What The Flux is a semi-regular weekend feature on EngineeringBlogs.org that follows the follies and jollies of an engineer in industry, yours truly.
—
Christmas. It’s over, but I’m still thinking about it. It’s a time for family. It’s a time for food. It’s a time for gifts. It’s a time for bright eyed children peeking under the Christmas tree. It truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Red, green, blue, white. The multi-coloured lights hanging off snow-covered pine trees create a beautiful spectacle when reflecting off newly fallen snow on the front lawns of suburbia. A winter wonderland indeed.
And here at work, here at FluxCorp, the mood was no less festive. Two weeks before Christmas, one of our higher-ups was kind enough to fly from somewhere close to the armpit of America all the way to our igloo. We sure were excited. What yuletide greetings will he have for us? A Christmas bonus perhaps? An extravagant Christmas party? Raises for everyone? Have we been naughty or nice?
Well, it turned out we were naughty.
The whole office would be shut down, we were told. The mothership is getting rid of its far flung appendages. Another month or so was all that’s left. Then pack up your bags and head on home. And oh, merry Christmas. Merry Christmas indeed.
High tech. Layoffs. Christmas. It’s over, but I’m still thinking about it.
—
This post marks my return to semi-regular blogging here at engineerblogs.org. I had stepped away from blogging last May, but have decided to return given the new twist in my career path. Where shall my engineering life go from here? I’ll let you know as soon as I find out.
Welcome back!
I think I mentioned to you that I was in a similar predicament over Christmas a few years back, I wonder what it is about the festive season which inspires this kind of gift giving..
So happy to have you back, Flux!
Seconded!
Our snark levels were at a record low, I couldn’t do it by myself! 🙂 Looking forward to all your upcoming articles!
Welcome back Fluxor.
Sorry to hear about the layoff… bah humbug!
Upper management in many companies seems to be absolutely tone deaf.
I worked for a company that was closing down the local plant where I worked. No hard feelings on my account, but several months after they announced the green weenie, management insisted on traveling up to our doomed plant to tell us how bright the future looked for those portions of the organization that didn’t include us.
That’s like your significant other giving you the boot, but sending you regular updates on how wonderful and fulfilling their new life is.
Yes, it all rings too familiar. But I’ll have more to say on that in a future installment.
BTW, I had to look up ‘green weenie’. Thanks for expanding my vocabulary.