Blah Blah Blah

I managed to get through the entire weekend without thinking about work and the impending 9am Monday morning meeting that was going to happen.

I actually forgot all about it until I got to work this morning and checked my email. There it was, on my calendar, in black and white, staring me in the face. So then I started to panic. Although I'm thrilled that they will effectively be paying me to leave a job that I despise above everything else, its still slightly terrifying. Once I saw that meeting reminder I had trouble breathing. You know that feeling? You're not exerting yourself in any way but you have trouble catching your breath?

In the end I didn't need to worry. The meeting really didn't cover anything that we didn't already know. We now have an end date: September 30th all of this will definitely be over (if I don't end it before).

There were some promises made about all the help that they would offer those of us not continuing on with the company, but it turns out that that help isn't available until the beginning of September. Now we have a lot of Temps (this place has a hard on for Temps) so doesn't it make bottom line sense to keep the Temps working, but encourage the permanent staff to find jobs before they have to pay us severance? Isn't that cheaper? Makes more sense to me. Once again I lament the fact that I'm not in charge around here.

Although I probably should celebrate that fact, given the false gratitude I just witnessed from those d-bags.

The guy in charge (he's not the president, he's in charge of the region?) walked in for 10 minutes and went on about how exciting this all was, how smooth it had gone and how hard we worked, how much he appreciated it all blah blah blah ("Ben's a prick"- you know? From Knocked Up ?). We are not a big office, maybe 30 people. And yet its too difficult for this guy, the one in charge of us all, to learn and remember our names. While he was going on about all that hard work we did and how much he values us I felt like asking him what my name is. Because honestly, if you don't know my name, how much do you really value my contribution? Then Amy reiterated these feelings of gratitude and I just tuned her out. I feel like, in terms of general good will, this was a good decision.

All in all I feel a lot better. I almost feel bad about that list of things to discuss when I quit/leave. Almost. I'm still going to throw Amy, Veronica and John under the bus the first chance I get, but today I felt a twinge of remorse about it. Just a twinge though and I'm sure that the feeling will pass.

Onto bigger, better and orangier things. Tomorrow is that all important semi-final. My boys (the very talented ones wearing orange) will be going up against Uruguay. Since I am confident that no one reading my blog hails from Uruguay, I harness all your energies to cheering for Oranje. You know you want to. You know you want to see Oranje finally hoist that World Cup over their heads, finally walking away from the "Best Team To Never Win The World Cup" moniker forever. First step: beat Uruguay.

I'm sad to say that I will be chained to my desk for the first half (although obviously listening to it online), but feel confident that Oranje will know I'm rooting for them. Second half- I will be going to the pub around the corner, flaunting my Oranje pride for all to see, drinking to their success.

Altogether now: HUP HOLLAND HUP!

Finally, a birthday shout out. Hartelijk Gefeliciteerd met je vejaardag Mama!