This week started with bad news for everybody. Layoffs are all over the place and the unemployment rate just keeps rising. The bank I work for is no exception. Yesterday, two co-workers of mine were fired. Literally, they used to sit next to me. I was chatting with the girl, having a laugh at some funny story of hers. She answered her phone, stepped away from her desk, and I just continued working on whatever it was I was working on. She came back silently, came to me and handed out the stuff she was working on and said," I'm giving you this because I'm no longer working for this company." I looked at her and she had teary eyes. It took me by surprise, and I just felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I felt so bad for her that some tears fell from my eyes too.
I guess the worst part is knowing that I'm no better than she is. I consider myself a mediocre employee, although for some reason my boss thinks the opposite. I haven't been giving my one hundred percent at work simply because I'm bored with what I do and I truly wish I could move on to other things. But yesterday I was grateful. We cannot afford loosing the security of this job right now. Not now, when I'm trying to help out my brother and his family, and his wife just lost her job too.
So today our group is meeting early in the morning to redistribute the work. We were six, and now we're four, so our plates are going to be pretty full from now on. I just want this week to be over, so that we can move on and get used to our new routine at work.
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It's scary, isn't it? Even though I know my own job is safe for at least another year, I can feel the fear all around me. There have been and will be many more layoffs where I work. I'm glad I'm not one of them, but I worry how they all will manage. And I feel guilty knowing I'm no better than they are, just luckier at the moment.
Ain't capitalism grand?
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