Twenty years ago I was a cog in a great big blue wheel, not a critacal cog just another person with a badge and a cubical. I would go to work everyday and sit in this huge office with hundreds of other people and I would wonder how in the hell I got here. Actually I did know how I got there I applied, because my parents told me that if I got a job with IBM I would be set for life. I was only 18 and all I knew how to do was make pizza, but IBM is notorious for nepotism so I was hired. Fifteen bucks an hour full bene’s two weeks paid vacation stock options and the choice of what color of chair I wanted. I started at the bottom answering phones on the 1800 line. You might be reading this thinking that it is a story of how I stuck to it and did a great job and got promoted and started makin lots of money and maybe even got my own fully enclosed cubical, perhaps even had some underlings to boss around. Not a chance I was the most miserable malcontent in the place, I couldnt believe how these poor people sat their everyday for not just years but decades. The company was everything to them. I was determined not to stay I got up the nuts to walk into the mangers cubical and quit, no notice no nothin heres my badge escort me outa here. I was told that I should waite one month. I was like no way I am done thinkin about it I gotta go. The manager closes the door and tells me that in one month we would all be laid off due to the downturn in the economy and that I would recieve a substantial amount of money even though I had only been there six months. I stayed but I didnt work I read magazines I hung out in the cafeteria, the only thing I did was clock in. The rumors started that we might get laid off, I dont think any of these folks believed them though because IBM had never laid off not even during the depression, so they worked harder, the digital chart at the back of the office showed call volume and productivity going through the roof, no lunch no water breaks just nose to the grindstone. The fear was palpable. Finally the big anouncement we all reported to the cafeteria everyone knows what is going to happen but the optomism is bizarre, stock has plumeted 50% and these folks are thinkin we are getting a pep talk. Bam the VP just lets us have it no warm up no nothin just “as of right now you no longer are in the employe of IBM your severance packages will be sent to you your final check will be given to you when you turn in your badge on the way out the door to your left.” I was so happy I felt like I had been released from the gulag. I was smilen so big my face hurt I couldnt wipe it off even though everyone around me was falling apart. Now that we are in another recesion I wonder how many of those millions who have been laid off are smillen, thinkin now I can do what I have always wanted to do because some one gave me my freedom .
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kevinpotter
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Kevin, your stories are most entertaining – keep em coming!
I played the cubicle game for a while as a draftsman, nepotism included, and was happy to leave it. A few cubicles down one fellow routinely slept with the phone against his ear, and further down another fellow would blatantly lie about what he did or did not do. A trainee under my care had the motto; “Sometimes I sit and think, but mostly I just sit”. The company looked after me and a career path was open. I was looking for something else.
Like you I guess it is karma, self-reliance, or whatever. I miss the easy money and fragile security. Forty years later self-reliance along with a healthy sceptism for the beaten path may be the best option… for some people anyway.
Kevin,
The cubicle is a rite of passage one must experience to get the corner office. I’m one of those folks who stuck it out, stayed with the company for six years and got into management. Look at me know, successful manager for the #1 and #4 media companies in the nation, making sh1tlo@d$ of money. I’ll let you know what happens with this recession- WildGato