The Lottery / Discovering Being Dull
More than a week ago, someone here on the west side of Portland won a big $20,000,000 jackpot in the lottery. A day later, four people on the other night shift where I work all quit at the same moment, walking off the job in what's been rumored to be an insulting fashion. Are the two events connected? Rumors flew all week long and by the end of the week, people were pretty well sure that, indeed, those people had won the lottery, took the lump sum, and immediately quit.
The company wasn't done hemorrhaging employees, however. Another five people that I'm aware of were fired last week in addition to the newly-wealthy defectors. While the business is on a hiring freeze, it's scary to hear of so many people across the four shifts being terminated all in one week. Right now, there's only sixty people on my shift. If nine people were fired in one week on my shift alone, it would be catastrophic. Overnight and for the foreseeable future, vacations would be cancelled and overtime would become mandatory. It's a far cry from this time a year ago when we had ninety employees on my shift and enough coverage to get any vacation time approved. I had trouble even getting six hours off for a night last week to go to a friends' dinner party and ultimately I was denied because one other person in my general area had already claimed the evening. We're that short-staffed. It's scary. And I bet the whole time the management are just laughing, counting their money and feeling the urge to say, "Thank your lucky stars you people even have a job!"
The rumors about possible lottery winners on another shift walking off the job has given the rest of us daydreams of what we'd do with such a change of fortune. The rules say that if winners take the lump sum payment, they'd only get half the jackpot before taxes. Taxes would then take around half of the remaining $10 million, so split four ways, each share is only around one million dollars. Even with a cool million, invested properly, the monthly interest alone would equal more than what we're being paid. It'd change all of our lives overnight.
Thinking about those kind of things makes me reflect on the life I already have. I daydream about writing my book, "Interstate," on a daily if not hourly basis. Thinking about the book forces me to reflect on my life since if it'll be a book about myself, I'd better find out who I am. The conclusion? I'm a dull person. I'm not outgoing but I do enough to get by, I'm friendly but introverted, I'm artistic but have no audience, I fantasize about a different life but have no problem being lazy enough not to pursue anything more than my next meal, and such a list goes on. How did I get this way? Is this way a bad way to be? Do I enjoy my life? I have no legacy. People depend on me at work but no one depends on me in real life. I'm a celebrity at work. Why isn't that satisfying? Am I good enough to write a novel?? Could I handle the fame and lifestyle change? Could I handle the rejection? Can I do this? What will I have to sacrifice? Have I already sacrificed my life? I'm thirty and my ears aren't entirely as rabbity as they should be. I just haven't decided on anything. I don't know where the story ends; I have no ending. Maybe having no ending is what makes it inspirational. ...And he lives, not always happily, but he lives evermore after, existing in perpetuity.
Oof, I let my vocabulary vomit a bit there. Maybe I need a vacation. Back on point: Dull people unite! Party at my place!
The company wasn't done hemorrhaging employees, however. Another five people that I'm aware of were fired last week in addition to the newly-wealthy defectors. While the business is on a hiring freeze, it's scary to hear of so many people across the four shifts being terminated all in one week. Right now, there's only sixty people on my shift. If nine people were fired in one week on my shift alone, it would be catastrophic. Overnight and for the foreseeable future, vacations would be cancelled and overtime would become mandatory. It's a far cry from this time a year ago when we had ninety employees on my shift and enough coverage to get any vacation time approved. I had trouble even getting six hours off for a night last week to go to a friends' dinner party and ultimately I was denied because one other person in my general area had already claimed the evening. We're that short-staffed. It's scary. And I bet the whole time the management are just laughing, counting their money and feeling the urge to say, "Thank your lucky stars you people even have a job!"
The rumors about possible lottery winners on another shift walking off the job has given the rest of us daydreams of what we'd do with such a change of fortune. The rules say that if winners take the lump sum payment, they'd only get half the jackpot before taxes. Taxes would then take around half of the remaining $10 million, so split four ways, each share is only around one million dollars. Even with a cool million, invested properly, the monthly interest alone would equal more than what we're being paid. It'd change all of our lives overnight.
Thinking about those kind of things makes me reflect on the life I already have. I daydream about writing my book, "Interstate," on a daily if not hourly basis. Thinking about the book forces me to reflect on my life since if it'll be a book about myself, I'd better find out who I am. The conclusion? I'm a dull person. I'm not outgoing but I do enough to get by, I'm friendly but introverted, I'm artistic but have no audience, I fantasize about a different life but have no problem being lazy enough not to pursue anything more than my next meal, and such a list goes on. How did I get this way? Is this way a bad way to be? Do I enjoy my life? I have no legacy. People depend on me at work but no one depends on me in real life. I'm a celebrity at work. Why isn't that satisfying? Am I good enough to write a novel?? Could I handle the fame and lifestyle change? Could I handle the rejection? Can I do this? What will I have to sacrifice? Have I already sacrificed my life? I'm thirty and my ears aren't entirely as rabbity as they should be. I just haven't decided on anything. I don't know where the story ends; I have no ending. Maybe having no ending is what makes it inspirational. ...And he lives, not always happily, but he lives evermore after, existing in perpetuity.
Oof, I let my vocabulary vomit a bit there. Maybe I need a vacation. Back on point: Dull people unite! Party at my place!