(no subject)
For more shits and giggles, here's my resignation letter from Safeway. Fuck it was fun to write and more to the point, hand in. And yes. It appears I'm turning this blog into one of those disgustingly pretentious "Mmmm-i'd-just-thought-i'd-share-sum-of-my-writing-with-you-wank-wank-wank" blogs. Eat it up, readers (What readers? Who are you talking to, Tom?)
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TOM FAIRMAN’S RESIGNATION LETTER.
“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.”
- Ovid
To Whom It May Concern:
WHEN ONE SEES those proverbial autumn leaves falling in the coldest moments of May, a simple thought strikes the mind, one so rudimentary it is easily forgotten in the heady swill of modern existence. This common notion invokes the commonest of clichés - that in life, the only constant is change. As it must be - our world is part of a dynamic flux located somewhere between equilibrium and total chaos, our laurels resting on little more than sand foundations and rusted ideals. The values we ascribe to - or, our ‘table of values’, as explored in Nietzsche’s magnum opus Thus Spoke Zarathustra - are little more than notions and ideas put forth by others, no more applicable to you yourself than if it were another man’s boots were to be tied on your feet, with which you will grudgingly trudge through your life with. However, amidst the cacophony of change and uncertainty, meaning can be salvaged - hope can be saved. To paraphrase the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, known commonly in the English speaking world as Ovid, ‘everything changes, yet nothing perishes.’ That is to say, whilst the autumnal leaves undergo apoptosis, fade, wilt, and fall to the ground, the system remains the same; the dynamic still exists. You, I, We - nothing is truly perishable. And it is in this contextual framework that I write my resignation from the Perishable Department of Safeway Monbulk.
Safeway has meant a lot to me. It was my first job, as it no doubt has been for many other people - but, like a first lover, whom which you may fall deeply in love, to stay with this only one lover your whole life threatens to turn the sanctity of loving into the insanity of loathing. In all honesty, that threshold was crossed many years ago, and, if I can draw further the metaphor, while Safeway and I have been sleeping in the same bed for all of our eight years together, we now sleep on our separate sides, and if the chance comes that we are intimate and (usually drunkenly) decide to consummate our “love”, it is short-lived and usually without any eye contact.
This is not to say that there hasn’t been fruitful lessons or rewards from Safeway. First of all, my bank account has fared pretty well from my employment. Second of all, but perhaps most importantly, I have met some truly great people whilst working there. I will always hold Emil Tuller in high regard for the work he has provided and the friend he has been to me. I truly think of him as a good human being that deserves the best in life - and can only hope that the management of Safeway has it in their heart to ensure this for him. Other people, such as Leslie Savage, Tegan Marshall, virtually anyone who joined me in facing the freezer at 9:30pm on any given night, and all of the nightcrew workers, are people I am glad to have met and shared stories, laughs or simple ideas with. I wish them the best and mercy under the bureaucracy of the ever-interchanging upper echelons of Safeway Middle Management.
In the time that I have spent with Safeway, I have learnt the importance of good governance, management, team-work and the revitalizing power of compassion in a workforce. Hopefully, someday Safeway will have the wisdom and integrity to work these notions into their own management. Until then I wish you the best of luck.
Catch you on the flip-side,
Tom Fairman
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TOM FAIRMAN’S RESIGNATION LETTER.
“Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.”
- Ovid
To Whom It May Concern:
WHEN ONE SEES those proverbial autumn leaves falling in the coldest moments of May, a simple thought strikes the mind, one so rudimentary it is easily forgotten in the heady swill of modern existence. This common notion invokes the commonest of clichés - that in life, the only constant is change. As it must be - our world is part of a dynamic flux located somewhere between equilibrium and total chaos, our laurels resting on little more than sand foundations and rusted ideals. The values we ascribe to - or, our ‘table of values’, as explored in Nietzsche’s magnum opus Thus Spoke Zarathustra - are little more than notions and ideas put forth by others, no more applicable to you yourself than if it were another man’s boots were to be tied on your feet, with which you will grudgingly trudge through your life with. However, amidst the cacophony of change and uncertainty, meaning can be salvaged - hope can be saved. To paraphrase the Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, known commonly in the English speaking world as Ovid, ‘everything changes, yet nothing perishes.’ That is to say, whilst the autumnal leaves undergo apoptosis, fade, wilt, and fall to the ground, the system remains the same; the dynamic still exists. You, I, We - nothing is truly perishable. And it is in this contextual framework that I write my resignation from the Perishable Department of Safeway Monbulk.
Safeway has meant a lot to me. It was my first job, as it no doubt has been for many other people - but, like a first lover, whom which you may fall deeply in love, to stay with this only one lover your whole life threatens to turn the sanctity of loving into the insanity of loathing. In all honesty, that threshold was crossed many years ago, and, if I can draw further the metaphor, while Safeway and I have been sleeping in the same bed for all of our eight years together, we now sleep on our separate sides, and if the chance comes that we are intimate and (usually drunkenly) decide to consummate our “love”, it is short-lived and usually without any eye contact.
This is not to say that there hasn’t been fruitful lessons or rewards from Safeway. First of all, my bank account has fared pretty well from my employment. Second of all, but perhaps most importantly, I have met some truly great people whilst working there. I will always hold Emil Tuller in high regard for the work he has provided and the friend he has been to me. I truly think of him as a good human being that deserves the best in life - and can only hope that the management of Safeway has it in their heart to ensure this for him. Other people, such as Leslie Savage, Tegan Marshall, virtually anyone who joined me in facing the freezer at 9:30pm on any given night, and all of the nightcrew workers, are people I am glad to have met and shared stories, laughs or simple ideas with. I wish them the best and mercy under the bureaucracy of the ever-interchanging upper echelons of Safeway Middle Management.
In the time that I have spent with Safeway, I have learnt the importance of good governance, management, team-work and the revitalizing power of compassion in a workforce. Hopefully, someday Safeway will have the wisdom and integrity to work these notions into their own management. Until then I wish you the best of luck.
Catch you on the flip-side,
Tom Fairman