Unemployed

There is a huge purge on the company I work in. Every week there’s a fool being thrown out in the street. Also, every week there’s a fool who has been informed that his contract won’t be renewed, that he will have a month to look for other opportunities. It’s his coup de grace. So, at the same minute one fool is thrown out in the street another fool is being informed that this would be his last month.

Those who have wife and children to support hope not to be part of the ones who will face the guillotine, of the ones who will feel the devastating tires of the killer motorcycle.   

However, as Nietzsche once wrote, hope is the nourishment for all the people’s misery, hope is what makes foolish ones live (this last one is my quote).

So, thanks to my Nietzsche readings, I really don’t have any hopes at all. And now that certain rumor has reached my ears any remnant of hope has vanished: the CEO has declared that no contract expiring on October, November or December will be renewed.  My contract ends on October. There’s no turning back. I’m doomed to receive the year 2015 unemployed.

Therefore, it’s better to live without hopes. I’ve lived like that the last three years and I’ve been doing alright. I don’t expect anything from anybody. If some opportunity comes up, good; if not, nothing happens. That’s how I got this job I’m about to lose, a friend phoned me and told me that some guy was requiring an idiot for the position I’m holding for more than 3 years now.

Two morons have been expelled so far. I’m just talking about the department I work in. Because at the other company departments the number of expelled people may has surpassed the hundreds. As I was saying, two guys were already expectorated as if they were some phlegm blocking our throat.

The next person to be expectorated is me. It’s a fact. The rest of fools that are still alive and whose contracts end on October or November are searching for jobs on CompuTrabajo, a job browser. All mornings, between eight and nine, they click on any job opportunity that shows up. So, if they are lucky, soon the Peruvian labor market will be filled with mining engineers working as bodyguards, plumbers or newsboys.

For many years, the department I work for has remained safe from all the small wrecks that pestered the company. But this time, this tough time, this department is going to suffer (is already suffering) a harsh pruning.

I know I’m the next one to be thrown out. I’m not scared. Something will show up. I don’t look for other job opportunities during my work hours as the rest of my partners does, because I prefer to do that when I’m alone at home.

Laziness always defeats me. I acknowledge that. I’ve sent my résumé to very few opportunities. On the other side, there are few people wanting mine ventilation engineers. So I’ve sent my CV to two ads. I only received feedback from one. We agreed an Skype interview. It was an engineer from a small consulting company that was looking for a mine ventilation engineer to help him in some project for some Australian investors. That is, we were talking about a short term project, not a long term job. Anyhow, I was interested because it would give some extra income. He asked me for my “salary expectations” (he actually said that: “salary expectations”. That euphemism always seemed funny to me). Once I told him how much I wanted to earn he said “it’s acceptable”. Call me in two days, please, he added. When I phoned him the motherfucker told me that he already had another prospect.

I’m not afraid of being unemployed. Throughout the course of this 31 years of mine I’ve learnt that every day holds a surprise for us, a good or bad surprise. That doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have to believe that everything is already at its worst scenario, that nothing can do worse than that. Therefore, a bad news will always be a good one.

So, I’m ready to face that firing motorcycle. Come on, let it go against me, motherfucking company.