It's been sad because today has seen four of my fellow workers made redundant. We were already down to the smallest workforce since I started here thirteen years ago. Now we are down to eleven.
One of those gone is my former assistant in the Legal Cashiers Department, Ben, who has been here six years now. He's only twenty-five and I am sure he will soon get something else, but I'll miss our conversations on everything from books, films, computer games and DVDs - and how to set the world to rights.
Things haven't been going well for a while here, though - we are an ailing firm of solicitors - and I am far from sure whether my own job will still be here in six months time. The only positive point for me is that I'll be entitled to a substantial sum in redundancy pay if and when this happens. In the meantime, we still have the bookshop, which my wife runs in Oswaldtwistle. We haven't had it open to high street shoppers for a while now, concentrating on internet sales. That way we save on business rates. If I do end up being made redundant - or the firm collapses - we may open the bookshop to the public again and see how that goes.
But, in the meatime, I'll miss the people who have left us today, especially Ben. This building is looking emptier all the time. I'm on the top floor and there's only me here. Me and my computer.
Sad as it is, there's no such thing as a job for life nowadays. My own job still hangs in the balance. Hope your own job is safe.
ReplyDeleteSupposedly it is, but who knows these days. The firm itself could go under, in which case...
ReplyDeleteBeen in the same boat a couple of times now, and even though you tell each other to keep in touch - sadly, it rarely happens to no-one's fault: just life that gets in the way.
ReplyDeleteI've met some great workmates, most of whom disappear into the wind, or you meet at the strangest places: once, I was stuck in traffic in town and happened to glance into the passing crowd - I recognised a face, we smiled and that was it.
The bastard still has a book of mine! :)
Fingers crossed with your own situation, David, but if it happens, it happens. :(
Thanks Chris. At least we have our bookshop, which we could open to the public fulltime instead of running it online. And our mortgage has only two years to go and is tiny by today's standards.
ReplyDeleteBy comparison to most people we aren't in too bad a position. Even so, it would be nice to see out another couple of years before the axe falls.