I've been a little loathe to blog lately because I have been ridiculously ragged out from my work. Now, this has nothing to do with my Government Overlords, my young coworkers, or even the folks I see everyday.
No, my stress has been courtesy of my erstwhile employer, TeleCommunications Systems. I have worked for them for 2 and a 1/2 years, and they recently lost the contract for the agency I've been assigned to. The agency wanted to clear up their contracts, and TCS was trying to become a sub-contractor. That didn't go through, and TCS lost the deal. The company said they'd try to retain us, move us to other jobs. "We're family" is how our TCS program manager put it. Or, TCS would try to be a sub-sub-contractor.
Can't say I blame them; there's four employees that were up for play, and the Government indicated that they'd like to retain the staff, even though the contract was up for bid.
Still. We're family. Family doesn't let family members dangle in the nether region between "employed" and "unemployed."
TCS, even though they KNEW they lost the bid, lorded the non-compete clause we all signed over us like a pinata. We couldn't sign with the new company without facing a lawsuit; TCS said they'd try to find us new positions within TCS, but we all knew they had no roles for us. This was the story on Wednesday. "So...here's two weeks of money and hit the road."
Thursday, TCS changed their tune. We'd be let out of our non-competes, and were free to interview with the new contractor.
Friday, TCS laid us off without even learning if we'd signed with the new contractor.
That's a nice family you got there.
Fortunately the new contractor hired those of us on the crew who'd been there for more than a couple of months. I live to see another paycheck.
So, a drop of spilled beer to Clint, the new guy who wasn't picked up by the new contractor...for now.
And, a drop of spilled blood to TCS, who made our last couple of weeks of employment as stressful as possible.
Also, as how all companies have their own lingo, I know there's no way I'll pick up TCS' phrase. Broadstreet gave me "dawg." netINS gave me "my bad." Chili's gave me "buffalo wings." TCS employees use the term "net net" a lot. In a sentence, they say "Look, the net net is that we need to improve our stock options."
Net net.
Kinda redundant, you know?
Welcome to TCS' CorporateSpeak.
So, two and a half years have been wiped clean. I'm waving good bye to nearly 100 hours of vacation time. Two and a half years of stock options, benefits...all gone.
My "family" is kinda dysfunctional, huh?
1 comment:
That blows. Especially the last couple of weeks on uncertainty.
Having been laid off three times, I can say that it almost always turns out to be a good thing in the long run. It gives you a reason to move on, a reason to find that next, better job that a steady paycheck and a gig that's okay can lull you into not looking around to find. You might even get a nice raise out of it.
The best part, though, is it gives you a great answer when asked why you're looking for a job rather than having to make something up.
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