Then we came to the end...almost

One random Monday last month, 15 people were laid off from my company. No one from my department, but 15 people total from the Chicago office. That's a chunky proportion considering there were about 130 or so of us. On the same day as the lay-offs, an e-mail was sent out saying the upcoming holiday party had been canceled and replaced with a holiday lunch. It's totally not the time for finger food and open bar cheer, so most of us simply reacted with shrugs.

Despite the gloominess that day, I don't think it's affected us on the interactive side very much. We're all still here. Most of us are still busy. Today Brinky is organizing Secret Santa for our team. Things are more or less the same.

Then this week, the milk didn't come. Specifically, the dairy creamer that I use for my tea called "half and half." Usually, (or I guess, previously) we'd get a delivery of skim milk, two percent fat milk and "half and half" for our teas and coffees. A bottle of each was enough to help keep us caffeinated for a week. They would appear in the fridge every Monday without fail.

Now we don't know what the hell we're drinking. The coffee is bad and no milk makes it worse. I can't drink Earl Grey or English Breakfast without any "half and half" to help it go down. People are using the espresso drink maker and its "creamy topping" as a milk substitute. I had a hot chocolate this morning, for crying out loud.

If you can't already tell, this news has hit me hard.

And along with the milk no-show, the fresh fruit didn't come this week either. No oranges. No red or green apples. No grapes. No grapefruit. No bananas. Seriously, not one banana. We still have the newspapers, but I guess that's by subscription. Who knows if we'll still get them in '09...

All of this is so "Then We Came to the End" it's not even funny anymore. And just for some perspective (cause you know I have a little of that), the front page headline on the New York Times today: Jobless rate soars to 6.7% in November.

The next Monday: Nevermind. We got a delivery of milk and fruit today. I feel kinda silly!

Comments

[Tyler]

Cutting out little perks like these has to cost more in staff morale than it saves in $ ... and that's before scurvy sets in from lack of fresh fruit.