Cutbacks

I have been working at my current company (JBC) for over 5 years now, and I love it here.
• I love my job and I'm excellent at what I do.
• I have a great boss and some great co-workers, too.
• Time and again I have proven myself to be a valuable member of the Logistics team, and I have been recognized by management repeatedly for the outstanding work that I do.
(I know it sounds like I'm bragging, but if you're great at what you do you're great at what you do!)

In short, I like it here. A lot.

At the end of 2018 JBC lost the [*********] account. When I first got the news I was thrilled. "Awesome! No more scheduling [*********] loads or ingredient pickups at ECS. No more MONTHLY [*********] inventories. Screw those guys!"
Well, it turns out that the [*********] product accounted for 30% of our production, and without that account we simply do not have enough work to keep the 100+ people on staff throughout the plant. So yesterday the Logistics team (of which I am apart) was pulled into the conference room and informed that, because we lost this one account, the corporate office was forcing us to do cutbacks. In short, 29 people lost their jobs yesterday.

I'll spare you the suspense and tell you now that I was not one of those people. Because the Logistics Department only consists of 5 people, we don't have any bodies to give up. But my department was the only one spared. Every other department lost at least one member. The Juice Plant was hit the hardest of course, because they had the most staff.

The decision of who got laid off was based solely on seniority. Because most of the people laid off had only worked here a year or less, I don't know most of them. But I did have to sit at the front desk yesterday and hand a few of those people their last paycheck they would be getting form JBC, and that was rough. I spent the majority of yesterday afternoon holed up in my office, weary of the though of going near the warehouse break room because I didn't want to have to see the look in anyone else's eyes who had to go home and tell their spouse/kids that mom/dad wasn't going to be going to work the next day.

I have never worked at a company that had to do layoffs like this, and it sucks. It made my heart hurt so badly. I ache because I feel SO BAD for everyone dismissed yesterday, and I am left with what can only be described as survivor's guilt.

I woke up this morning with gratitude in my heart for my job. Maybe more gratitude than ever before, to be honest. I can say with complete honesty that I am grateful to have a job to go to today and every day. To feel anything less than complete gratitude for my job would be a disservice to the 29 people who left here yesterday, never to return.

New Year, New Gear

Happy New Year!

Today is the first day of 2019, which marks (in my mind, at least) the official end of the holiday season. In general I’m glad the holidays are over, because it means things are moving on and we don’t have to worry about all the hubabaloo for another 11 months or so. In other ways I’m sad about leaving the holidays behind. As happy as I am to be done taking down and putting away all the Christmas decorations, and as happy as I am to have my living room back to normal, I’m sure going to miss sitting in my reading nook in the evening and watching the shadows made by the blinking lights on the Christmas tree dancing on the ceiling.
I’m also going to miss the feeling that the holiday season brings. When the holidays roll around there’s just something in the air... people try a little harder to be kind to their fellow man. They act a little nicer, they are a little more forgiving, they care a little more. Now is the time when the rat race will start up again, and in so much of life it’s going to be every man for himself. It’s a damn shame that the world works that way, but I suppose it’s a necessary evil. If the slower, forgiving feeling the holidays bring didn’t end, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate it while it’s here.

I will say that I myself had  WONDERFUL Christmas! Santa brought me an iPad, which I’ve never had before. The closest I’ve ever come was the first generation Kindle Fire. (My iPad is actually what I’m using to write this post.) It was so awesome to be able to FaceTime with distant family and friends Christmas Day! I feel (as far as technology is concerned) a little more caught up in the world.
I also got a Super Nintendo for Christmas, which was totally surprising and completely awesome! It’s one of the new game system remakes that has a multitude of games installed on it, just like the NES Classic I got Jason fir his birthday in 2017. (I almost started typing ‘last year’, but that’s not true anymore.) I have to admit that, in the past week, my J and I have probably logged close to a dozen hours playing Super Mario World. 😁 There isn’t a lot that happened in my childhood that I have to smile about, but my memories of playing Super Mario World are definitely happy ones.

Material possessions aside, this Christmas was probably the best one I’ve ever had. We didn’t have a house full of family like we did in 2017, which would have been nice. but we did however have our first Christmas in our new house, which is always something special. On top of that this was our year to have the kids on Christmas. Our Christmas dinner was modest - ham, broccoli soufflé, sweet potato casserole, and dinner rolls, but it was all of it delicious. My parents came over to eat with us, and being able to share our meal with some family was lovely. There were also several pumpkin pies, which is and always has been my holiday specialty.

All in all I will say that 2018 was an outstanding year for our family. We moved into a new house, we got to have the girls with us for all the holidays, Jason started a wonderful new job at an amazing company, and my own job was done well and I was recognized last month for all of my hard work and dedication, which was definitely a boost for my morale.

I hope that all of my family and friends had a safe and happy New Year, and I wish everybody peace, love, and prosperity in 2019.