The Clatter of Redundant Hippos
The first batch of people at work reached their redundancy date today. Other departments are being kept on for different lengths of time, according to some plan that they haven't explained to us.
There's a big, open lightwell between our floor (where everyone is staying on for the moment) and the floor above (where everyone finished work today). It was hard to know how to react as we had to carry on working to the sounds of partying by 200 slightly manic people upstairs who had, after all, just lost their jobs.
The sounds of music and loud voices echoed down to us for much of the day, along with a strange, loud rattling noise that we couldn't identify. Eventually, curiosity led me upstairs, where I found that someone had set up a Hungry Hippos game in the midst of the tables of food and drink, and the staff were taking it in turns to bash away at it.
Strange day.
Our section is the last to go, at the end of April. It'll be a big, lonely, empty building by then.
There's a big, open lightwell between our floor (where everyone is staying on for the moment) and the floor above (where everyone finished work today). It was hard to know how to react as we had to carry on working to the sounds of partying by 200 slightly manic people upstairs who had, after all, just lost their jobs.
The sounds of music and loud voices echoed down to us for much of the day, along with a strange, loud rattling noise that we couldn't identify. Eventually, curiosity led me upstairs, where I found that someone had set up a Hungry Hippos game in the midst of the tables of food and drink, and the staff were taking it in turns to bash away at it.
Strange day.
Our section is the last to go, at the end of April. It'll be a big, lonely, empty building by then.