why are you not practising it now? Do you now understand the kind of rubbish you have been preaching to those poor people when nothing of its realistically practiceable?
He:silence...I will keep, and be in contact later
Me: OK bye
To me it was so disgusting to realize that some can actually be so jobless to be wasting all his time and energy towards stuff that didn't seem worthwhile to be running after, or still be blabbing about a by-gone era.
I have to admit each time when I experienced a certain incident at the workplace that really brought me down to the last depressive level I felt so lost, irritated and frustrated that nothing could be done to change the situation except just live with the madness. But when I make the decision to walk out of all the insanity everything in that place becomes history to me except the true friendships I built and the relationships I established with different kinds of folk. Carrying the dirty linen accumulated during the time spent, will only hamper the mapping out of my next stop over and why must I waste my energy to do just that? I could be better off putting in all of that energy into figuring out where and what I should be doing next.
Can there be a continuance after ‘The End’ ? eh ??? They never get it.
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