Job or No Job

This game show isn’t hosted by Howie Mandel and doesn’t feature a bevy (what a great word, bevy) of beautiful babes, but it’s just as exciting! We’ve been on pins and needles the past few weeks over the 7th annual layoffs at work. Since it is against the very fiber of an executive’s being to reveal layoff plans until the actual day of the beheadings, I didn’t know where I stood until they happened. I still have a job, though, and the layoffs are over and done with.

One of these cases has your job, the rest have crappy severance packages. Are you ready to play Job or No Job?

Or so I thought. It turns out that there is another round coming within the next couple of months. This one has been described as a “bloodletting”. Doesn’t exactly fill me with an overwhelming sense of confidence. In fact, it fills me with an underwhelming sense of dread. To throw another monkey into the barrel that is work life, there was an announcement recently of another department merger. This time, our director is not going to be in charge, though. Since he doesn’t really like that idea, he’s jumping ship to go work with the beautiful people at HQ. Before leaving, he assuaged our concerns about the upcoming bloodletting; supposedly we are safe.

The last few employees huddle under their shields as the bloodletting continues

I have to wonder, though, with new leadership in the form of a VP that knows nothing about how we do things, how can we be assured that the axe won’t fall this way?

Henry had to be let go, cutbacks, you understand.

Speaking of axes, last night’s The Office was excellent. I’m not giving away anything when I say that the announcement of Dunder-Mifflin’s Scranton branch being closed was made last night (it was in the episode promos.) It should also come as no surprise to any regular viewer that Michael Scott and his trusty Assistant to the Regional Manager (Assistant Regional Manager) Dwight Schrute rode off to save the branch. Meanwhile, there was almost unanimous rejoicing among the remaining office workers at the thought of a severance package and end of life as they knew it in the confines of the office. The results of said quest and the twists and turns that the plot takes from there are a surprise that I won’t give away here. Great episode this week. I’m looking forward to the rest of Sweeps Month and the further misadventures of the office staff, whether it’s the one in Scranton or Stamford.

It's round, and it says "to it". It's a round to it, get it? Man, I'm funny!

I finally found a roundtoit and took down our outdoor Halloween decorations after I got home last night. I figured it was a little tacky to have them up a week and a half after the actual holiday. Still, nothing says Thanksgiving like an inflatable madman wielding a knife and circled by bats, right? I actually melted some of the fleece from my sleeve as I tried to fish out the black light we put in our lamp post. You would think the smell of burning fiber would clue me in that the bulb was too hot, wouldn’t you? Well you’d be wrong. I finally ended up unscrewing the bulb with an oven mitt and then dismantling the top portion of the lamp post to dump it out into Stacy’s hands. Now my yard is just another leaf-strewn mudhole. It’s very festive.

Burn cream anyone? Ouch.

Due to a minor mismanagement of funds (read: I spend too much) my payment for my last class at the university was late. The end result is that I have this week off since I couldn’t be scheduled for my next class until I paid for the last one. Since they changed the way classes are scheduled, week-long breaks are few and far between. I usually use this time to catch up on recorded shows and much-neglected video game playing. This week? I can’t think of one productive thing I’ve done, much less unproductive. Maybe that’s just the Alzheimer’s talking.

What was I saying again?