Extra, extra drink all about it
I am not a moron; I know roulette is an unbeatable game. That said, like all gambling, the point is to have the bankroll to last until you get lucky and the wisdom to walk away while you are ahead. In the process of describing my own approach to accomplishing this for the benefit of a junior engineer, I was forced to do some number crunching and further Internet research. I have since refined my strategy. I cannot wait until my next trip to Vegas to see how many hours it allows me to get smashed off a single hundred dollar bill.
Thus far, both K.'s technical manager and his project manager have been laid off. One could argue the writing is on the wall for my quondam mentor, but I still think his name recognition is such that he will survive (albeit on a new team). Regardless, we jaunted off to the Buffalo Wing Factory for the traditional mid-layoff lunch. It being five minutes past noon, I treated myself to a Corona and lime. What I love about our company is that layoffs are occurring completely independently of the effort to consolidate all employee seating. The estimated cost of hiring movers and IC work involved in moving a single employee's cube is in excess of five hundred dollars. K.'s project manager was moved a week ago and then laid off today. Company dollars at work.
Myself, I am somewhat nervously waiting for boxes and labels to materialize outside my cube. My team is not being moved until next week, but I (supposedly) made special arrangements so I can pack up by this Friday due to an upcoming business trip. I depart Sunday evening for Redmond where I will be Microsoft training until Thursday afternoon. As exciting as travel is (if merely as a break in the routine), I approach the entire thing with my usual dread as this sort of trip usually serves only to underscore my social ineptitude. I was one of three engineers selected from our company to attend, but loathe most of my coworkers and thus would be all too happy to avoid them the entire week. When I was accosted in the hallway and asked what hotel I was staying at, I answered truthfully, but uttered a silent prayer that the place would be sold-out by now.
I have gone to the trouble of having all new business cards printed up, despite the knowledge that I will very likely speak to practically no one and spend most of the eleven hour daily training sessions fantasizing about 8pm, when I can return to my empty hotel room and watch primetime by my lonesome.
That said, I will have approximately eight hours to kill on Thursday afternoon between when my training ends at the Redmond campus and my flight departs from the Seattle airport. I have already seen the Space Needle and I wasn't all that impressed.
What's a boy alone in a big city to do?
Thus far, both K.'s technical manager and his project manager have been laid off. One could argue the writing is on the wall for my quondam mentor, but I still think his name recognition is such that he will survive (albeit on a new team). Regardless, we jaunted off to the Buffalo Wing Factory for the traditional mid-layoff lunch. It being five minutes past noon, I treated myself to a Corona and lime. What I love about our company is that layoffs are occurring completely independently of the effort to consolidate all employee seating. The estimated cost of hiring movers and IC work involved in moving a single employee's cube is in excess of five hundred dollars. K.'s project manager was moved a week ago and then laid off today. Company dollars at work.
Myself, I am somewhat nervously waiting for boxes and labels to materialize outside my cube. My team is not being moved until next week, but I (supposedly) made special arrangements so I can pack up by this Friday due to an upcoming business trip. I depart Sunday evening for Redmond where I will be Microsoft training until Thursday afternoon. As exciting as travel is (if merely as a break in the routine), I approach the entire thing with my usual dread as this sort of trip usually serves only to underscore my social ineptitude. I was one of three engineers selected from our company to attend, but loathe most of my coworkers and thus would be all too happy to avoid them the entire week. When I was accosted in the hallway and asked what hotel I was staying at, I answered truthfully, but uttered a silent prayer that the place would be sold-out by now.
I have gone to the trouble of having all new business cards printed up, despite the knowledge that I will very likely speak to practically no one and spend most of the eleven hour daily training sessions fantasizing about 8pm, when I can return to my empty hotel room and watch primetime by my lonesome.
That said, I will have approximately eight hours to kill on Thursday afternoon between when my training ends at the Redmond campus and my flight departs from the Seattle airport. I have already seen the Space Needle and I wasn't all that impressed.
What's a boy alone in a big city to do?