Number 8!

It’s been the week of anniversaries – first it was the Lovely Mrs. G and my 9th wedding anniversary (awwww), and then yesterday was my 8th anniversary with my employer.

To mark this monumentous occasion, yesterday someone in HR sent around a huge 99-font sized e-mail around to the entire floor: “CONGRATULATIONS TOM GRESSEL ON HIS 8TH ANNIVERSARY!” Which is a little odd, considering this is the same company that gave me my 5-year certificate about two weeks after my 6th anniversary date. I guess it’s a pretty big deal though when someone around here hits an anniversary date over two years anymore – there aren’t too many of us left with that kind of seniority.

I remember the day I started here, back in 1998 – there were about 80 of us who started on that first day (orientation, badges, and paperwork). I think I’m the only one left from that group. But back then the world was your oyster – work hard, learn a lot, and contribute to the success of the company, and in return you’d be pleasantly rewarded for it. Boy, have times changed.

Things have become rather…bizarre around here in the past month. They’re reshuffling departments (again), and everyone seems to be in a major “measuring” contest. Everyone is jockeying for a position in some kind of imaginary “Lord of the Flies” type scenario, and quite frankly, it’s become quite tiresome. I just wish they could just get back to work and stop peeing on all the cubicles to mark their territory.

Still, I suppose it’s okay that I made it to the 8 year mark. A lot of my co-workers never got this far. (With 92% of the staff laid off in the last 5 years, it’s no wonder why.) And with a little luck and some “being in the right place at the right time”, I’ll make it until next June for Anniversary Number Nine.

Beyond that? Don’t hold your breath. For I have a mere 13 months left until I finish school, then the world will once again be my oyster.

Then we’ll go elsewhere and start our countdown over again at one.