April 18th, 2005 was a very hard day for a lot of people.
I was sitting in my cube early that morning trying to wake up. I hadn’t made my usual morning trip to the cafeteria for “the juice” as Nonnie and I liked to call it - my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper. My friend Dottie stopped in my cube on her way to the cafeteria.
“Go to the web and go to our page in Yahoo Business!” she said hurriedly. I quickly pulled up the web page and looked up our stock symbol.
I sat back in total disbelief. I rubbed my eyes, sure that they were still foggy from lack of sleep. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t stuck in dreamland somewhere. There on the page before me was an announcement that our company had been “acquired” by another. Dottie stood in my cube with me and neither spoke a word at first. I just looked up at her and shook my head in silence. I couldn’t find words within that first five minutes. I was heartbroken. I had been with this company for 14 years! Later I would have difficulty deciding if I was upset because our company would be no more or that in only another few months I would be eligible for a 4th week of vacation!
That was a strange day. People walked around the building like zombies. In an instant a major part of our world had come crashing down upon us. Our jobs on the line and our futures uncertain. The office was a buzz with a mixture of hope, sadness and fear. What would happen to us? There were many theories about the future of the business as the months droned on after the announcement. Would they close one office? Would they ask people to stay on? How long would we have jobs in that location? The list went on and on.
Life got hard. No, I wasn’t poverty stricken or maimed in any way but it did get hard. I wasn’t worried about impending unemployment or how I would survive because I knew that I would. I was worried about my friends. I was worried about the relationships I had built in that building, working that job for so many years. Never mind the fact that they had decided to close the office, that people left to find other jobs, that the a big part of what had made that company tick for so many years had lost its collective heart. I had built a life from that job; I had made tons of friends and many were considered family by this point.
There were group vacations, birthday celebrations, summer barbeques, parties for no reason (remember the double keggers we used to throw, Mel? The Dr. Suess hat?! Caps?! SHOOOOE! Where are those girls??) bridal showers, baby showers, weddings…we did everything together once. I hope that someday in my new home I will have that closeness of friends again. Those days may be in the past but the memories will be with me forever.
I was sitting in my cube early that morning trying to wake up. I hadn’t made my usual morning trip to the cafeteria for “the juice” as Nonnie and I liked to call it - my beloved Diet Dr. Pepper. My friend Dottie stopped in my cube on her way to the cafeteria.
“Go to the web and go to our page in Yahoo Business!” she said hurriedly. I quickly pulled up the web page and looked up our stock symbol.
I sat back in total disbelief. I rubbed my eyes, sure that they were still foggy from lack of sleep. I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t stuck in dreamland somewhere. There on the page before me was an announcement that our company had been “acquired” by another. Dottie stood in my cube with me and neither spoke a word at first. I just looked up at her and shook my head in silence. I couldn’t find words within that first five minutes. I was heartbroken. I had been with this company for 14 years! Later I would have difficulty deciding if I was upset because our company would be no more or that in only another few months I would be eligible for a 4th week of vacation!
That was a strange day. People walked around the building like zombies. In an instant a major part of our world had come crashing down upon us. Our jobs on the line and our futures uncertain. The office was a buzz with a mixture of hope, sadness and fear. What would happen to us? There were many theories about the future of the business as the months droned on after the announcement. Would they close one office? Would they ask people to stay on? How long would we have jobs in that location? The list went on and on.
Life got hard. No, I wasn’t poverty stricken or maimed in any way but it did get hard. I wasn’t worried about impending unemployment or how I would survive because I knew that I would. I was worried about my friends. I was worried about the relationships I had built in that building, working that job for so many years. Never mind the fact that they had decided to close the office, that people left to find other jobs, that the a big part of what had made that company tick for so many years had lost its collective heart. I had built a life from that job; I had made tons of friends and many were considered family by this point.
There were group vacations, birthday celebrations, summer barbeques, parties for no reason (remember the double keggers we used to throw, Mel? The Dr. Suess hat?! Caps?! SHOOOOE! Where are those girls??) bridal showers, baby showers, weddings…we did everything together once. I hope that someday in my new home I will have that closeness of friends again. Those days may be in the past but the memories will be with me forever.
posted by Kris at 8:52 PM
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