Survivors guilt

Because my employer is publicly traded, and because I am paranoid enough already, I have to limit what I say about this, but here's the Cliff's Notes version, in 98% English:

My company removed several dozen people (not me) from their jobs this week in an abrupt and oafish manner. In Mexico, not that I live there but I'm trying to avoid using certain words, this is known as "recorte de personal."

Three of the recortados were in my group; all three of them were good, and one was indispensible. I could easily think of someone else that we could afford to lose. I'm not saying I'd be happy about it - I really wouldn't - but I would not be as sad. One of them has suffered five recortes in the same amount of time that I've only been hit twice, and there I was all that time feeling sorry for myself... and because of his age (it's a big number) it's not going to be easy for him to find something else.

It appears that the decisions were made on paper by people who didn't know any of those whose livelihoods they held in their hands. That probably sounds good in theory, but paper does not tell the whole story, especially when the last review was more than a year ago.

It also appears that the projects people were working on may have been a factor in these decisions. If the managers had had any input to the process, they might have been able to swap some people between projects, so as not to lose a good person just because their worst deadbeat was working on a "more important" project.

Most of the managers were almost as blindsided as the employees. The recortes were conducted, mostly by telephone (unavoidable, given the number of telecommuters), by the highest levels of senior management.

Unfortunately, the only communication the rest of us got on this was a very lame email from the company president saying (paraphrased) "Yeah, that happened, it was real tough. Sux to be them, but the rest of us are still here, right? I mean, PHEW, huh? If for some reason you want to know more, ask your boss."

In other words, "we just took a big dump on your sense of financial security; we'll have your mom clean up the mess."

I found out, off the record, that there will be a less lame followup on Monday, but I thought it would have been better to do that today. I mean, they can't drop the hammer on conscientious people, let the rest of us stew over it all weekend, and then expect us not to be suspicious of them every time we have a slightly disappointing quarter.

Naturally, I am grateful, if a bit surprised, to have survived. I suppose I need to get over it, because it seems that the working environment I prefer - corporate not too cozy impersonal, that's my thing, honest to god - is also the one most prone to recortes de personal. Go figure. It's no fun to be in a recorte-free zone if your psychotic boss is screaming in your face about missing grapadoras all the time.

I got very little done today. I did what I could, but just about everything I did reminded me of one of the recortes, and I had no trouble finding less productive, less upsetting ways to occupy my time.

I amused myself with this video about ten times (warning: LOUD). It's the theme song from the telenovela I'm recapping now. The studio version of the song is more polished, but it's much more fun to watch actress Adela Noriega react to beloved ranchera crooner Vicente Fernández as he serenades her. (I'd say he's like Wayne Newton in terms of image and popularity, except I'm not sure if that's quite correct.)

Useful Spanish of the day
Olvidemos el pasado, y vivamos el presente
Let's forget about the past, and live the present