Screwed

The fruit has changed. What I mean is, there's been some serious cost-cutting. Using a cheaper company to provide fruit to the office. And the fruit is not only of lesser quality, but also of lesser quantity... it began with 50 pieces per box, and now it's only 35 pieces. And they don't even taste good. Poor us. I know, we're probably lucky to even be getting any fruit, but poor us anyway.

Despite this, I still take 2-3 pieces each morning, a banana, an apple, a kiwi fruit. I eat the banana, I eat the kiwi and I take the apple home... I now have a healthy collection of about 8 apples at home. I should probably stop taking apples and give other people a chance :p

Newspapers?
Before: we received 3 copies of each paper in each kitchen
Now: we receive 1 copy of each paper in the big kitchen only.
Poop. I haven't read a paper in weeks!

Biscuits?
Replenished only once a day. ONCE A DAY!! That is not enough to feed my hunger pangs let alone an entire floor of around 150 people. How cruddy is that?!
I find myself wandering to the kitchen to look for a snack only to find crumbs, so instead I make a cup of tea rather than go back to my desk empty handed. Then I pee like crazy. I don't even like tea. Tea makes me pee. Wee wee as in pee pee (sorry, inside joke - boy do I miss Farida :(

File delivery and retrieval service?
Gone.
Files will no longer be delivered or retrieved from each floor. Which to me means that they are practically giving me a license to not work because I have a feeling I'm gonna be spending half my day down at Records for the next few weeks until I leave :p

Them: "where have you been?"
Me: "errm, I was down at Records looking for a file for you..."
Them: "You were there for over an hour"
Me: " yeah, took me awhile to find it cos someone didn't put it back in the right place, you're lucky I even found it!"

This situation can be repeated over and over and over again in a single day.
What was that thing about not enough chargeable hours in a day??? Well, the jokes on them now, half my day's gonna be admin hours... dumb-arses.

But what an awful week of cost-cutting.

Aside from reducing all these little perks that we're so used to getting when working for a big global conglomerate, my employer has also announced mass redundancies. Too many people lose their jobs without any notice or indication.

Everybody knows that things aren't all roses and butterflies at the moment so redundancies are expected, however, the way in which you handle the situation is the difference between a good company and a great company.

The people who were retrenched in my department were given the news at 11am in the morning. They were to choose either to pack their things then and leave or leave immediately and someone else will pack up their things to send back to them but they were strictly not allowed to touch their computers, not allowed to touch any files on their desks, not allowed to touch anything work related and were escorted out of the building. They did not even have time to go around the office to say goodbye to their colleagues and friends. Escorted out. What did they do wrong?

For all they knew, they got up and went to work as they normally would, and then by 11am that morning, they were without a job and treated like criminals yet they did nothing wrong.

Surely the company could have shown a little bit of compassion to these people so that at the very least allow them a chance to say goodbye to all the friends they have made there.

No.
You can have none of that.
We don't need you anymore.
Please do not touch our stuff, do not talk to our staff, do not pass GO, you must go straight to jail.... (sorry, got carried away)

People who have worked there for a few months were gone, people who have worked there for 20 years were gone. Some departments lost half their team. Ours were luckier, only 3 people were done away with, but 3 people who were our friends, who we would have liked to say a proper goodbye to.

Bastards.

After that massacre, it was pretty clear that my contract was definitely not going to be renewed... partly because of budget cuts and partly because the maternity-leave lady wanted her job back (thank goodness! Cos I definitely don't want it). Better that they feel bad not being able to keep me than me feeling bad not wanting to stay.

Bad luck to them. They're gonna be pretty screwed without me (not trumpeting up myself at all :p)

I am feeling pretty good and very relieved about leaving the robotic, soul-sucking world of this firm, however, the looming prospect of unemployment is beginning to worry me - I should probably start looking for work or I'm screwed too.

Anyone out there with a good paying job where I don't have to do too much?
Here's to wishful thinking