Forty fish enter, one fish leaves
It’s amazing how you can draw parallels between the smallest things and your life…
Imagine 2D’s aquarium, which not so long ago started with forty fish and a bad pH/saline mix or something. A couple of days later, he was left with one very very neurotic fish. Can you imagine what was going through its tiny little mind? “Dyin’! They’re all a dyin’! Little Johnny, Big Joe, Two-Fin Fred…They’re all gone! What’ll I do? What’ll I do?” He must not have been sleeping well at night, swimming little circles, pacing back and forth. (In fact, I’m pretty sure he was doing that…)
And, to draw the parallels to my life, substitute the following:
1) replace ‘aquarium’ with ‘office’
2) replace ‘forty’ with ‘five’
3) replace ‘fish’ with ‘web developer’
It was quite the uncomfortable/strange day at work yesterday, and I understand that I’m going to be pretty lonely in that office in the near future (if we’re keeping the same room). It’s a bit of shock, a bit of survivor guilt and a bit of ‘je ne sais quoi’.
I’m not looking at running but I’m pretty freaked out. I suppose I should make a concious effort to keep the CV up to date (I’ve done a lot since I last dusted it off, and it’s only been a few months) just in case.
To keep myself sane, I’ve decided to keep OD’s disco ball in the room and name it ‘Stu’. (Shades of ‘Castaway’.) I intend to talk to it. This is how I will keep myself sane. Yes, this is how I will keep myself sane, talking to Stu. People who talk to themselves are crazy. But I will be talking to Stu. Stu may want a wig at some point, I think he’s a little self-concious about his hairline. OK, Stu, maybe next week.
On the other hand, I’ve got a whole bunch of roomies looking for jobs. If anybody is looking for web developers (front and back end), please drop me an email.
So again, to reiterate. I feel like a neurotic fish. I have not been sleeping well, and I’m coming down with something. (I think I got too close to 2D on Monday night.) I have a new friend Stu, who I will talk to.
Everybody say hi to Stu.
22 comments Thursday 11 Jan 2001 | 24601 | SlantyNet - General
You’ve gotta wonder what the lone fish thought when suddenly 20 new fish came falling in from the sky….
Old Fish – "Good thing you guys weren’t around for the plauge of 2000."
New Fishes – "Yeah, we heard it was a nasty one. Any tips for us?"
Old Fish – "Uh huh. Now matter how tempting it is, don’t eat the dead."
That’s sound advice for you also 24601, no biting the bums of the dead-men-walking as they vacate the office. How on earth did you manage to hold onto your job as I thought you were the lowest man on the pole? You been using your volleyball kneepads for more then just diving on the court?
Oh yeah, hi Stu.
Well, there was also pre-survivor guilt. Imagine how the bigger fishys felt knowing that their family was not going to be the same. It’s not easy for anyone knowing that the grim reaper will come knocking on the door soon. But you know what, the bigger fishys are staying on, they are not growing feet anytime soon. They believe…
We have a good aquarium and I don’t think of the fishes dying but rather out on an adventure to see if the water in the other bowl is bluer… they may come back when we correct the pH level.
Have faith, sleep well
24601 had the scales
So I take it a huge raise is something you’ll be asking for anytime soon?
Isn’t this a repost from 3D from last year?
To me it sounds like OJ from 4 years ago. Soon they’ll be bouncing cheques, Gord will demand a 3 day work week for a higher wage, and the company will go under oweing him thousands of dollars.
And Gord will dye his hair blue because he can’t be fired.
3D last year?
I don’t think so (otherwise I’d be screaming louder at this point). Just as a reminder about 3D last year:
http://www.slanty.net/cgi-bin/news/comments.cgi?view=3473
http://www.slanty.net/cgi-bin/news/comments.cgi?view=3474
If it goes like OJ I’ll be sure to let you — if I’m only working 3 days a week, there’ll be a lot of Crafting time to be had.
Blue hair just isn’t groovy.
Red hair is where it’s at.
Word.
Whatchoo mean blue hair ain’t groovy. I’ll kick your sparkly ass!
Yum yum arrh yum!
sorry to hear that dude.
i feel responsible now. dammit, that conscience has got to go.
I can have it surgically removed by ‘Dr Nick’!
Or a boot to the head.
Or you could just play Starcraft against 24601, that’s enough to make anyone mentally deficient.
Hey GAN, I think the grim reaper might be visiting your hood soon. damn those stock prices.
Didn’t know I was going for a trip…..better sharpen my scythe.
if i was a luckier man, the grim reaper would walk through our cubicle walls, and i would have enough severance to go snowboarding for the rest of the winter.
a shame… apparently pivotal is opening a downtown location for R & D. i wonder, i wonder.
ooh…i have a department meeting at 3.30. and it’s mandatory for my group!
i hope it’s a corporate reorganization!
Reply to internal email:
Myself, I haven’t really had time to digest it all yet. I know it has happened, but I’m still wandering in a daze, expecting to be woken up by my alarm clock any moment now.
It’s fair to say that mixed emotions are going through everybody as well, and sadness is high on the list. I hate seeing good things end. There’s that word which scares me. ‘end’. It’s so final. But I can’t see it any other way. It’s difficult to create a good chemistry and even tougher to recreate that chemistry. (Think MI:2, Star Wars: Phantom Menace – think Police Academy 2, 3, 4 and whatever others there were.)
I guess that one thing that bothered me a little is the two analogies that the Big Guy was using. Are we an army, that steps forward and falls back to regroup, fallen comrades left behind – just what armies do? I didn’t like that thought. Are we a family? I kinda thought so, and although families make sacrifices like this too, they hurt more. And you’re never quite the same.
It’s almost frightening that I’ve learned so much since I’ve been here. I’ve never seen anybody lose a job before, especially not ‘family’. Another lesson learned, I guess.
(sigh)
I guess a less depressing way to look at it all is the end of a chapter in a book. And the book is a long way from over.
24601.
(PS: I don’t like fish analogy going with the sleeping well statements. It just makes me think about some Italian guy at the end of a table… "Yes? 24601? He sleeps with the fishes." Not a good time for that to come into my mind.)
Don’t fricking remind me about Pivotal opening this damn downtown office.
I’ve lived through a mass firing before where we lost well over 1/3 of the staff. It does tend to make for a downward spiral, where now there is less staff, but the workload is still the same, so the rest of the staff has to pick up the slack. And generally, after a mass layoff, there’s not much in the way of a payraise, so those that are left find themselves doing MUCH more work without any benefits. After a while, you find the really good people, the core effective group, who were left behind are starting to leave because they are just plain overworked and burned out. 24601, you came here when this company was back on the upswing but I’m sure you could tell who the people were who had survived through the layoffs, the ones who smelled of smoke. I’m hoping the same doesn’t happen to you over there, seeing as you’re the only on of your group that survived, that’s a WHOLE lota work flowing down the mountain….
hi
what up notin mush here