Now that Time has Passed

I try not to talk about work here, but as time has passed there’s an experience I wanted to share because it was one of the biggest examples of cultural differences I went through in England. In the U.S. we call it being laid off. In the UK it’s called being made redundant and it’s a very different process. In the U.S. you can be told ahead of time but many times, you get called into the HR office one day and you’re told your job is over and within an hour the life you once knew has dramatically changed. You don’t even get to walk back to your desk and collect your things. The George Clooney movie Up In the Air had some desperately real moments in it.


Due to UK employment law the experience is different. From what I understand, the employer first has to present a business case that proves the company must restructure. This may lead to some people losing their jobs but first for 30 days there is a consultation period with all employees that are affected can first present cases for restructuring that might save theirs or others’ jobs. So let’s say the employer says we just don’t have the business we used to which means we don’t need the same amount of staff. Then what I consider excellent material for a reality show begins.

I was involved in one of these situations and I was in a management role and had to listen to all of the restructuring ideas and in the end help develop a solution that took into consideration these suggestions and basically interview the staff for the new roles in the structure. From a management perspective, there’s good and bad. The good is you have the opportunity to pick the best people for the needs of the company at that time. The bad is facing those employees for 30 days. Coming from the American perspective where workplace violence occurs, I had to hide a wince every time I had to talk to one of these employees when they were venting about the situation. At the very least would my tires be slashed? That thought ran through my head here and there. Here’s what I witnessed in those 30 days.

1. The pissed off employee – The employee that basically refused to work for the next 30 days because they were mad that they could lose their job in 30 days. This attitude got worse and worse as the 30 days went on.

2. The vacant employee – The employee who took advantage of the laws allowing the employees to job hunt during those 30 days to interview excessively, or at least that’s what they said.

3. The objective employee – The employee who objectively looked at what was good for the business, whether they fit into that equation or not and presented that during consultation. This was the type who you knew would be fine no matter what happened with their current job.

4. The suck-up – The employee who suddenly thought hanging on your every word was going to buy them some kind of loyalty in the whole process.

5. The bundle of nerves – The employee who knows their skills are limited and their time at the company was running out and they would do ANYTHING to protect their jobs including throwing good employees under the bus. One of these folks said to me, “I don’t care what the structure is or who is left as long as I still have a job”. They didn’t make it.

When I was going through it in the UK I thought it was the worst process I could imagine. I have always had a difficult time separating myself from the human side of work. I picture these people going home and having to share with folks that rely on them that they may not have a job. However, hearing a recent story from a friend who worked at a company for 19 years, I started feeling a bit different about it. This person came in to work one day and with no warning they were marched down to HR, told their service was no longer needed and was escorted out of the building, not even able to say goodbye to people they had worked with for so long. At least the 30 days gives people a chance to come to terms with what might be coming and to make their peace.

But could Americans handle such a process?  Thinking about it makes me think of the film Office Space.  If you work in an office, it truly is a must see.

Awesome!

I obviously carried back in my checked luggage from England some realism sprinkled with sarcasm.  Is it a Utah thing, a western thing, I won’t try to decide but there is this positivity that goes on to insincerity here that occasionally drives me crazy.  Here’s an example, I was recently in my office focused on a spreadsheet when someone I rarely work with came into my office asking me for some documentation.  Whenever I talk to this person they’re super friendly but also seem to be on auto-pilot.  I occasionally would like to throw into my answer when he asks me a question, “Yes this weekend I performed a satanic ritual” just to see if he’d notice.  As I was asking him some questions about what he needed and trying to determine if I had it, he was getting antsy that I wasn’t delivery quickly and said something like, “I’ll look elsewhere, thanks you’re awesome”.  I seriously wanted to chase him down and force him to admit that he left my office with no more information than he had when he arrived so clearly I was not awesome.  Instead I let it pass, realized I did have something that would work for him and sent him an email.  I was told once again how awesome I was. 

Seriously, I can give you a list of people who you can contact.  I really am not.

Once Again, On American Soil

I am in Utah for work this week. I have visited this area probably 25 times and while I have seen snow on a number of occasions I don’t think I have ever seen it really rain. As I was looking forward to the dry and sunny desert air, it looks like rain is in the immediate forecast.

Manchester Town Hall

We had a function at the Manchester Town Hall and it is a beautiful building. The function that was taking place in the great hall ended while we were there so we got to take a walk through while it was being cleaned.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Lots going on that’s making me nervous. H is graduating in a few weeks so job hunting is starting. Work is changing in some unexpected ways making look for signs of what was there when I got here and Monday I got a call from our letting agent telling me that while we are wonderful tenants, the homeowner, because of change in family situation, needs the house back in two months. Since our year lease ends this week, she has every right to do this but it is totally unexpected as we were digging up a garden plot in the backyard and settling in. H keeps saying we need to think about the positive in this but all I can think about is the expense and the pain of moving. I’ve decided that the only change I truly enjoy is change that I personally initiate and sometimes that’s not even my cup of tea, LOL.

The positive – the weather has been stunning and I’ve been doing a lot of walking. With the sun so bright, the fields I walk through look unreal, a fluorescent green I’ve only ever seen in the crayon box.

Where Did November Go?

I left work on time Wednesday for the first time in a very long time and I realized how much I’ve been consumed with it lately. Walking down the high street there was evidence that life has gone on around me and all the shops are decorated with Christmas splendor, hoping to lure in shoppers when all anyone is hearing about is the “credit crunch”.

I feel lately like I’m caught in the cultural divide at work. I was thinking when I was walking home the other day that if I had to summarize American culture into one word I would say reckless, with all of the good and the bad that comes with that word. If I had to summarize English culture into one word it would be cautious, and all of the good and the bad that comes with that word. I’m talking work here, and so sometimes the two colliding can be frustrating.

I was chatting with my friend M last week and he was asking what our Thanksgiving plans were. I told him that since A had school on Thursday it would probably be minimal. His response was something like “wow, you do live in another country!” Hahaha. I am just happy to be with my family on this holiday since last year we were separated. To be with the people who love you, even when sometimes you’re not so lovable, that’s the greatest gift in the world.

Need Some Work/Life Balance

When work takes such a high priority, sometimes it is easy to think that things that happen there are more important than they actually are. I can’t wait to be with H and be talking about everyday things instead of everything revolving around the move and the stress of the move. I left on time Monday and went for a walk with L and little B through the park. Then after little B went to bed, L and I had a nice dinner and she told me some of her hilarious stories. She has been such a good friend to me.

My good friends T and J from Alabama are visiting on Friday, staying at the B&B with me. I cannot wait to see them.

Bowling in England

A group of us from work went bowling last week. Differences? Well, everyone here calls it "ten pin bowling" instead of just bowling as we do in the States. But everything else is the same, from the alcohol, to the bad fast food, to the snappy shoes, and interesting carpet patterns.

Resetting the Body Clock

Week two and only one night since I got back have I gone to bed before about two o’clock in the morning. I have a very difficult time getting back into the groove. I think it is for a couple of reasons. First, I am not getting any exercise. I keep telling myself that I’m going to walk after work but it has been raining pretty hard every morning and every night this week. Second, I live in one room so my bed is my work space and sleeping space. All of the advice that you read about getting rid of insomnia talks about not using the bed for anything but sleep. And last, since I get on my laptop in the evenings to talk to my family, I’m always checking work email which gets my mind cranking away. This morning I trudged through the rain to be faced with a problem with a customer as soon as I walked through the door. I just wanted to cry, so it’s taking its toll.

Honorary Brit

I got this lovely box of tea from one of my work colleagues since I am now, as he put it, "an honorary Brit". It was doubly nice because it is tea and it is from Marks & Spencer which is the major go-to place in England.

Stranger in a Strange Land

While in Wales I went to a customer dinner and we actually didn’t talk about work. Instead we talked about cricket, snooker, football, Welsh and English geography and the Ryder Cup which will be held at the hotel we were staying at in 2010. I had nothing to offer!

Christmas Do

Last night we had our Christmas Party in London. We all shared taxis in, which is the first time that I have travelled to central London by car. It was further justification for always taking the train since the traffic is just horrible. We had a few guests from the States at our party and one of them was sitting next to me at dinner. A partner of one of the UK employees leaned over and asked him what the Christmas do in the States was like and the response was a very puzzled look. I told the partner that “do” is a verb to us, we don’t use it in exchange of a word like party or gathering. When I looked up “do” on dictionary.com today at the end of a very long list of entries was the following: Chiefly British. a festive social gathering; party.

The event was really beautiful, and it was black tie so everyone looked great. At one moment during the evening I was thinking to myself that if someone would have told me that in 2007 I would be sitting in a hotel in London celebrating Christmas I don’t think I would have believed them. I had said to one of my friends at the beginning of 2007 that it was going to be a good year, a year of change. I hadn’t anticipated how much though.

Since our taxi was late picking us up, I had that fatal one more glass of wine, the one that takes you past the merry mood to feeling very bad the next day. Therefore, I will be enjoying another British experience, the duvet day.

Counting Down the Days

After tomorrow, I will have only one more week until I go home to visit the family. Tomorrow night we have our Christmas party in London. It should be a grand affair!

Beautiful Place for a Meeting

We had a meeting in this beautiful 16th century building when I was in Spain.

My Thanksgiving

I had to use Instant Messenger to talk to one of my colleagues in the States the other day. I IM’d him to see if he was there and the first thing he asked me was, “Hey, do you get Thanksgiving off or do you get screwed?” I laughed out loud.

Every week at work we have Wednesday lunch. This week instead of Wednesday lunch, we had a Thursday Thanksgiving lunch. While the food was not traditionally Thanksgiving, the desserts were more American. There was a pecan tart, key lime tart and a pumpkin tart. I call them tarts because it was much shallower than our pie and the crust was like shortbread, instead of a flaky pastry. Delicious! To end my Thanksgiving celebration I plan to go see a movie tonight with our newest B&B guest.

A Long Day for a Short Meeting

I was up with the commuters this morning, heading into London on the 7:30am train to catch a fast train North to visit a customer. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half and I didn't get home until midnight. The bright spot of the journey was getting to see some stunning countryside and seeing the customers' offices which are in a real castle where Mary Queen of Scots was once held prisoner.

Day One is Finished

To my great relief, day one of work is over and everyone was very hospitable. I was asked several times throughout the day where I was staying and I always answered Beaconsfield (long E sound). The last person I told this to at about 6:30 pm told me that it was pronounced Beckonsfield. I laughed and said thank you for telling me instead of just walking out of my office and having a laugh at my expense. It was not my only mispronunciation of the day.

This picture is of High Street in Chesham which is almost directly behind the office building. While it has been sunny and in the 70s since I got here, today it rained all day. It wasn’t a hard rain, but heavier than a mist. I was so thrilled when I saw my new office space. It reminded me so much of the office that I had when we lived in Germany

My dear friend L, you had sent me an email asking about curry. This article was in the newspaper today and I thought it was very interesting and the recipe looked delicious. Enjoy!

Bye Bye SD in North America

Being a Gen-Xer and being at the same company for fifteen years is fairly unusual. But two things have kept me here: the first is always finding a new challenge, and the second is loving the people that I work with. On my last day of work here in St. Louis I spent the day cleaning up loose ends and saying my goodbyes, which was difficult. I love these folks! I was surprised by a lovely gift from friends including a scrapbook, books about England, and two rail passes for England. I was so moved by their thoughtfulness and I look forward to using the passes to explore my new home.