Layoffs

I've been laid off a few times in my life. It's never a good feeling, even if you hate the job. I was 16 the first time I got laid off. I worked at a cannery in the summers. Despite the fact that I spent the hours between 7 and 3 picking rotten beans off of an conveyor belt and/or chasing skunks/snakes/mice around so they wouldn't get in your canned beans, it still sucked to get sent home at the end of the summer. I never "quit," but as soon as all the beans were harvested, they started laying people off.


So, these are pears, but this was my life during the summers:

Anyway, now I get laid off every other month. One furlough day per month. The pay cut isn't too huge, but it is a giant waste of time. Case in point: I'm watching The View right now.

Generally speaking, I've spent most of my furlough time with my co-workers. Now, they're actually my friends too, so it's really not that weird. But, when you think about it, by implementing furlough days, my employer is getting free teambuilding. Kind of not fair, huh? More often, employers have to force these things and pay for fancy retreats.



So far this year, furlough activities have included:
Camping
Whitewater rafting
Me taking everyone's money during texas hold 'em
Paddleboarding
...we're only on the second furlough day.



Today was supposed to include wakeboarding, but the windy weather did not cooperate. Which makes me worry about layoffs during the winter. Days off are only fun so long as you have fun things to do...


Will I become an avid watcher of "The View?" Granted, right now, Snoop Dogg is on. I LOVE Snoop. LOVE HIM. Almost as much as I love Leonardo DiCaprio, Eminem, and Matt Hasselbeck. I'll have much to say about those three in future posts. Until then, I'll leave you with a snoopism I just heard:



Joy Behar: "Tell me, why do you need a chandelier in your car?"
Snoop: "Well, y'know, I'm a player. I'm a player at heart."



True dat, Snoop. Play on.