Thankful for being employed during COVID-19 uncertainty

I am fortunate to be able to work from home during this COVID-19 pandemic. I work in the IT field and have a laptop. Other than spending more time and effort communicating with my colleagues, I can comfortably work from home and get paid.

My employer has asked all employees to work from home till the end of the month. Well, that date got changed to April 10. It will mean that it will be five weeks of working from home for me. Perhaps it will be extended some more.

I look at the restaurant business here in the greater Toronto area. Restaurants have shut down dine-in services. Takeout and delivery services are the only ways that these restaurants can offer their services. Bartenders and servers can't work from home. They are either laid off, or their employer pays them and then suffers the consequences of losing money daily.

I feel for businesses these days, especially local ones. My ordering takeout from them here and there will hopefully help a bit.

Here's hoping that we can resume our regular lives when this pandemic disappears.

Layoffs and canned presentation

I normally work from home on Wednesdays. I changed things up due to my two medical appointments and went into work yesterday.

It was an interesting day to be in the office. The good news is that I had a massive full rack of ribs for lunch. There was a deal going on at a local restaurant. I took advantage of it.

The downside was that a snap meeting was held while my student, manager, and I were out having lunch. It's ridiculous to call a meeting fifteen minutes before it starts and during the lunch hour.

It turns out that six people were laid off in my department. It's difficult to tell whether it was due to performance or that they had been with the company for eons. They were gone. Just like that.

One person was on my team. I didn't expect him to be turfed. This person's manager was also let go.

My manager was candid with me during our regular biweekly meeting. He though that he would be the one to go. It was an odd statement. He said that I would be fine.

It's difficult to say whether I am truly safe. That being said, I do my job well. Folks know that if I leave for whatever reason, my department will suffer.

I am hoping that things get better.

In the meantime, there is great news. I was supposed to do a five-minute presentation on Monday with two other colleagues in front of our entire department. That presentation has been scrapped. Yay!

Losing colleagues due to no work

Work is getting dark. I learned on Friday that we have lost a good third of our department of writers due to a shortage of work.

It's sad. I am sad, as I trained the majority of them when they first joined the company. I do hope that they can find employment elsewhere.

It's sad that the news was delivered on a Friday, just before starting the weekend. When I got laid off a couple of times in my life, the news came down on Monday. I felt that it was a bit easier to digest, but not a whole lot.

I still feel that I am safe. I am the most competent person in my department. I am also the longest serving one in my group. All of that helps me out. We'll see for how long.

Change at work

It has been a week of change at work. To make an extremely long story short, a major project is coming to an end. It means that there are a ton of folks who are looking for projects to do.

On a good note, there is a new project. However, the company has far too many folks for it that layoffs are likely going to happen, which is sad.

I am fortunate to not be directly involved in this project that is going away. I am unaffected personally, but my team is impacted.

My boss had a talk with me on Thursday. He wants to let the newish incompetent woman go. There is now a colleague who is free to step in and replace her. We'll see if this change works out.

It's always sad to see a colleague go, but it's the best for everyone's mental health and sanity, including my own.