The Streetcar Chronicles

I typed too soon. Yesterday, I was pretty confident that the new changes happening at work would not involve a new person coming to my little section of the department. Today, Larry burst my bubble. He told me that, while still confidential, he would share with me that one of the event gals will be joining us as part of the department’s restructure.

He couldn’t tell me who since whoever it is still doesn’t know about the move. I don’t know which one of the girls’ will be joining us, but I’m not looking forward to it. The girls I work with are pretty superficial, their major concerns in life are make-up, fashion, making babies and talking about how wonderful their lives are. Other than Natalie, Marigold, Charlie and Katie, the girls at work are spoiled little princess’.

I don’t even know how this addition would work. Larry and I don’t deal with events so having one of those gals join us will really be taking a fish out of water. A part of me thinks that this is an attempt to get whoever it is to quit. These girls love planning events and I doubt whoever will come over will be happy about the change. Maybe the company thinks this is an easier way to get people to leave. No one really likes Larry, they all think he’s strange and I know that people make fun of him.

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It’s been a busy couple of days, especially at work. This past week, there were a lot of meetings, mostly be the senior folks in my department. This was also the week we had someone come in to talk to us about using social media.

First, the meetings. Early in the week, my boss, his peers, their boss and our department’s vice president met to discuss and settle the coming changes to our area. I got a brief synopsis from Larry when he returned from the meeting but he spent the rest of that day and week in and out of meetings so we didn’t get a chance to sit down and thoroughly talk about the changes. All he said was that there would be significant changes happening, especially on the other side of the floor – the events side of things.

It was confirmed to him that he would not be getting another person under his realm. I thought that was good news for me, as it meant that I would have to share the relationship Larry and I have with someone else. He and I have a good set-up, I understand him (few others bother getting to know him) and he likes me. He feels comfortable with me, he tells me about his family and private life, something he rarely does with the other people in the company. A new person would change the dynamic and I’m glad that’s put off for now.

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Today I had a reminder of what it is I dislike about working in a corporate office: the bullshit politics. Last year, the company I work for introduced this “breakfast with the executives” initiative. Employee surveys showed that people felt that there was a disconnect about what the company’s goals and objectives were. These breakfasts were introduced in an attempt to bridge the gap between what the executive office is implementing and pursuing and what the the rest of us peons know.

The breakfasts are set up such that the groups are less than fifteen people and there’s at least one person from every department in the organization. During these get-togethers, it’s encouraged that those in attendance raise any questions or concerns they have about things happening within the organization and future plans.

I was invited to the breakfast happening this morning. I got up early and made sure that I got to the office for the 8:30 start time.

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There’s something going on at work. There are a few things going on, I’m sure. It appears that whatever is in the works is largely tied to our fiscal year end, which we are fast approaching.

There’s a lot of buzz about what will happen when the three women who are currently on maternity leave return this summer. The economic slow-down has begun to be felt in the events side of our department and it’s become apparent that there are too many people on staff. Some of the murmurings have been that either one or both of the princess’ (Tanner and Marissa) would not return. Harry, however, let it slip today that both will indeed resume their positions.

With too many people on staff and not enough revenue coming in, something will have to give. Some of the murmurs travelling down the grapevine are that one of the event-based jobs will be relegated to a more junior role. I can’t imagine either one of the princess’ agreeing to that, but the fireworks could be pretty entertaining.

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Oh Marigold. Such a sweet woman who’s English (or lack thereof sometimes) just makes her all the more endearing.

The other day she was practically in tears in frustration as it was taking her computer ten minutes to open a file and her boss was barking at her to run some reports. “I cannot work like this!” she said, throwing her hands up in the air.

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