redundancy

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Something to fall back on

Wednesday, July 15th, 2009

When a young person decides they want the creative life, they are often told to make sure they have something to “fall back on”.

For example, at 15 I decided I wanted to be an actor (that said, at 6 I decided I wanted to be a puppeteer, at 8 I decided I wanted to be a forensic scientist, and at 17 I decided I wanted to be a lawyer so, really, don’t listen to me when I ’decide’ anything), but I was made aware that ‘success’ (I still haven’t decided what that means) wouldn’t happen overnight and I’d need some kind of staple to get me through until the fabled ‘then’.

From ages 18-22, I discovered I couldn’t handle customer service (mind you, I worked for two entities of ColesMyer – hardly a gleaming example to follow) or anything involving making people do things they don’t really want to do (I’m looking at you, telephone market research).  Nope, all I really wanted was a desk somewhere, far away from the icy stares.

So I wound up in admin, then in print/digital media, and somehow in full-time journalism – at last, a ‘career’ to “fall back on”.  All along, I was performing and creating and training, and that was “what I did it all for”.  The day job was just that, and the moonlighting made it worthwhile.

Then I got confused.  The thing I was “doing it all for” wasn’t all fun and sunshine.  It demanded hard work and cast-iron guts and I questioned whether I loved it enough.  Meanwhile, the “day job” seemed easy and comfy in comparison.  I started to wonder if, maybe, I wanted to fall back on it and not get up again…

Ironic, then, that the day-job I was supposedly relying on for stability and income is the thing that came up and bit me squarely on the arse, while the lofty, airy-fairy, poncy creative world is taking me places – literally, places.  I’ve been to Wagga Wagga, man.

So, to any young’uns uncool enough to be reading the rants of an unemployed 20-something recovering journalist, let me tell you that something to fall back on isn’t necessarily… something to fall back on.  Especially “in this economic climate”. 

So if you know exactly what you want – and I mean, exactly – don’t piss about.  Just do it.  Sure, you need an income and that probably won’t happen via your art immediately, but of course you’ll find a way (like, there’s no choice, y’all).

But don’t let logistics and so-called ‘good sense’ take over.  If you’re sure about the life you want then, by the hammer of Thor, go get it.  Because you just never know - your timing could be just right and your creative thing might be just what’s required, while the apparently sensible path might actually be a dead-end.

Everything takes work.  Every field is hard in one way or other.  And at the end of it all, there are no guarantees.  So you may as well do what you want.

For my part, I was never 100% sure what I wanted.  In a way, I’m starting to realise, I kind of want… everything (well, not everything – if I go through life without getting that winter flu thing that makes you lose control of certain bodily functions, that will be a life well-lived in my book).  So I’m grateful for my continually meandering path.

But right now I’m delighted that, when the day-job fell through, I had my acting* to fall back on.

 

*A bit of redundancy cash didn’t hurt either, let’s not go nuts…

Posted in Kid's-eye view | 1 Response »
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Finding the when

Monday, July 6th, 2009

That word, “when”, made my jaw drop. When. A word that points to a timeframe – or, in this case, a use-by date. Our use-by date…

“ATTENDANCE IS COMPULSORY” the invitation said. 

I didn’t recognise the sender’s name, but since the meeting place was in my building, I figured it was less risky than accompanying an attacker to a second location. And it was… marginally. 

At 11am, I stepped out of the elevator into a throng of people I didn’t know. There was a hubbub. Was I in the right place? The drove started moving. I followed. We entered the boardroom, blue and dimly lit, equipped with plasma screens and projector. I sat at the shiny white table and looked at the projector screen, displaying a title with the word ”restructure” in it. 

A man I’d never seen before stood at the podium just to the left of the projection screen. Without introducing himself, he began by saying there was ”a lot to take in”. 

For the first 10 minutes, all I could think was, “So, who are you?” 

He clicked through a PowerPoint presentation about the aforementioned ”restructure”. He talked a lot about revenue and percentages. None of us were business or sales people, so a haze of “What’s all this about?” hung in the air. 

The dude mentioned some changes but, for my part at this point, there was no sign of a change for me, except for a different job title.  Admittedly, that was a bit of a red flag, but I held my horses to see what happened next. 

After a good half hour of corporate speak, they said it. 

“As a result of this restructure, there’ll be X new jobs…” 

More corporate speak ensued, aka: “blah, blah, blah, blah, blah”. 

And then the whammy. 

“When you apply for these jobs…” 

WHEN… we… WHAT now?! 

ie: When we apply for repackaged versions of our own jobs.  

I nearly guffawed, but my tainted mirth was muted by a vacuum of shellshock. In the boardroom, no one can hear you laugh – that is, unless you sit in a leather swivel chair with a hairless cat on your lap. 

It was only when we were allowed to ask questions that we got an explicit statement of our fate. 

“So you’re saying that we’re all redundant as of this date?” an employee asked. 

“What we’re doing is we’re restructuring [insert more corporate speak here, aka: "blah, blah, blah, blah, blah"]… …yes.” 

It felt like an awkward break-up – where the dumper doesn’t want to say anything directly for fear of reproach, and kind of hopes the dumpee works it out on their own. 

The “When you apply” spiel was akin to saying: 

“When you beg me to take you back, I might… but on different terms and only if I feel like it and nobody better has come along.” 

Because, oh yes, while we were free and encouraged to apply for these roles, so was the rest of the company. And while there was a theoretical 1:1 jobs-to-people ratio, several of these jobs have new and different requirements and demands that many of us wouldn’t be qualified for. 

“There’s no agenda here,” they said. 

Uh-huh.

Allow me to check the information you’ve recorded on my file… Ah, here it is:

Name: Keira Daley
DOB: Yesterday

That explains it!

Posted in Childish Chronicles, Grumpybum | 4 Responses »
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