The company I have worked at for the last 10 years is going bankrupt. The owe St George bank some money and due to legal problems the funds they had reserved to pay it with have been frozen. Pending an appeal decision due in May but the bank won’t wait that long. They must be really hard up for cash I guess. Or greedy.
So St George bank have sent in some bovver boys from an accounting company to act as receivers. One of them is very anatgonistic toward us. He speaks to us in an imperious tone and takes every opportunity to let us know that he is now the boss. This has already resulted in 3 screaming matches between him and some of our staff. On Monday he had the locks to the premises changed and when asked why he told us because he thinks we are thieves.
I am quite close to the people who up until last week owned this business. They are very nice people and are very worried about what will becaome of their staff, many of whom speak little English and will have a very hard time finding another job. There is a very slight chance that they may be able to buy it back, but I’m not optimistic. It is a very horrible situation for them. If they can’t buy it back then I will walk out without notice as will all of the rest of the staff.
I’ve been through two bankruptcies, one very public and spectacular, and a buyout. My advice is: whatever the circumstances leading up to it, it’s just business. Keep your head down, advise colleagues to agree with the receivers and do the same yourself if you come into contact with them - they may be arseholes, but they’re doing what they’re paid to do. Remove all personal effects from the building.
Less nobly: try to secure some intangible benefits off the premises, such as a stapler and some Post-It notes. (I got away with a laptop once too, by default, but I don’t recommend this course of action.)
I suggest not asking them, “So, how do you like to unwind after a hard day of baby killing?”
Some of them probably are nice, but others of them, no doubt, get a chubby from doing their job. (I used to work with one like that, the pig faced little prick.)
I don’t know how things are Down Under, but in the US, banks are getting skittish because the housing market is quietly beginning to implode and many of the banks made some rather stupid loans, so they’re hurting.
My advice is to make damn sure you get all your personal effects out of there fast, since they may not believe you when you try to tell them that that very expensive manual you have in your hand is your personal property. Another thing you might want to do is find out when/if/where they’re going to be liquidating the company’s assets. You just might be able to pick up some things from your old job rather cheap. (Sure, you don’t need a copier in your home, but if it’s only $10, how can you turn it down?)
The place where I’m working is nowhere near bankruptcy, but I missed for a few days a glorious, glorious sale of office equipment. All the office material that was “retired” last year, either from people leaving or because someone didn’t like his desk or some office got reorganized.
A scanner-printer bought in September went for €10. A laptop that had been assigned in May to a guy who left in October, €100…
Start circulating the resume now. When my husband’s biotech firm was bought out by a competitor, the purchasing firm smiled for the media and assured the public that “we plan to lay off no personnel”. When the spotlight moved elsewhere after a few months, they fired everyone.
