Thursday, December 30, 2004
Celebration?
Mid December, I went to a party for people who were terminated after the end of September. Once again, we took over the top floor of the same bar and the patio was open for smokers. This was my end of employment celebration technically and my sister's. Everyone was asking where she was, but I didn't have a clue (bad sister!).
There was a mix of IT people there-workstation support, developers, business area, server team (one of whom treated me like a long-lost friend even though he was a pain to work with), system management, enterprise DBAs (my sister's team), etc. Almost a totally different crowd from the last one. The division CIO was there and spent most of the evening talking to my old VP. I showed my Halloween Xena pictures to anyone I could corner. I gave copies of my Winnipeg pictures to my old VP as she hadn't taken any while she was there. The Winnipeg VP was also there with a windup toy of a piece of a man's anatomy. I'm getting too old/menopausal for this kind of thing. Apparently, she has my Xena pictures posted in her office.
I spent the first part of the party chatting with one of my former teammates. He's having about the same experience in the job market as I am although I don't think he's going as hard at it. He's seems to be actually enjoying his downtime. Everyone was asking me how I was enjoying retirement/being on vacation. I hate being at home-I'd rather be working. After all, I have been doing it for the last twenty-six years (with two 3-month breaks to have my kids).
I noticed that my old boss had arrived (he had stayed late for a DR planning conference call, I think). I went out to the patio to join him, but he then went into the bar to talk to someone else so I sat with the old geezers out there for a while (Individual IT VP, one of his AVPs). I assume most of them are eligible for full early retirement. I'm short two years and will now have to work until age 65.
While I was with them, I ended up talking to a couple of guys that are leading the effort to get a hold of the pension plan surplus. Most of these old buggers got pushed aside and pensioned off when they were with the company. They're asking employees for money to fight for a share of the surplus but they don't have a budget. The one old IT director says the whole surplus belongs to us, the employees. This is an unreasonable position and won't fly with the Montreal family that bought the company. No wonder the company doesn't respond to their inquiries. They can just stall until we're all dead.
After that, I spent the rest of the evening talking to an AIX sysadmin, another teammate who arrived late and a fellow who'd been let go before the takeover. This last guy followed our old VP (good infrastructure manager, but low ethics, forced out by new enterprise CIO who was a moron in the long run) to another company, but didn't stay long. It was interesting to find out that the ex-Lifer had been stabbed in the back by the same guy who got me. This is the division CIO's right-hand man (at the end, I refused to lunch with him). He was a great technician with a photographic memory, but as he rose through the ranks, he had no idea how to deal with people. I was able to make him squirm at a disciplinary interview (it was a constructive dismissal situation), and the ex-employee said the right-hand man actually broke down during his meeting when he confronted him about direction.
I left a lot earlier than I planned and got home at a reasonable hour. I found it a bit depressing and no longer feel like I'm part of the organization. I do miss some of my colleagues though.
D.
There was a mix of IT people there-workstation support, developers, business area, server team (one of whom treated me like a long-lost friend even though he was a pain to work with), system management, enterprise DBAs (my sister's team), etc. Almost a totally different crowd from the last one. The division CIO was there and spent most of the evening talking to my old VP. I showed my Halloween Xena pictures to anyone I could corner. I gave copies of my Winnipeg pictures to my old VP as she hadn't taken any while she was there. The Winnipeg VP was also there with a windup toy of a piece of a man's anatomy. I'm getting too old/menopausal for this kind of thing. Apparently, she has my Xena pictures posted in her office.
I spent the first part of the party chatting with one of my former teammates. He's having about the same experience in the job market as I am although I don't think he's going as hard at it. He's seems to be actually enjoying his downtime. Everyone was asking me how I was enjoying retirement/being on vacation. I hate being at home-I'd rather be working. After all, I have been doing it for the last twenty-six years (with two 3-month breaks to have my kids).
I noticed that my old boss had arrived (he had stayed late for a DR planning conference call, I think). I went out to the patio to join him, but he then went into the bar to talk to someone else so I sat with the old geezers out there for a while (Individual IT VP, one of his AVPs). I assume most of them are eligible for full early retirement. I'm short two years and will now have to work until age 65.
While I was with them, I ended up talking to a couple of guys that are leading the effort to get a hold of the pension plan surplus. Most of these old buggers got pushed aside and pensioned off when they were with the company. They're asking employees for money to fight for a share of the surplus but they don't have a budget. The one old IT director says the whole surplus belongs to us, the employees. This is an unreasonable position and won't fly with the Montreal family that bought the company. No wonder the company doesn't respond to their inquiries. They can just stall until we're all dead.
After that, I spent the rest of the evening talking to an AIX sysadmin, another teammate who arrived late and a fellow who'd been let go before the takeover. This last guy followed our old VP (good infrastructure manager, but low ethics, forced out by new enterprise CIO who was a moron in the long run) to another company, but didn't stay long. It was interesting to find out that the ex-Lifer had been stabbed in the back by the same guy who got me. This is the division CIO's right-hand man (at the end, I refused to lunch with him). He was a great technician with a photographic memory, but as he rose through the ranks, he had no idea how to deal with people. I was able to make him squirm at a disciplinary interview (it was a constructive dismissal situation), and the ex-employee said the right-hand man actually broke down during his meeting when he confronted him about direction.
I left a lot earlier than I planned and got home at a reasonable hour. I found it a bit depressing and no longer feel like I'm part of the organization. I do miss some of my colleagues though.
D.
