Sunday, December 18, 2005

No Huddle

Every day, we show up to work 15 minutes early for a "pre-shift huddle" meeting, where we're told what numbers we need to be strong on for the day, etc. Cheerleading meeting. So, I arrive early today, to start checking my held orders, etc., when the boss walks in, and announces there will be no huddle today.

Instead, he does a "duck-duck-goose" through the rows, glancing down at a list in his hand, and asks me and eleven others to follow him into the huddle room. Once inside, he thanks us for our hard work these last couple of months, and says that our contracted assignments are ending -- today. The needs of the business are such that they need to retain flexibility in staffing, he says, and cutbacks are being made throughout the sales staff in order to meet those needs. He asks us to turn in our badges, and clear out our cubes, and, as he handed each of us a $25 Target gift card, wished us each a Merry Christmas. All five people in my training class are gone, as well as seven of the folx who'd been there for a month or two prior to our arrival.

Obviously the Christmas rush is over -- no PCs sold this week will ship by 12/25, so... "our services are no longer needed."

And that is that, as they say.
.

6 comments :

Anonymous said...

Oh, Jeff...now I'm sorry I gave them any $$ at all!!

FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SD

Anonymous said...

That's so cool that he felt comfortable saying "Merry Christmas".

Anonymous said...

Our help desk hires contractors. Some of them convert over to full time. Many more are lost through attrition, either they get tired of the work, or are less than punctual about showing up, or just don't show up.

At the end of January of this year, we had Contractor Massacre, as every contractor we had was either let go or hired on as permanent. That was because the company was changing over from one temp service to another. It was pretty wretched to see people who had temped for two years basically told that they were gone. (Good enough to contract, not good enough to keep, per management.)

I first started out as a contractor with the bank, but not in tech services. Instead I was hired through commercial real estate, a group I was more than happy to leave after 2 1/2 years.

Our current problem at work is that we're losing many of our most experienced and skilled people to other departments or to managerial promotions, and we're not hiring on as many to replace them. It take several months to get a tech services employee competent in a line of business, and some people get hired on and then *leave* after six months, just as they start becoming useful.

I will admit that it is a weird feeling to be in a job where so many of my coworkers have left and I keep wondering if I should be jumping ship too....

Pen Ultimate said...

SD -- Don't feel bad; it's a good PC. It's not a big deal.
.

Anonymous said...

Sorry it worked out like that, dude... it's the company's loss, IMO, if they don't know how to treat good workers. Don't forget we're all here for you if you need anything at all.

Anonymous said...

That really stinks, JeffPres! But at least they're not going to blackball you (like another company we know and don't love), and this job proved to you that you can get and do well at a job that is different from what you were used to doing. I feel sure another, better job will present itself soon. And also what Charlotte Smith said goes.
I can't believe that jerk said "Merry Christmas."

Soprano

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