Bread on the table.

[Strine]

Well, that was a struggle. Last Monday my employer deemed my position to be redundant. No fuss, grab your personal stuff, the taxi's on its way.

Why was I made redundant? Good question. I belonged to a multinational ex l s ves company out of Spain. The head honchos (no pun intended) decided to send a young up and comer to the colonies for a bit of experience. Often said here abouts... experience comes from your mistakes. "The Spaniard" must have learnt heaps about how to win business :? On his arrival our sector of the company began what possibly is an unrecoverable downward spiral. Twelve months later there is one employee left out of about fourteen experienced operators. All resigning for one reason or another and replaced in the long term by novices and in the short term by fellows that either have to fly in from distant parts of the country or drive a truck across the country. And where did all the business go? to the opposition of course. I have heard said in discussions since that the Spaniard was the best employee the opposition ever had and they didn't even have to pay him wages.

Begging for work with the opposition generally is not so hard, but. My job was basically to find fault with anything the opposition did as well as to be as unhelpful and derogatory as possible; rude even. See, the theory is that if you tell the customer that the other bloke's work is no good he will immediately turn to you to do the job. I argued long and hard against this, knowing that Australians don't work like that. We buy this can of dog food because it is good not because the other can is no good. Think about it :wink: I am pleased to say my performance in this area was attrocious and I deserved the sack. Even so I was not held in very high esteem regardless of any attempt at sabotage.

So with cap in hand I headed for the opposition the day after my sacking. After a week of countering all the baggage and convincing the future boss that I was a good bloke I am finally able to put bread back on the table. The offer arrived today.

Bet London to a brick that I will bump into the Spaniard in the very near future, because both my old and new companies work very closely on a day to day basis. "Revenge is a dish best eaten cold"...its been in the fridge for a week and is smelling sweeter each time I open the door. Mmmmm revenge

Footnote: "The Spaniard" is one individual and any generalisation re ethnic background is neither expressed nor implied.

[irnsrgn]

Revenge is always sour, like getting mad, but getting even is sweet and satisfying.

[Candidquality]

:shock: Sorry for the Sack. Glad to see it didn't dampen your spirits though. Always amazing some of the twists and turns life takes. Even better is knowing the few months of "new MGMT" policies didn't kill your reputation. Good luck with your newest hobby to pay for smithing :wink:

[yesteryearforge]

Dont frett Strine / Ive been dundant and redundant most of my life , I have trouble telling the difference between the two sometimes :)

[elkdoc]

Well, it seems to me that whenever He closes a door, He often opens a window to a new yard to play in.

Glad to see you're still on your feet and have high spirits! Turn it all into some creativity on the anvil, my friend! :)

[ThomasPowers]

I got laid off after nearly 15 years with my previous company; did a lot of unpaid overtime and had a stack of "peer awards" that was about 1/2" thick.

I spent 7 months out of work and then landed a great job in a lovely rural location. I found a great house to live in with enough land to build my smithy on. We like it so much we're trying to pay off the house before my phase of the project's over so we can try to stay here even if I have to take a 30% pay cut for a different job.

I get email from some of the old crew and they are not having any fun---our group went from 5 people to 1 and he says the workload wasn't cut. Hope he gets out before they ruin his health!

Good luck and remember that "living well is the best revenge"

Thomas

[sandpile]

Strine- Best forget about the getting even, put that effort into your new job. It will be a lot more satisfying.GRIN.

Been there done that--left a bad taste in the mouths of the folks around me.NO grin

Chuck

[Alan B]

Strine,
If you perform your job with the same expert eye for detail as your blacksmithing that in itself will settle the score for you.
Congrats on the new job mate.
Alan B :D

[Quenchcrack]

Strine, I also got the sack about 2-1/2 years ago, first time in my 30 year career so I guess I was due. Got a nice offer from their biggest competitor and went to work 3 weeks later. That was the best revenge. Hope you prove the Spaniard to be worthy of his own sack. :lol:

[Strine]

Ah, you see Quenchy, the spaniard must not fail. He won his spot out of nine thousand applicants through about twenty interviews. Imagine the face egg if he failed. He will learn eventually, but in the mean time a lot of other people are falling on their swords so's he looks good.

BTW it looks like a couple of jobs have followed me to my new spot. That doesn't leave too many for my old surveyor collegue to handle. So I dare say there'll be a knock on the door, but that will be tail (tale) of a different dog, which I'll save til it happens as it will contain an interesting twist.