Say something nice

A good colleague and even better friend left last Friday.

They had an extremely emotional farewell for him at the local pub. They asked me to give a short send-off speech. I said:

'Personally, I'm glad you're gone.

Now there will be no Gold Standard to hold ourselves up to.

No impossible combination of really nice and really smart.

We can finally go back to all our old excuses:

That deadlines are too short, budgets are too small, and all clients are assholes.

We can once again tell ourselves that things are impossible.

Personally, I'm glad you're gone.

I just wish this didn't hurt so fucking much.'

It's thin ice time

I have never been fired from a job.

I remained employed throughout our last economic crisis, nearly a decade ago. I took my first copywriting job on what seemed like the eve of the recession and soonafter took a pay cut of 13%. The management promised to reinstate it. Nearly two years later, the economy improved (and the company worsened) sufficiently for me to quit. I don't know if anyone ever got their 13% back.

I'm slightly better off now, and I'm actually part of the kind of meetings I imagine my old company must've had before deciding to cut people's salaries. This morning's meeting painted a grim scenario, and laid out several survival  strategies. Money. Jobs.

This is a proving period. 

I'm going to be asked to do some grown-up things. 

I'm going to find out what I'm like in a shit storm.

I'm a little excited.

Surely this is the wrong reaction.