First blog ever!
I apologize right now.
This is my very first blog ever and it's going to be very negative (and maybe a bit juicy for those of you interested).
I never did understand blogs....putting your "diary" out there for the whole of cyberspace to judge....I mean, I didn't want anyone reading my pink, felt diary with the lock on it when I was 12, why would I want anyone to be privy to those private thoughts now?
And then the last four days happened and now I get it. Blogs are for those people who have so many feelings they just need to get out and let's face it, if we tried to write it all out shorthand we'd all have carpal tunnel...so here goes.....sorry diary but my angst now goes public in............. cyberspace.
You see, four days ago I lost my job. A job I was fiercely loyal to for 3 years of my life, even in the face of higher ups "letting go" of some of the best talent this city has seen, some of whom had been there almost a decade, with no warning and little more than a "don't let the door hit your ass..."
I'm not bitter...yet. More than that I am just "f"ing angry. Let me state first that in the three years I worked there I had to reaudition for my job about 5 times......now yes there was a change of management but come on! You want to see what I do?...come to one of the FOUR shows I did a day!
This season I did in fact have to re-audition again and was called one week later to be told that they would not be hiring me back. The person who called to inform me of my loss of constant income was, what I considered a friend. A person that over the years I had grown to respect and care deeply about. Obviously that respect was not shared as this was also the person that pulled a group of us into his/her office after we had been caught mildly goofing off, and were told if we didn't start acting more professional he/she would "fire our asses". I'll let you find the hypocracy in the use of the word professional yourselves.
And speaking of hypocricy...and we'll throw some idiocy in there for good measure...here are a few more examples of things that happened at my former place of employment.
-A former employee was fired for swearing. The incident happened in a private, very casual meeting among peers...NO superiors were present and the expletive was not directed at anyone in particular. Three weeks later, in a rehearsal with about 20 new employees a superior dropped the "F" bomb every other sentence....(much to the shock of people who had been present for the above mentioned firing).....this was a superior! At a very important "welcome" meeting! Makes sense huh?
-A number of employees had the honor of being a part of one of the cities parades. There we were in our brand new costumed best...some of these costumes had never been worn before. Nobody arranged for transportation home! We all had to walk back to our place of employment, in costume, down the middle of the street, wiping our new costumes in bird poop. Brilliant.
-A few of us had been called into an office meeting (the same "fire your asses" meeting) to discuss our misbehavior. Now I will fully admit to the occasional leaving early, or not going out for one of the short outs. It wouldn't have been such a frustrating meeting if a few hours later a fellow employee (not in our group) hadn't laughed at us for getting in trouble and admitted that his/her group always got away with an extended lunch at the bar across the way, that's right, I said bar. Take from it what you will.
-A number of contracted employees were let go very recently. Again with no warning and no chance to bid farewell to friends they had made over the years. Let me say that these people were among the mentioned "best talent in the city". Budgets get cut, ideas change, I get it. The company then admitted to tripling it's employees for the summer...again, makes perfect sense.
-Our group had been told that we were no longer allowed to give each other notes for fear of someone's fragile ego being crushed. We were now to report any and all notes to a superior who would then gives them all out. Again, this would be no problem if any of the superiors had any knowledge whatsoever about the basic premise of what we did....none of them were too musically inclined, let's just say. Not at all their faults. Some of them really knew what they were doing in other areas...just not ours.
I realize I have been very long winded. I'm a little crabby about the whole thing. When I started this job it was an honor to be a part of it. We sang challenging, beautifully arranged (no offense to the current arranger, she's amazing!) musical, music. Over time they have hired admitted non singers and changed the idea from all ages amazing to bad kiddie crap. I will miss some of the employees. I will miss singing for my day job. I will miss most of all the families who have recognized me over the years and made it a point to speak to my superiors about me...in a good way. I had many good times at this particular place of employment and many bad...and really maybe it was just time to move on.
I mean I was told that my behavior came into play when they decided not to rehire me and maybe they were right.....coming to work noticibly high is completely inappropriate.
Oh wait, that wasn't me...that was a superior.
To those who stayed on I have this to say....don't let it become just a paycheck. Love what you do or don't do it. And remember corporate is corporate they couldn't give a shit about you. (Don't tell anyone I said that....I might get fired.)
No comments:
Post a Comment