Firings, Hirings, and Swedish Cinnamon Buns
Today was an interesting day, sprinkled liberally with highs and lows, iced lightly with goodness.
It started off with a quick trip to The Magazine. Knowing that I had free time in the morning, I contacted the e-i-c a few weeks ago to say that I might drop by. She said that she would be glad to see me. When I drove off in the morning, I was excited to be going to see the editorial department.
When I got there, I found out that not only was the e-i-c not there (strange, I had told her in advance that I was going to be there...maybe she forgot...my fault for not emailing a reminder), but few people I knew were there. In fact, the second-in-command editor was "no longer with the magazine". One person from the editorial department was in, and she told me more about this "shocking news". Then another editor showed up, and told me more. The firing was abrupt, surprising, and most probably demeaning. Poor Susan had been escorted out of the building, clutching her Chicago Manual of Style and CanOx dictionary for comfort.
This was the second firing of the week of people who I respect and admire (and consider far more skilled than me...yikes!). I saw Xine (the other poor unfortunate soul) mid-day when we met at school to inspire/frighten the up-and-comers for their portfolio show. We were asked to flaunt and explain ourselves. Somewhat stupidly, the instructor asked us to be candid about the portfolio show. After checking that he did indeed want us to be candid, we spilled the truth: Nobody gets a job from the portfolio show. It's just a love-in for friends and family. We told the newbies that we spent too much time and money on these impractical portfolios, and that we won't be using them for job applications. After dispelling more wisdom (ie we wasted far too much time and money on something that we won't be using again) and shattering the myths (ie it's not about getting jobs), we had duly crushed their spirits and frightened them into silence. The questions ended. The Vignator vacated, and we stood around and talked. At that time, I found out that one of this year's interns had been hired full-time by The Magazine. She assured me that that was completely unrelated to Susan's firing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
In-between these two events, I managed to slip in a quick visit to IKEA. I bought a cheap pillow, a plastic desk pad, and cinnamon buns. The guy in line in front of me was buying a light bulb; the people in line behind me were buying many unnecessarily big plastic packages of screws. IKEA may be Swedish for common sense, but I don't think that it's Swedish for "green" (although if you mix blue and yellow, you get green...but I digress).
At the end of the day, I had heard both good and bad news, seen people I had missed, missed some people I had wanted to see, and had made another installment in Pillowquest 2008:The Search for the Perfect Pillow.
Today was an interesting day, sprinkled liberally with highs and lows, iced lightly with goodness.
It started off with a quick trip to The Magazine. Knowing that I had free time in the morning, I contacted the e-i-c a few weeks ago to say that I might drop by. She said that she would be glad to see me. When I drove off in the morning, I was excited to be going to see the editorial department.
When I got there, I found out that not only was the e-i-c not there (strange, I had told her in advance that I was going to be there...maybe she forgot...my fault for not emailing a reminder), but few people I knew were there. In fact, the second-in-command editor was "no longer with the magazine". One person from the editorial department was in, and she told me more about this "shocking news". Then another editor showed up, and told me more. The firing was abrupt, surprising, and most probably demeaning. Poor Susan had been escorted out of the building, clutching her Chicago Manual of Style and CanOx dictionary for comfort.
This was the second firing of the week of people who I respect and admire (and consider far more skilled than me...yikes!). I saw Xine (the other poor unfortunate soul) mid-day when we met at school to inspire/frighten the up-and-comers for their portfolio show. We were asked to flaunt and explain ourselves. Somewhat stupidly, the instructor asked us to be candid about the portfolio show. After checking that he did indeed want us to be candid, we spilled the truth: Nobody gets a job from the portfolio show. It's just a love-in for friends and family. We told the newbies that we spent too much time and money on these impractical portfolios, and that we won't be using them for job applications. After dispelling more wisdom (ie we wasted far too much time and money on something that we won't be using again) and shattering the myths (ie it's not about getting jobs), we had duly crushed their spirits and frightened them into silence. The questions ended. The Vignator vacated, and we stood around and talked. At that time, I found out that one of this year's interns had been hired full-time by The Magazine. She assured me that that was completely unrelated to Susan's firing. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.
In-between these two events, I managed to slip in a quick visit to IKEA. I bought a cheap pillow, a plastic desk pad, and cinnamon buns. The guy in line in front of me was buying a light bulb; the people in line behind me were buying many unnecessarily big plastic packages of screws. IKEA may be Swedish for common sense, but I don't think that it's Swedish for "green" (although if you mix blue and yellow, you get green...but I digress).
At the end of the day, I had heard both good and bad news, seen people I had missed, missed some people I had wanted to see, and had made another installment in Pillowquest 2008:The Search for the Perfect Pillow.
posted by kuzcolike at
6:41 PM
4 Comments:
Hi MLBW,
I was shattered after yesterday. After seeing portfolio perfection that I will never achieve, and then the image of wee Susan being escorted out clutching her Chicago Manual of Style (Like a true editor. But what about little Ebie?). It was just too much. Did you hear Monica got escorted out too?
What kind of world is this? Can't people be civilized and give their exiting employees some kind of notice? It's enough to send me slithering back to the cave from whence I came.
Did we really say that the portfolios and portfolio show were so pointless? I think they're useful for learning to show off your work, because writers are often so modest about it - we tend to want to hide our work (especially after it's published?! Instead of the thrill of publication, I see all the flaws.)
When I was putting mine together, I had a real block about putting in any student work because I looked at my projects and went "Not good enough! Not good enough!" I had to force myself to put stuff in there.
And I don't know about this escorting people out of buildings, as if we'd done something so terrible to require immediate dismissal. I'm sure it has something to do with minimizing risk from ejected employees, but what do they think that me, an individual they know, is going to do? It's just inhuman.
I forgot to mention little Ebie: He/She was still there, tacked to the wall of Susan's cubicle. When I saw it, I didn't know what to do. I was conflicted. Should I have reclaimed it?
I just read the rest of your message. I had not heard that Monica got escorted out, too. What the hell is going on there?
There was that case a few years ago of the guy in Kamloops who came back and shot a bunch of people after being let go. He was apprently pretty normal, but getting the boot devastated him.
Employers are so scared. However, in my case it was very weird that they cut off all the benefits right away, especially since they included an assistance program with access to counsellors and other helpful types. Well, ca sera, sera, and don't let this happen to you!
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