| | I realize it has been many months since I updated my blog. I apologize. This last year has had its ups and downs:
Up: I landed an overtime project that paid time and a half..
Down: My nine-year-old niece M. was diagnosed with a rare and very aggressive form of bone cancer.
Up: The hospital is near my office which allowed me to be with my niece and her Mom a lot while she was there.
Down: Due to budget constraints, the project was put on hold halfway through.
Up: We were able to go to Holiday World prior to M.'s diagnosis.
Down: M. broke her arm shortly after we arrived at Holiday World, and walked around all day with what we were told (by the EMT at the park first aid clinic) was a bad sprain.
Up: We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's with our families.
Down: It's almost over and we will soon be back to the old grind.
Up: We are employed and have food, shelter, medical care, love, and most of all...hope.
The economy certainly has impacted our business. When the economy takes a nosedive, retail suffers. As our CEO said at our holiday party, "We'll be okay. Don't worry. Let me and R. worry. You just keep working hard, work a little smarter, be a bit more conscious of what you are doing and why, and we'll get through okay." I have never "lost" a job and I certainly am doing all I can to ensure that I don't lose this one. Our two EVPs are retiring, and their admin tells me she will most likely be let go. She has been with the company well over twenty years and I know she is no where near ready to retire. *sigh*. It's so hard, the way the corporate world works. One day you walk into work, and at four o' clock in the afternoon you are called into the boss' office and....you no longer have a job. It just stinks. :(
Rather than our big luncheon with the big ticket giveaways, we had a mix n' mingle type of gathering at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. There was a band (same one who did our SyF 10 year anniversary celebration, lots of 70s music, actually quite good), finger foods (chicken tenders, mac and cheese, potato cakes, pasta bar, breadsticks, veggie trays, salad, scrumptious desserts, etc. The big giveaways were replaced with gift card awards given to the highest winners in the "gambling games" (roulette, blackjack, poker, etc.). Usually everyone's name is put in a drawing for gift cards, but this year they actually sold raffle tickets. I was disappointed by this, as it seemed that in the economic atmosphere they would have been more sympathetic to people not having a lot of money to spend at the holidays. But then again, they did cater in food and have an open bar, and I know neither of those items were inexpensive. Still, I didn't purchase raffle tickets as it just seemed like a waste, and I'm pretty sure I have conviction about gambling that extends to raffles, even if the money does go to our employee association.
The party was employees only from 3pm-5pm, and then spouses were invited to attend the 5pm-7pm block. I left at 5pm to head out to spend time with family, as the music gets louder and the crowd gets rowdier the last two hours. There are just some things I do not want to see my coworkers doing...one of them is getting intoxicated and the other is dancing, and that certainly happens at these venues.
I attended the party for a couple of hours because I wanted to help show our employer that we appreciate having a celebration at all. They could have just cancelled the whole thing in light of the economy, but the word was they didn't want people to feel unappreciated. I always enjoy the dessert table the best...they have all these different variations of cheesecake, fudge, lemon bars, etc., all in these bite size servings. It is just so indulgent and festive...I adore that dessert table!
So at this point I am still employed and still pinching myself that I have a job that pays my parking, provides excellent medical, dental, vision, disability and insurance benefits (not to mention ten vacation days, five sick days, a personal day and ten paid holidays). And P. continues to be generous as a boss and as a friend. She is truly one of the smartest people in the company...and she loves helping others learn. :)
I don't know what the coming year holds for me, our company or anyone else. All I can say is 2008 could have been worse and could have been better. Not unlike every other of my 39 years.
Here's wishing everyone wisdom and joy in the coming year! |
| | Posted 1/1/2009 8:15 PM - 6 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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