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Showing posts with label redundancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redundancy. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Another Wonderful Trip

Once again I am sending out an "I'm still alive" post, that's what I term it due to my infrequent blogging. It seems Twitter and photography has grown so much that it seems to be crowding out blogging and suffocating my urge to blog. But it still lives one, somewhat.

Just in my previous post I am still unemployed and looking. Finding suitable employment in this hard economic time is like trying to find water in a huge desert as your thirst for life saving water grows exponentially. I am still indulging in my photography too in hopes that I will make some money from it to at least survive. that may be way off from now, but at least for now it helps me to keep my sanity in this challenging time.

Turtle Bay, Portland.

Speaking of photography, I went on one more of the monthly JWI/LOP group trip. this time we went to the easter coast of Jamaica, covering two parishes, St. Thomas and Portland. Once again it was a wonderful trip, which took me to places that I have never been before including Turtle Bay, which in my home parish, Portland. Other stops included Botany Bay, a quarry and a beach in Manchineal where we ate some curried chicken, curried lobster and fish. The fun on the trip was not limited to taking photographs of the scenery and of the beautiful models that spiced up the trip. Meeting up with people who you have become friends with through the common medium of photography and the internet and sharing experiences and jokes certainly add to the good times on these trips. The bus ride itself tends to be very interesting and amusing, to say the least! The conversation on the bust this time peaked when the original conversation morphed into man and woman story and fidelity, when the bus ignited it a combination of laughter and emotional expressions!

Two of our hot models on the trip

Of course the trip did not end without a hiccup, which happened just when we were ready to head back home from our final stop in Manchioneal Portland. One of the photographers who drove his own vehicle accidentally locked his key in his vehicle. Now locking your keys in your car in deep rural Jamaica and not having a spare on your person is not a good predicament to be in! Driving back to Kingston to get the spare key and then driving back to Manchioneal to open the vehicle is a hard reality to swallow. Also, calling wrecker to tow the vehicle back to Kingston would be a financial disaster and made breaking the side window look palatable to the mind! However, the flickr group decided to stick to the code of "never leave a soldier behind" and the decision was made to break into the vehicle, car jacker style. It took two hours and several attempts by several members of the team to get the door open. Now we all know how to break into a Prado!

I am still looking a job but also I am looking forward to the next trip. Food, rent and bills are important when spending my funds is being considered, but I still have to sacrifice some of this scarce funds for these trips. After all, it's one of the few outlets and sources of entertainment for me these days, one still has to try to enjoy life! You can view more of the photos on my flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/stunnerj/

Thursday, October 01, 2009

More Increases, More Hardship!

Once again, the hardship of the Jamaican people has increased. The Government recently tables its supplementary budget in Parliament and increased hardship was on the platter. The government has hiked the taxes on telephone calls, cards and instruments from the already high twenty percent (20%) to a whopping twenty five percent (25%). So now you will pay a quarter of the price of a call, phone card or instrument, plus the stipulated cost each time your take up that phone to make call, buy a phone card or purchase a new phone. Whoever said talk is cheap certainly didn't live or visit Jamaica! However the increase didn't stop there!

If you are thinking of traveling overseas any time soon you will be required to fork out some more money coupled with the already ridiculously high airfares. Why? The government has also chosen to increase the departure tax by a whopping eighty percent(80%)! So now instead of paying the regular JM$1000 for departure tax you will now be required to fork out an extra JM$800 to pay the new fee of JM$1800each time you purchase a ticket to travel. This government never fails to surprise as yesterday when they announced the increases they pulled a fast one and announced that these increases would be effective today, Thursday October1, 2009! Surprise!

However, the government wasn't all about increases as they announced that they will indeed be cutting something! What would cause the government to deviate from their trend of increasing? The government confirmed the fears of many public servants on Wednesday when they announced that they will be cutting the number of people employed to the public sector. Up to earlier this week the Labour Minister, Pernell Charles, stated that as far as he knows the Prime Minister would not be cutting jobs in the public sector, but the Prime Minister sang a different tune on Wednesday! No time-line has been given for this cut, but many speculate that it will be soon, with the IMF deal in sight. So once again the already high unemployment figure in Jamaica will increase.

The only good announcement that came from this supplementary budget was that the Cabinet was not immune from the public sector job cut and that the government will be seeking to cut down on the red tape and gymnastics required to start businesses. But even with this gleam of light the days ahead grow even darker and hardship will only increase for the average Jamaican.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Everybody Going with the Flow?

The line at Flow's Pavilion Office in Half Way Tree

I received my LIME bill and realized that it had doubled since my last bill and I have not increases my usage nor have I added any new service! How could have my bill doubled just like that? Then I remembered that i no longer have the concession LIME staff normally enjoyed and as such I am now just a regular paying customer. With my unemployed status in mind and this sudden increase in my bill I have decided to go with the Flow in a bid to save money via their bundled service as well as their promotion that they are currently having. I called Flow and spoke to a nice agent who gave me the prices and was more than willing to sign me up. However, I wanted to go to the store to ensure there was no trick and to do my subscription there for their services. Big mistake!

So this afternoon I went to the Flow office located at the Pavilion mall. When I parked in the parking lot the security came to hand me the parking ticket, when she paused and asked me which store I was visiting in the mall. So I told her Flow. Without hesitation she said. "Mi nauh guh even badda give yuh nuh ticket cause in deh ram-up". Right then and there disappointment set in as I hate lines and hate waiting! I decided to go there just out of curiosity, maybe she was just exaggerating. I should have listened, as I totally wasted my time and energy walking up to the store. the line was so long that it was all the way outside the store!

I decided, well the New Kingston office should be better, and so I drove down to the New Kingston Office. this again was another waste of time and gas, even though the line was inside, it was like an overgrown anaconda stuffed in a little box! After taking a number as the security reassured me that I should take a number to speak to an agent as the line was for other transactions. i waited over half hour in the store as I watched the number slowly incremented closer to my number, but was still had a long way to go. It seems everybody has opted to switch to flow or had inadvertently become Flow customers!

I think I might create an account via their contact centre tonight and go in early tomorrow and pay for the subscription to their service. If I sign up to Flow, I will be cutting my LIME Internet, Netspeak and maybe the landline, as well as cutting my Logic One cable service to consolidate them to one bill. This would reduce my bill by JM$1000 to JM$2000, and coupled with their promotions I would be saving quite a few thousands for the next three months!

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

What A Gwaan!

It's day four of me being unemployed, it doesn't feel too bad right now, as I feel like I'm just on vacation. However, despite the fact that I plan to enjoy these weeks, I still keep it in the back of my mind that this is not just vacation. Nevertheless, I have been trying to enjoy myself so far, and enjoying these days of freedom... hoping that they won't be too much as I still will eventually need to earn my daily bread. So what have I been up to? Lets recap...

Reggae Falls St. Thomas

On Saturday morning I was awakened by a phone call on my cell, it was my friend asking me if I'm not getting up to get ready for the trip. Yes, it was time for our traditional trip to Reggae Falls in St. Thomas. For several years now my friends and former coworkers make the trek to Reggae Falls for a big cookout in the riverbed and of course some swimming under the falls. So I jumped out of bed and got my self ready and we all headed out to enjoy a day at the river. The trip was great, a good day spent frolicking in the water, eating all kind of food and of course enjoying the company of friends.

On Sunday I had my first photo shoot. I was so excited and anxious about this photo shoot. Being my first, I didn't have much idea of what I was going to do. Furthermore, all I had was my camera and a speedlight on camera. Nevertheless, my model and I went out and made the best of the time as we both were amateurs. I took several photos and got quite a few good shots. I am hoping to get a remote and trigger for my flash and an umbrella set so I can get a bit more creative. I definitely will schedule another shoot when I get the equipment and do a real serious shoot. Sunday night it was time to head out with some friends to Hellshire for an evening of liming, fried fish and festival. It was a great evening, had some conch & crayfish soup, fried parrot fish, festivals and some cold Red Stripe to wash it down. Played some dominoes, chatted and rocked to a great mix of 80's, 90's and lover's rock music. Time certainly flies when you have fun, and by the time we noticed it was midnight. Unfortunately some of my friends have work (hehehe) and we had to leave before the "dashout time" called Preny's on the Beach. The worse thing is that the half naked girls started to come in already, suh yuh know dashout time did ready fi start! But I had to go home to, I didn't pack yet.

[beep, beep, beep] That was the alarm clock, going off at 6:00am on Monday, it was time to get ready to leave. I was so tired, as I only went to bed about 4:30am after packing since about 2:00am. I had an 8:00am flight to New York. So I jumped up and dash into the shower got ready and headed out to the airport. I had already done my Web check in after coming home from Prendy's, so I had up to at least an hour to arrive at the airport. I didn't get breakfast as I expectedAir Jamaica (soon to be Spirit of Jamaica) to be delayed. Surprise! They were on time! I had to run to catch the plane, as my name was being called over the PA system by the time I cleared immigration. So you know who didn't get to grab breakfast and of course Air Jamaica has cut out the warm breakfast they usually served. So all I had to eat was a cup of coffee in a Styrofoam cup and four tea biscuits that they served on the flight. That God it was no more than a thee hour flight!

So now I'm in New York, relaxing a bit, not much plans so far, just relaxing for this first week. I will not be doing much shopping this time for obvious financial reasons. However, I do plan to spend some of my dwindling resources on camera equipment as I am hoping to take my photography to another level... financial level too! I will let you know how that goes. You can check out my latest photos at my flickr page and let me know if they good enough for the money. Now I need to go visit some blogs before I start editing those photos from the shoot. Later mi peeps.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Officially Unemployed


It is now officially official, Stunner is now one of the many unemployed in Jamaica. I went in today to do what they call my exit interview which was nothing more than me signing my redundancy papers, and handing in my ID, access and health cards. I am no longer employed to the "sour" company. It was a bit of mixed feelings today as I handed in my particulars and signed those farewell documents, and somewhat surreal, that this was it, the finale.

I will miss my job, even though at times it was a pain in the neck and a source of much frustration. However, I had such good relationships with my coworkers, so that I know I will miss. even though we we will link up every now and then. But it just won't be the same, to in office jokes, no mutual cussing of how the badly senior managers are performing, no communal lamenting about our meager pay and of course no more heated debates about the topic of the day. Those are the things that make work fun.

Of course, I felt a bit of anxiety too while I signed of those papers, as I know this was the end of my stable income as I know it. Even through the pay wasn't much to talk about, at least I knew I was guaranteed a salary at the end of the month. But now, I will have to rely on the little that I have to sustain me until I can find another job and source of income, whenever that is. On the other hand, this is a new opportunity for me to capitalize on, to try something new or to do the something for better pay. Whatever it is, this opportunity presents me with a whole field of potential to make myself better.

These jobless days will be rough though, I will have to find ingenious ways of surviving off my dwindling savings while I try to find or invent a new job. I guess I'll have to settle down and do more stringent budgets and learn to conserve more until better days come in these harsh economic times, At least with this time though, I'll have a lot of time to pursue my hobby of photography and hopefully get better and good enough to start making some money from it.

One thing is true though, the only thing constant in life is change. So changes must come, whether we like it or not, we just need to embrace the change, good or bad, and learn to deal with it.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Redundancy Update


Before I give you the latest, let me first say thanks to everyone for their words of encouragement and advice, I greatly appreciate it. As I mentioned in my previous post, I was hearing rumors that the redundancy date was being pushed back to July 31, and so, as I am at work this morning, the rumours were true. I found out on Thursday of this week that it was in fact true that we, the unwanted, will be staying until the end of the month. But for me word of mouth had no value and I wanted something in writing. With that in mind, I impressed on my manager the necessity of me receiving something in writing confirming such. And after sternly putting across my concern I got a call from my former HOD and the VP that the redundancy was pushed back until month end and that they will be sending an email to confirm such. The email later followed, so at least now I can start making some initial plans on the way forward, first of which is a well deserved vacation and time to do some reorganizing.

Even though senior idiots... I mean senior management, have made their decision to cut staff the unions have been having meetings with them to at least reduce the numbers being sent home. It seems the company has been cutting staff, despite having contractors doing the same function, which by the union agreement with the company is illegal. Yesterday talks broke down and the non-management staff has been on strike since yesterday. Some interesting things going on, I bet senior management didn't count all this when they devised their devious plot. Well, we'll see how this sour saga unfolds.

One of my theme-songs for this time in my life, check it out. This is one of the few good uplifting songs these days.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Winds of Change Blowing Me Away


A few posts ago I wrote about redundancies in my company, more specific in my department. I recall mentioning that all the technicians that reported to me were being made redundant and that I was not sure what my role would be in this new restructured company. Well, now I know...

It seems the redundancy exercise has hit closer this time, and can't get any closer than this! I found out that I too was being made redundant along with the other supervisors. I am not shocked, in a sense i was somewhat expecting it. you see, after working in a company that has been doing redundancy exercises every year, sometimes twice per year, since two years after I started, I get to accept that it is just a part of the organization culture. As "sour" as it may seem to be. I know it is said that positions are made redundant and not people, but I beg to differ, as the functions of the technicians and shift supervisors are not being relinquished, but being shoved over to the persons in our sister section of the department. Their Job Title has changed to accommodate our functions added to their existing functions... may God help them. But I am very upset about this redundancy. Why?

I am a bit unsettled by the fact that very soon I will be without a job, without a source of income, unemployed, a bum, but that is not the reason why I'm so upset. As I said before, redundancy is a reality in my company something we have learned to accept, basically it's like old age and death. As companies seek to cut cost and try to be more profitable, they make adjustments as they see fit. one such option is to cut staff, which from my years of experience is the organization I temporarily work for opts for first. So it was just a matter of time. I am upset due to the poor, shabby, unprofessional and dastardly way those who calls themselves senior management went about it. When they announced that the technicians were being made redundant, we asked what would happen to us supervisors. However, they failed to give us a definite answer as to what our role or function would be in this new structure, and gave no indication of us being made redundant. A few days later, about June 25, a fellow supervisor heard that we were being made redundant by the grapevine, later that day meal vouchers arrived for everyone else except the technicians and of course the supervisors. It was not until the said supervisor engaged our manager, that they finally admit that we were also made redundant as of July 1, 2009.

Today, is July 8, and I am still working at the sour place. It seems the so called senior managers in their rush to cut staff and collect their bonus made several illegal moves and the unions got involved. This has delayed the redundancy to July 10, but now I am hearing rumors that it may be extended to the end of this month, once again due to the so called senior managers intellectual blunders. Getting rid of an entire department and imposing their function on the remaining staff didn't go down quite well with those who are being forced to take up the new assignment. Also the so called senior managers didn't consider all the implications of such a change, the processes involved and the very limited number of staff they already have and the even smaller staff they will have after the redundancy. I wouldn't be surprised if they extend my employment to the end of August too. Yuh si, a fi dem job mi want, weh mi can do any foolishness and still collect mi big monthly salary plus get a bonus!

So what will the unemployed Stunner do? Photographer, professional blogger, salesman, male stripper? Well, at the moment I don't have a grand idea, as I have several factors to consider. But one thing is for sure, looking a new job in this harsh economic climate is definitely one option. However, making plans right now is somewhat challenging due to the uncertainty of these bumbling idiots... um I mean these so called senior managers. But after I get that parting letter, I plan to take a few weeks to just clear my head, think things through, come up with a plan of action and then I will execute. I have already started to cut back on my expenses in view of the impending loss of income and also looking at ways to further adjust my lifestyle. Rough times ahead, but just like with a hurricane, we know it's coming but we can't stop it, we just have to batten down and be prepared. Oh and please don't tell me, "as one door closes, many more will open", mi tyad fi hear that statement! [big smile] I will keep you all posted.