Day 0

Day Z(ero) happened yesterday.

It was the normal Tuesday 13, things were so-so. I was smoking a cig waiting for my 15:30 bi-weekly meeting. One minute before the meeting, I put off my cig and head to the video conference room. Turn on the VC and the computer, remotely log on to my desktop, there was a message window blinking in my taskbar. Short message from my boss: "today's meeting will be in the Interview Room". Hmm, ok, 'be right there', I said.

And I was right there. With my local Human Resource gal. On the other side of the table (read 'video conference system' or 'on TV') were my boss and his local Human Resource asshole. With an equal voice, my boss lets me know that "your position will be relocated to QA, this being based on the company (global crisis) policy of cost reduction and your low performance". I was a bit surprised, but not too much, counting the presence of "my friend", the HR.

All in all, a 'great' experience. After more than 5 years working for that company, they almost literally kicked me out of the company and the company premises. I was not allowed to send a farewell email to my fellow colleagues, still they made me the 'favor' of giving me the opportunity to take any personal files I would like to. Right. Try saving lots of Gigs of pictures (both only personal and company events related), personal (copyrighted or not) music and hundreds of personal documents in 5 minutes, on your... well, always keep an external harddisk on your desk for those special occasions. I wasn't, so I left with no files. I even left there personal belongings like my motorbike helmet, my snowboard boots (don't ask me why they were there, they just were) and tons of other stuff.

I even had a bodyguard, the local system administrator, on specific orders that I don't send any email and I have to leave in 5 minutes. He stood there, looking over my shoulder to what I am doing on my computer, yelling "No email! No email!" as I was trying to send a 'Thank You' message to my boss. Really, the guy was a great boss and we got together pretty well both work-related and on personal relation. No, I was not allowed to send this. After 5 years, they made me the great favor of letting me take what is mine.

As for the others' experience, I've only heard that all my work mates were astonished. Puzzled. Silenced for some time. The managers even had meetings trying to calm down the others. "There's no list!" they said. Sure, there is no official list, but I'm almost sure that there's a small blacklist some people carry around, waiting for opportunities.

I silently left. No big scenes. No tears. No handshakes. No 'goodbye, take care'. Good job, HR.