Zen and the art of Survivor Guilt

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well. It’s been an interesting couple of days at my place of employment.
You may recall my posts in regards to the automation equipment that has been installed at the station. The axe fell, and fell heavy here yesterday.

My friend of 8 years was “layed off” and worst of all, I’ve been moved from mornings to afternoons, my friend’s former position.

My former position is being filled by another friend of mine from within the company, from another station.

I didn’t fit into the vision management had for the morning time slot. I have a more relaxed, mature delivery, so I’m told…apparently, more suited for the PM drive show.

Other than a slight bruising to my ego, I’m okay with being moved to the afternoon. The kicker is, I’m taking my friend’s job. Rather, I’m filling the position. I know I don’t have any control over what the suits do to me, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

Moral is at an all time low here…and there are more cuts to come.

I’m thankful I still have a job, but I’m not happy with the situation.
Have you gone thru something like this? How did you deal with it? I need some advice people.

2

I sympathize with your situation. I was in a similar position two years ago, when I ended up being placed in a job which had been held up to that time by one of my closest friends. The only real advice I can offer is to continue to be that person’s friend. Understand that they may be somewhat upset and stressed at first, but make it clear to them that you aren’t abandoning them in spite of no longer working with them.

I was fortunate in that my friend understood that I had nothing to do with the decision. He also never had any sort of expectation that I should quit out of unity, or that I was unfairly favored over him.

As for feeling guilty, is it something that you should truly feel guilty over? Is there something you conciously did which resulted in you taking his job and him losing it? Most likely not. My advice is to feel compassion over his plight and offer what assistance you can, but don’t spend time feeling guilty. It won’t help.

3

Ya…this decision came from management…not me.
I don’t think I’m going to have to worry about any of this in the not so distant future.