Not a happy camper

Well, today I'm all doom and gloom. In spite of my very best efforts to stay upbeat and positive, today it just isn't happening. I'm sure this is just a temporary phase and it'll all get better soon. But it's in my nature to get sucked in by the lows, and lately there just haven't been enough highs to counter-balance the nasty.

Why the major funk? Well yesterday, everyone in my company was sent the dreaded e-mail dotted with the 'R' word. Yup kids, that's R for RETRENCHMENT. Now, I'm not going to get my knickers in knot just quite yet, because at this stage we don't know who's going. All we know is that they'll be retrenching across all teams. They're going to explain the process and criteria for retrenchment on Friday. Yeah, that's four sleepless nights to endure until the Big Meeting. Even then, I doubt we'll know who's getting the chop until next week.

I guess this isn't really a huge surprise - rentrenchments and liquidations have been happening all over the show - both here in South Africa and throughout the world. (Hello Depression.) But that doesn't make it any easier to digest. Even if I dodge the knife, some of my work buddies may be going, and that really, really sucks.

I bet this is what it feels like to be on Survivor. You try your hardest to keep your head down and out of the way, but you never know when you're going to be voted off the island. And once Jeff snuffs out your torch, that's that. The tribe will have spoken.

Anyway, talk of retrenchments is really the cherry on top of the pity party I've been considering attending. As always, it couldn't come at a worst time. My rent is going up at the end of the month (ie. this week). Plus, last week I took my car in for a minor service and to sort out some weird sounds it had been making. Turned out, those weird sounds were going to cost me about R14000(!!!!!!!!!!) to sort out! And the sounds were omens of very bad things. After a mini breakdown (and I'm not talking about the dance type) I got my car in at another place, who gave me a much cheaper quote. So the sounds are gone, and the car isn't likely to get me killed anytime soon, but it still cost me a whackload of money, and my little piggy bank has been left feeling utterly violated.

Anyway, now all that's left to do is sit and wait until Friday's meeting. In the meantime, rest assured I'll be getting no work done. Instead, I need to update my CV and work on my portfolio. And if anytime soon, you pass me on the street and you find me and my cat begging for money, please be kind and help a gal out. And remember, if you don't have any money to give, red wine will do nicely. Thanks in advance.