Krampus had a bumper crop this year
Seventy three people.
That's how many got terminated at my site. Five hundred overall in Canada - practically a third of their staff. And the dollars that are saved by this short-term action are funneled south to Boston, I think. Bah.
Talking to some of the employees this morning, many with tears in their eyes as they recounted the previous day, you can see the shock. They knew something would change, but not like this.
I guess what happened is that on Wednesday morning, everybody received an email at work. They were told to shut down their stations, their phones, and whatever else they were doing. And they were told a location to go to, usually one of the many conference rooms on site.
So the people in their departments or divisions or groupings, since they were uncertain and nervous, would talk to each other as they read them. "I'm going to room 105." "Me too." "Me too - I guess we're all together."
The more people in a room, the safer they felt. So when one of their number would say something like "Uh, I'm supposed to go to 305..." it was obvious what was up.
The vice president addressed the largest group of people, and apparently she broke into tears very quickly. At this point the people she was talking to didn't know if they were still employed or not. But they were.
They gathered the doomed together in a few rooms and terminated them en masse.
Of course, they got some sort of buyout package, but this was literally a no-notice sort of thing. And at this company, I've learned, there are husbands and wives, mothers and sons, sisters and brothers... many of which have had one of their number go while the other remains.
Many people seem utterly hollowed and devastated.
Also, I was told by a few people that the extra security we had on site (they were in blazers, not my neon yellow jacket) were intimidating and they would have preferred me there. That was nice. :)
They were intimidated because (as I found out when one of them came back to hold off reporters today), we had what I'd call our "combat guys" in. These are all people with many years experience in security and various martial arts to a high degree. They're all a bit on the shorter-than-average side, and they're broad. They're incredibly hard to knock over.
They also can adopt a pose and freeze like statues, faces impassive. Not to be jerks, but because it wasn't their job to talk to people except when necessary.
And that's why they were intimidating. They're nice guys though.
The receptionist I really like is gone. Remember back in mid-November I said I had to meet a woman at the door and escort her up to her office because she was afraid for her personal safety? I got to know her. She's gone.
Some departments got off relatively lightly. Others were devastated.
Wandering around in the darkened offices last night, I could see cubicles missing their personal effects. And although it might not sound like much, one in six people there is missing. You can see the holes it's left.
After a comment from my mom who read yesterday's blog, I'd like to say that in case it wasn't clear, I really was just kidding about my dad having paved over the lawn when I was a kid, or trying to give us cold resistance by opening the windows in the wintertime. All of that was stolen from a Jean Teasdale article I'd read that day. Read the original if you like, it's at her semi regular column A Room Of Jean's Own.
And the only article I'm going to offer you today is one about the police in Calgary using a new pepper spray that's seven times the strength of the usual kind. The reasoning is that the old stuff only works on about 70% of the people they use it on. This new stuff is a mixture of military tear gas, red pepper (oil taken from the placenta near the stem) and ultraviolet dye. There's not much more information than that, but feel free to read the article about the oleoresin capsicum at your leisure.
And my advice if you're sprayed - keep your hands away from your eyes, and wash it off in cold water. Good luck, protestors!
That's how many got terminated at my site. Five hundred overall in Canada - practically a third of their staff. And the dollars that are saved by this short-term action are funneled south to Boston, I think. Bah.
Talking to some of the employees this morning, many with tears in their eyes as they recounted the previous day, you can see the shock. They knew something would change, but not like this.
I guess what happened is that on Wednesday morning, everybody received an email at work. They were told to shut down their stations, their phones, and whatever else they were doing. And they were told a location to go to, usually one of the many conference rooms on site.
So the people in their departments or divisions or groupings, since they were uncertain and nervous, would talk to each other as they read them. "I'm going to room 105." "Me too." "Me too - I guess we're all together."
The more people in a room, the safer they felt. So when one of their number would say something like "Uh, I'm supposed to go to 305..." it was obvious what was up.
The vice president addressed the largest group of people, and apparently she broke into tears very quickly. At this point the people she was talking to didn't know if they were still employed or not. But they were.
They gathered the doomed together in a few rooms and terminated them en masse.
Of course, they got some sort of buyout package, but this was literally a no-notice sort of thing. And at this company, I've learned, there are husbands and wives, mothers and sons, sisters and brothers... many of which have had one of their number go while the other remains.
Many people seem utterly hollowed and devastated.
Also, I was told by a few people that the extra security we had on site (they were in blazers, not my neon yellow jacket) were intimidating and they would have preferred me there. That was nice. :)
They were intimidated because (as I found out when one of them came back to hold off reporters today), we had what I'd call our "combat guys" in. These are all people with many years experience in security and various martial arts to a high degree. They're all a bit on the shorter-than-average side, and they're broad. They're incredibly hard to knock over.
They also can adopt a pose and freeze like statues, faces impassive. Not to be jerks, but because it wasn't their job to talk to people except when necessary.
And that's why they were intimidating. They're nice guys though.
The receptionist I really like is gone. Remember back in mid-November I said I had to meet a woman at the door and escort her up to her office because she was afraid for her personal safety? I got to know her. She's gone.
Some departments got off relatively lightly. Others were devastated.
Wandering around in the darkened offices last night, I could see cubicles missing their personal effects. And although it might not sound like much, one in six people there is missing. You can see the holes it's left.
After a comment from my mom who read yesterday's blog, I'd like to say that in case it wasn't clear, I really was just kidding about my dad having paved over the lawn when I was a kid, or trying to give us cold resistance by opening the windows in the wintertime. All of that was stolen from a Jean Teasdale article I'd read that day. Read the original if you like, it's at her semi regular column A Room Of Jean's Own.
And the only article I'm going to offer you today is one about the police in Calgary using a new pepper spray that's seven times the strength of the usual kind. The reasoning is that the old stuff only works on about 70% of the people they use it on. This new stuff is a mixture of military tear gas, red pepper (oil taken from the placenta near the stem) and ultraviolet dye. There's not much more information than that, but feel free to read the article about the oleoresin capsicum at your leisure.
And my advice if you're sprayed - keep your hands away from your eyes, and wash it off in cold water. Good luck, protestors!
posted by Rimmy at 19:01
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